Department
English
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
This study covers the development of American Negro protest poetry, from Paul Laurence Dunbar to the end of the "Negro Renaissance”. In addition, the social and economic conditions of the Negro in America are surveyed in order to demonstrate that these factors are reflected in the protest poetry of that time in history. First, the period from post-Reconstruction to the beginnings of the Niagara Conference of 1905 is outlined to parallel the beginnings of the protest poetry of this period. Then the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and a few of his contemporaries is cited to demonstrate how it reflects the social and economic background of the time. Following this, the social and economic conditions which existed from 1905 to the end of the "Negro Renaissance” are recounted in order to show their relationship to the protest poetry of the "New Negro" movement. The poetry of Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes is cited to show the correlation between the times and the protest verse. Other Negro poets are also listed, along with a few or their representative protest poems.
Keywords
African Americans, Racism, Research, Economic inequality, Authors, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), Claude McKay (1890-1948), Countee Cullen (1903-1946), Langston Hughes (1902-1967), Poetry, Protest works
Advisor
Dr. Samuel J. Sackett
Date of Award
Summer 1970
Document Type
Thesis - campus only access
Recommended Citation
Michaelis, Dennis F., "The Development of American Negro Protest Poetry from Paul Laurence Dunbar to the End of the Negro Renaissance" (1970). Master's Theses. 1303.
DOI: 10.58809/VKTR1784
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/1303
Rights
© The Author(s)
Comments
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