- Helene Johnson
Helen Johnson, who was better known as Helene Johnson (1906-1995) was an
African American poet during theHarlem Renaissance . She was also a cousin of authorDorothy West .She spent her early years at her grandfather’s house in Boston. The rest of her formative years were spent in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Johnson's literary career began when she won first prize in a short story competition sponsored by the
Boston Chronicle . She also received an honorable mention in a poetry contest organized byOpportunity , the journal of theNational Urban League that was one of the leading showcase for the talents of African-American artists.She and Dorothy West moved to Harlem in the 1920s. She attended Columbia University, but did not graduate. Both were a part of the Harlem Renaissance and became friends with such artists as
Zora Neale Hurston .In 1935, Johnson’s last published poems appeared in "Challenge: A Literary Quarterly".
She married William Hubbel soon after, and had one child, Abigail.
She spent many years composing poems just for herself.
She is featured in a literature book for junior level high school students.
References
Shockley, Ann Allen, Afro-American Women Writers 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide, New Haven, Connecticut: Meridian Books, 1989. ISBN 0-452-00981-2
External links
* [http://www.umass.edu/umpress/spr_00/mitchell.html Review of "This Waiting for Love by Helene Johnson, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance"]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/books/feed/a39265-2000feb26.htm Article by poet Rita Dove, 2000]
* [http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/992/Helen_Johnson_wrote_words_with_a_melody AA Registry Entry for Helene Johnson.]
* [http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060560843&tc=cx "Essential Poems (To Fall in Love With) by Daisy Goodwin" (contains Helene Johnson's poem, "Futility")]
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