Georgia Douglas Johnson
Born September 10, 1880 - Died May 14, 1966
The exact year of Johnson’s birth is debated. It is estimated that she was born between 1877 and 1887, but 1880 is the generally accepted date. She was born in Georgia, and she was of Native American, African American, and English descent. Johnson stated later in life that her childhood was lonely, and she had a contentious relationship with her distant mother. Johnson graduated from Atlanta University’s Normal School in 1896. She taught school in Marietta, Georgia for several years, before leaving teaching to study music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. (During her teenage years she had taught herself the violin.) She would continuously write music for the rest of her life, and music is often featured in her writing.
A Poem By Georgia Douglas Johnson
The Riddle
White men's children spread over the earth—
A rainbow suspending the drawn swords of birth,
Uniting and blending the races in one
The world man—cosmopolite—everyman's son!
He channels the stream if the red blood and blue,
Behold him! A Triton—the peer of the two;
Unriddle this riddle of "outside in"
White men's children in black men's skin.
Published Works by Georgia Douglas Johnson
The Heart of a Woman (A Collection of Poetry, 1918)
Bronze (A Collection of Poetry, 1922)
PLAYS
A Sunday Morning in the South (1925)
Blue Blood (1926)
Paupaulekejo (1926)
Plumes (1927)
Safe (1929)
Blue-Eyed Black Boy (1930)
William and Ellen Craft (1935)
Frederick Douglass (1935)
And Yet They Paused (1938)
A Bill to Be Passed (1938)