The Chicago whip. (Chicago, Ill.) 1919-19??, 1920-01-03
Literary Review
By Joel n. Rogers.

We shall endeavor in this column
to do our best toward fostering and
stimulating literary production by
constructive criticism.
The literature of a race is to that
race what memory is to the individ-
ual. The longer the memory of the
past, the wiser is the individual. One
of the worthiest and noblest of mo-
tives is the cultivation of literature
Up to the present the Negro in
America has accomplished very little
if anything toward an enduring lit
erature. Measured by the worlds
masterpieces, | do not think that we
have even fourth-class production;
certainly not good novel. And yet
the talent. even genius is there. But
the difficulties are SO enormous, the
encouragement so little that genius is
choked to death or at least stunted
by he rank.
There is he case of the late Hiram
Holland, certainly one of the finest
minds in America who gave himself
to the cultivation of his art, poetry
and died prematurely of insufficient
nourishment. Genius is like the preg-
nant mother that must be tenderly
cared and not forced to perform the
rough laboring work of life. Until
tho -are and file @, the Negro race
are willing TO make sacrifices and
these need not be great ones, so lonfi
will we as race be lacking in first
class literature.
In this issue, | will give my inn
pressions Of the annual literary con-
test held at Quinn Chapel Topic,
'The New Negro and What He
Should Demand from the American
People
The papers were each of fifteen
minuets duration. Now what is the
principal requirement of such a pa
per? That is should go unswervingly
to the mark as an arrow. In my opin-
ion not a single contestant complied
with this requirement. The MAORI
ty spent deal of time lauding the
Negro soldier, a mttear quite alien
to the topic. Every speaker, except
one strove for effect, that is, to try
O see how flashingly and how sound
ingly each one could get his or her
paper, instead of how directly, how
sincerely, how simply. Another great
defect in all the papers but one. was
the Boosting of the great attainments
of he race. We were told that the
Negro had produced scientists that
were the equal of Newton, Edison
and Mraconi. Bancker. for instance
was the equal of Newton, a palpable
and laughable absurdity. Our young
literary folk, and even our older ones
are prone to understandable boasting
"a .. s5o our accomplishments as race,
which can but make the judicious
grieve or smile, according to tempa
rament.
II we are to express ourselves
frankly the paper were all much be-
low standard. By far, the best pa
per was that of Mr.. Owens. He not
only showed some knowledge of the
subject, bit he stuck to it, until the
end wwhen he finished by long per-
oratim from Ingersoll, quite irreva-
lent to the subject.
One young orator, who thrilled me
with his fire, had fundamentally
wrong conception of what such a
paper should be. He sought rather
to dazzle by wordy pyrotechnics than
to furnish matter for thought. He
took his hearers, almost everywhere
else but the topic. He descanted on
the Negro soldier, took us into the in
tricacies of the the different national
anthems, spoke French and German,
and finished with an outburst of ora
tory, which though stirring and mag
nificent was utterly prevalent. The
day of the orator is over. We have
instead, the clear, calm, scientific
thinker. This young orator with the
proper training promises unusually
well. The writer is DESTROYS of do
ing his best toward the literary cul-
tiyation of the race, and invites his
literary brothers, and lal interested
to communicate with him.