The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1936-02-08
Garfield Pupils
Study Life Of j.
Weldon Johnson

James WeluOu JOuuSOu Is u
native of Jacksonville, Florida.
He graduated from the Atlanta
University, did three years of
graduate work at Columbia Uni
versity, and has an honorary de-
gree of Doctor of Literature from
Talladega College and Howard
University. He was for several
years principal of a high school
in Jacksonville and later was ad-
mitted to the bar and practiced
law in that city. He went TO
New York to collaborate with his
brother,J. Rosamond Johnson in
writing light opera. James Wei
don then served as United States
Consul in Venezuela and Nicara-
qua and for the. fourteen years
following was secretary of the
National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People. He
is now professor of Creative Lit
erature at Fisk University. James
Weldon Johnson is one of the best
and most prolific of modern writ
ers."
In the above words Juliette
Brasher of 1874 Harper, summar-
ICES the career of a writer of
whom she has made an intensive
study and about whose works she
wrote an interesting review.
This paper was part of project
in Mrs. Mary Sheridan O'Keefe's
English class at Garfield Interme-
date School, in Detroit, which
called for the writing of a term
paper on the life and works of
a modern author.
The purpose was threefold.
First, to arouse interest in con-
temporary literature. Second,
to train the pupils in obtaining
source material from the library.
Third, to train them to prepare
and write a paper in correct Eng
lish and in an interesting manner.
Among the best reports turned
in were the following:
Paul l.. Dunbar, Thomas Askew;
Villa Gather, Theresa RADIO
ebay; A. A. Milne, Mary Elone;
Countee Cullen, Elmer Phew, Jr.;
Will James, James Roberts, Rob-
er Frost, Catherine Ramsey; Jes-
sic Redmon Fauset, Marguerite
Seitz; Edwin w. Robinson, Syl-
via Seltman: Kathleen Norris,
Resale Brown; Vachel Lindsay,
Henry Archie; John Masefield,
Carmel Capito; William Burgh-
ardt Dubois, Marion Massenberg;
Joyce Kilmer, Sadie Muntean;
Booker T. Washington, James Fri
erson: James Whitcomb Riley,
Daniel Harris; Claude McKoy,
w. A. Record; Carl Sandburg,
Henrietta Condition; James Wei
don Johnson, Juliete Brasher;
Edna Millay, Ilene WEIGH; Rud-
yard Kipling, Bernice Maciejke;
Louis Untermeyer, Edward Robin
son.
When asked to comment on the
value of this work TO her Mar
guerite l.. Seitz of 1886 st. Anto-
inc wrote as follows:
Il have learned h at you
shouldn't do things too hurriedly
because the longer you look the
more you find. Also | learned
much about a woman whom | had
never heard of before-Miss Jessie
Redmon Fauset. Miss Fauset is
a Negro, and one of the outstand
ing writer's of thrs cay. Finally,
| learned that photography is a
list of books to which you referred
when writing a booklet or paper.
The one | thought best was Gar
oling Dusk" In that book Mr..
Cullen gives you a short but COM
plete biography of Miss Fauset."
Many Sheridan O'Keefe who tea
ches this class is a graduate Of
the University of Iowa. Mrs. o.
Keefe is also the organizer of the
Garfield Verse Choir. This group
has made many public appearan-
ces reciting beautiful verse writ
ten mainly by Negro poets. They
recited on February End at the
Bethel Church and on February
3rd at the Lucy Thurman Y.
These were two of the meetings