The Carolina Magazine: "Negro Number" May 1927 (Subscription to the Harlem Renaissance)

The Carolina Magazine , the literary magazine of the University of North Carolina, published "Negro Numbers" annually from 1927 until 1930. The purpose of the issues was "...to present an issue representative of Negro life and art," and were a collaboration between prominent Harlem Renaissance writers and a group of students at an all-white university in the Jim Crow South. The four issues are hidden gems of Harlem Renaissance writing, exceptional in that they contain the work the acclaimed contributors must have deemed their best and most provocative work. May 1927 issue: Emperor Jones I -- a drawing by Aaron Douglas Emperor Jones II -- a drawing by Aaron Douglas The Negro Enters Literature -- an essay by Charles S. Johnson Symphonesque -- a short story by Arthur Huff Fauset The Hunch -- a play by Eulalie Spence A review of "Fine Clothes to the Jew" The Dark Brother -- a poem by Lewis Alexander Old Mansion -- a poem by Arna Bontemps Close Your Eyes -- a poem by Arna Bontemps Quintilla -- a poem by Arna Bontemps Apology -- a poem by Carrie W. Clifford An Old Story -- a poem by Countee Cullen No Images -- a poem by Waring Cuney Paradox -- a poem by Angelina W. Grimke Under The Days -- a poem by Angelina W. Grimke Threnody to Alice -- a poem by Donald Jeffrey Hayes Bulwark -- a poem by Langston Hughes Welt -- a poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson Fulfillment -- a poem by Helene Johnson Sun Disk -- a poem by Effie Lee Newsome Evergreen -- a poem by Nelson H. Nichols, Jr. Virginia Memories -- a poem by Edward S. Silvera Charles S. Johnson (1898-1956), the founder and editor of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life , and the first Black president of Fisk University, celebrated the "Negro Issues" of Carolina Magazine ( Opportunity , July 1927): "The May issue of The Carolina Magazine is a number of historical importance in race relations in this country. For the first time, as it were, in the time of man, a Southern university magazine has given over one of its numbers to the work of Negro writers. No attempt has been made to inveigle the contributing writers into conformance to any preconceived notions of what should constitute work by Negroes. There is less of irony than of eventual justice in this phenomenon of a magazine the cover of which is decorated with the names of Poe, Cabell, Lanier, Harris, Page, O. Henry and Wilson, bearing on that cover an inset informative of the fact that within there is a brilliant article on The Negro Enters Literature by Charles S. Johnson, a reprint of Symphonesqu e by Arthur Huff Fauset and reproductions of the work of Aaron Douglas. Other contributors to the number are Arna Bontemps. Helene Johnson, Waring Cuney, Eulalie Spence (represented by The Hunch , one of the prize plays in this year's Opportunity contest), Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Edward Silvera, Donald Jeffrey Hayes, Angelina Grimke, Effie Lee Newsome, Nelson H. Nichols. Jr., Carrie W. Clifford, and Lewis Alexander, who served as honorary editor of the issue." The cover colors are unknown and based on past issues.