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Arna Wendell Bontemps

アルナ・ボントンプス

Arna Bontemps

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1902-10-13 （Alexandria, Louisiana, United States）
Died
1973-06-04 （Nashville, Tennessee, United States） age 70
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Catholicism
Residence History
Alexandria, Louisiana (birth) → Los Angeles, California (Watts) → New York City (Harlem) → Huntsville, Alabama → Chicago, Illinois → Nashville, Tennessee

Career

Occupations
poet, novelist, librarian, children's author, editor, historian
Active Years
1924-1973
Affiliations
Omega Psi Phi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Fisk University (head librarian)
Memberships
Omega Psi Phi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Influenced By
Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Wallace Thurman
Influenced
Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, Katherine Dunham, Frank Yerby, Richard Durham, Jessie Carney Smith

Education

Pacific Union College
English (major) / History (minor)
Degree: Bachelor's
Period: 1920–1923
Year of Graduation: 1923
Country: United States
Member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity while studying
University of Chicago
Library Science (Master's)
Degree: Master's in Library Science
Period: 1942–1943
Year of Graduation: 1943
Country: United States
Degree that laid foundation for his later position as head librarian at Fisk University

Awards

Alexander Pushkin Prize (Opportunity)
1926
Organization: Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life (National Urban League)
Result: winner
Alexander Pushkin Prize (Opportunity)
1927
Organization: Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life (National Urban League)
Result: winner
Crisis Poetry Prize
1926
Work: poetry
Organization: The Crisis (NAACP magazine)
Result: winner
Rosenwald Fellowship
1938
Work: work on Drums at Dusk
Organization: Rosenwald Foundation
Result: fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship (two awards)
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship
Jane Addams Children's Book Award
Work: Story of the Negro
Organization: Jane Addams Children's Book Award committee
Result: winner
Newbery Honor
Work: Story of the Negro
Organization: American Library Association (ALA)
Result: honor

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

God Sends Sunday

1931 novel

A novel following the rise and fall of Little Augie, an African-American jockey, exploring themes of fortune, loss, and racialized social worlds.

racepoverty and classfate

Black Thunder

1936 historical novel

Based on Gabriel Prosser's 1800 slave rebellion near Richmond, it dramatizes the revolt and its human dimensions, arguing for slaves' humanity and aspirations.

slaveryresistancequest for freedomreexamining history

Drums at Dusk

1939 historical novel

A historical novel centered on Toussaint L’Ouverture and the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue (Haiti), depicting colonial violence and resistance.

colonialismrebellionleadership and mission

Story of the Negro

1948 non-fiction for young readers

A youth-oriented overview of African-American history, written to be accessible to children and teens; it received significant recognition and awards.

historical educationhuman rightsfoundations of the civil rights movement

The Poetry of the Negro, 1746–1949

1949 poetry anthology

An anthology of African-American poetry co-edited with Langston Hughes, presenting a broad cross-section of poetic work.

poetrycultural expressionhistorical continuity

Mr. Kelso’s Lion

1970 children's literature

A children's book published later in his career; specific details limited in provided source.

growing upfriendship

The Old South

1973 short story collection

A collection of short fiction, many stories from the 1930s; compiled toward the end of his life.

Southern societyrace and class

Bibliography

  • God Sends Sunday
  • Popo and Fifina, Children of Haiti (with Langston Hughes)
  • You Can't Pet a Possum
  • Black Thunder
  • Sad-Faced Boy
  • Drums at Dusk
  • Golden Slippers (anthology for young readers, compiled)
  • The Fast Sooner Hound (with Jack Conroy)
  • They Seek a City
  • We Have Tomorrow
  • Slappy Hooper
  • Story of the Negro
  • The Poetry of the Negro (edited with Langston Hughes)
  • George Washington Carver
  • Father of the Blues (ed. W. C. Handy autobiography)
  • Chariot in the Sky
  • Lonesome Boy
  • Famous Negro Athletes
  • Great Slave Narratives (edited)
  • Hold Fast to Dreams (poetry)
  • Mr. Kelso’s Lion
  • Free at Last: the Life of Frederick Douglass
  • The Harlem Renaissance Remembered
  • Young Booker: Booker T. Washington’s Early Days
  • The Old South

Style & Themes

Literary Style
poetic and descriptive proserealist treatment of historical subjectsclear, accessible voice for children's literaturescholarly and editorial approach in anthologies and histories
Recurring Motifs
African-American history and resistanceGreat Migration and urban lifemusic (jazz, blues) and cultural expressionfolklore and oral tradition

Health

  • myocardial infarction
    1973-06-04
    Died suddenly of a heart attack at home; left a short story collection in progress unfinished.

Legacy

As a poet, novelist, editor, and librarian, he advanced the preservation and study of African-American literature, influenced generations after the Harlem Renaissance, and built important collections such as the Langston Hughes Renaissance Collection at Fisk University.

Museums

  • Arna Bontemps African American Museum Downtown Alexandria, Louisiana, United States

Archives

  • Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Arna Bontemps Collection within the James Weldon Johnson Collection)
  • Fisk University (collections developed and curated)

In Popular Culture

  • Included in Molefi Kete Asante's '100 Greatest African Americans' (2002)

Trivia

  • Served as the first black head librarian at Fisk University.
  • Produced a wide range of works: children's books, histories, poetry, and anthologies.
  • Was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships twice.
  • Father of six children.