Sterling A Brown

James Weldon Johnson praised Sterling Brown's use of "racy dialect of the Negro in literature". Johnson found moree to praise of his poems than that of more traditional poems in the same volume. Brown established himself as one of the two major poets of the Harlem Renaissance.His rival was Langston Hughes. Brown was born in Washington D.C. in 1901. His father Sterling Nelson Brown was a personal friend of Frederick Douglass and Paul Laurence Dunbar. His father was a professor at Howard University. Sterling Brown graduated from Williams College and earned his master degree at Harvard. In 1929, Brown joined the faculty at Howard University. He had a strong passion for blues and jazz that influenced his poetry. He considered it an honor to teach at Howard University and stayed despite better offers form other universtities. In 1971, Howard awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1975, he collected his second collection of verse, The Last Ride of Wild Bill and reprinted his first verse, Southern Road, now titled Eleven Narratives; Southern Road. Five years later, Michael S. Harper brought out the Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown. Sterling A. Brown died i 1989. HE wrote a poem titled, Ma Rainey, which was about the famous blues singer Ma Rainey. It spoke of how she captivated an audience. When she came to town people from all over came to see her. They were very sad to see her go. Another poem that he wrote Sam Smiley, was a very dark and grim poem about a soldier named Sam Smiley was sent home after the war and finds out that his sweetheart is in jail awaiting to be executed for killing a rich white man's daughter. She was executed for this crime and Sam Smiley killd the rich white man. A mob came after Sam Smiley and ultimately Sam Smiley was lynched. Very sad poem indeed. Man was off fighting for his country and instead of being welcomed as a hero he was an outcast in a society that hated blacks.