shall I say, 'my son, you're branded'?" by Georgia Douglas johnson

lit 4

georgia Douglas Johnson lifespan

1880-1966

what did Johnson do (job wise) (7)

poet, playwright, journalist, essayist, musician, admired hostess , educator (pep jeam)

who are some of the people she invited to her home (4)

jean toomer, langston Hughes, zora Neale Hurston, countee Cullen

johnson was assistant pricnipal in (city) and eventually served in the (department) as a commissioner of conilication

atlanta, Georgia; department of labor

who said Johnson was not a “systematic worker”? what does it mean?

web dubois (he was writing a letter of rec for her for a fellowship); she likes to work in several styles or subjects

what good thing did du Bois say about Johnson in the letter of rec

she was “liable at any time or anywhere to turn out some little thing of unusual value and beauty”

what works by Johnson reicieve more scholarly attention

her plays

her first poem collection (name, yr, what its on)

the heart of a woman, and other poems (1918)

short frequently melancholic poems that explored feelings of despair, loss, and occasional joy

her poetry offers a window into

black women experiences

johnson was on the cover of the (month, yr) edition of (magazine) the official publication of the (org). what volume and number? what’s the whole number? how much for a subscription? how much for a copy?

march 1919; crisis; NAACP; vol 19. no 5; no 113; $1.50 for a yr; 15 cents a copy

on their “quote” they could experience the thrills of “quote” as in the poem “name”

highways in the soul; heights like pyramids that rise/far beyond earth-veiled eyes; elevation

what poem of johnson’s talks about the painful realities such as limitations placed on women’s existence

foredoom

foredoom poem

her life was dwarfed, and wed to blight,

her very days were shades of NIGHT,

her every dream was born entombed.

her soul, a BUD,—that never bloomed

johnson’s first collection, as (name) argues, poetically represents “disappoinment and an unrelenting awareness of morality,” along with “moments of intense introspection and sensuality in lyrics characterized by there (blank)”

claudia tate; evanescence

writing to a friend in (yr), Johnson describes her response to criticism:

1941; my first book was the heart of a woman. it was not at all race conscious. then someone said she has no feeling for the race. so I wrote bronze. it is entirely race conscious

what was johnson’s poem criticized for

it failed to engage with issues of race

as (name) point out, it’s not necessarily fair to criticize an artist for what their art doesn’t do, and moreover this criticism outs black women writers in particular in an impossible position

lorraine elana roses

what did women of color have to endure

whether they identified themselves as either black or female, but never both

(book) (yr) represents johnson’s effort to show the experiences of a woman and a person of color in us

bronze, 1922

when was shall I say, my son you’re branded? made

1919

how many stanzas. how many lines per stanza

1st: 4

2nd: 4

8 lines in total

what dilemma is the poem’s speaker working thru

how to prepare her son for the realities of racism, exclusion, and violence while also providing him with a sense of self-worth and hope

this talk between the mother and son is referenced as what today

the talk

(name) describes “the talk” as “a Convo between black parents and their children about, but not limited to, the dangers of police prutality”

ta-nehisi coates

the # stanza, describes American racial politics as a series of “blank”

1st; pageantries

pageantries

theatrical performances

in the symbolism of pageantries, what does Johnson mean

citizens are actors playing roles and American life is something created and displayed. in this creation, black Americans are “branded” so their appearance and performance are predetermined and restricted

this branding is described as a series of “quote” that “quote” could explain or justify

strange subtleties; no forum

the rhetorical question at the beginning”shall I really say these things to my son?” means

she is not denying the realities of the first stanza but developing in the son an identity and sense of self that can withstand these harsh realities that he’ll inevitably encounter

what line does the speaker say that talk about developing a sense of self in the son

with “love prophetic” “bid you dauntlessly arise” to go out into the world an “storm the sullen fortress wrought by prejudice and wrong”

over # black people were lynched between (yr and yr)

3,000; 1882-1930

johnson dramatized the govt failure to pass anti-lynching legislation in her MOST FAMOUS play

a Sunday morning in the south

what does a Sunday morning the south focus on

how the fear of lynching defined black social life during the time period

the poem is a model for thinking how (blank) can intervene into (blank)

art; social crises

the poem is not (blank) but the second stanza focuses on using (blank) and (blank) to embolden rather than weaken role in this process held by women, mothers, and domestic caregivers

realistic; language and art

johnson’s writing often focused on (blank), both for its negative and positive aspects

domestic life

explain the culture of domestic life for women

can limit women for forcing them into narrow, unfulfilling roles but a space where new forms of affirmative communal life take shape