Marcus Bruce Christian
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Marcus Bruce Christian (March 8, 1900 – November 21, 1976), was a
New Negro "New Negro" is a term popularized during the Harlem Renaissance implying a more outspoken advocacy of dignity and a refusal to submit quietly to the practices and laws of Jim Crow racial segregation. The term "New Negro" was made popular by Al ...
regional poet, writer, historian and folklorist. The author of the collection, ''I Am New Orleans and Other Poems'' (posthumously edited by Rudolph Lewis and Amin Sharif and published by Xavier Review Press), Christian also compiled and wrote the still-unpublished manuscript, ''The History of The Negro in Louisiana'' during his stint at the
Negro In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...
Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers and to develop a history and overview of the United States, by state, cities and other jurisdictions. It was ...
at
Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...
. After his death, his family bequeathed of his diaries, criticism, manuscripts, and scholarly papers to the
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
, where they currently reside.


Biography


Early life

Christian was born in Mechanicsville,
Terrebonne Parish Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 109,580. The parish seat is Houma. The parish was founded in 1822. Terr ...
, a rural town seventy to eighty miles south of
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, now known as part of
Houma, Louisiana Houma ( ) is the largest city in and the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is also the largest principal city of the Houma– Bayou Cane– Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area. The city's governme ...
. He was the son of Emmanuel Banks Christian, Sr. and Rebecca Harris Christian. Both parents may have shared Creole ancestry. While not a family of means, the Christians were considered
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
. His paternal grandfather Ebel was a schoolteacher who rose to become superintendent of the segregated
Lafourche Parish Lafourche Parish () is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Thibodaux. The parish was formed in 1807. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, which consisted of the present ...
schools. Emmanuel Sr. was a
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union organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...
among the sugar cane workers as well as a schoolteacher at Houma Academy; his son also came to matriculate at the same school. Christian's boyhood, however, was marked by tragedy. His mother died when Marcus was three, his twin sister when he was seven, and his father when Christian was thirteen. Nominally head of the family, he and the surviving Christian children were farmed out to live with relatives in the countryside. In 1917, Christian moved to New Orleans, and quickly landed a job as a chauffeur; in 1919 he brought his siblings there to live as a family once more. He was among the throng of blacks who left their agrarian existence to find a new and better life in urban cities like New Orleans in the decades immediately before, during and after
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. Emmanuel Christian, however, had managed to instill in his son a love for literature, particularly for the works of Whittier,
Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to complet ...
and
Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...
. Thus, Marcus Christian became an
autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...
; he completed his high school education through night school courses, but college was unattainable. Moreover, he was responsible for his brothers and sisters, said one biographer, to the point of self-sacrifice, even after they matured. By 1926, the young man managed to set up a small dry cleaning business, the Bluebird Cleaners, where his siblings also worked from time to time. The Bluebird, however, folded in 1936 amid the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. Proud and independent, Christian refused to sign up for relief. The failure of his business was only one of several financial reverses Christian was to suffer throughout his lifetime.


"Poet Laureate of New Orleans Negroes"

Christian's first poem, "M-O-D-O-C-S of '22" is described as his valedictory address to his night school class. He tried without success to self-publish his first collection ''Ethiopia Triumphant and Other Poems;'' disappointed at the results, he later bought his own printing press, and published his own chapbooks. Christian's writing came to public notice when he began contributing to the ''Louisiana Weekly'', a New Orleans black newspaper, as a poetry editor and writer. By 1932, Christian was corresponding with
Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in 1902 in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole peopl ...
, also a native
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
writer, and
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...
, who commented favorably on his contribution to the ''Crisis'', then the literary as well as the political organ of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
(NAACP). His poem, "McDonough Day in New Orleans" broke into the mainstream, appearing in the
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in 1934. He began a second manuscript partly based on his experiences at the Bluebird: ''The Clothes Doctor and Other Poems.'' He also published numerous poems and essays in other African American newspapers and magazines—like ''Phylon'', '' Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life,'' and the ''
Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...
''—across the country. Columnist Mel Washburn of the New Orleans ''Item-Tribune'' soon called him, "the poet laureate of New Orleans Negroes." In all, Christian composed some 2,000 poems over the course of his life. In contrast to the modern or free-verse poems his better-known contemporaries favored, Christian's poems often took the form of the 19th century English
lyric poem Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, th ...
. For later generations, particular those of the Sixties and Seventies, Christian's choice of form proved problematic, if not incorrect; not only to these radicalized black writers, but to newer critics like
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and Arthur P. Davis, who in the opinion of Christian's supporters tend to overlook or to short-change his work.


The Negro Writers' Project

In 1936, with the help of his patron Lyle Saxon, a well-known Louisiana writer, Christian was appointed to a special Negro unit of the Federal Writers' Project located at Dillard University. The Louisiana Negro Writers' Project (one of several with a preponderance of African Americans) was created for black intellectuals, writers and artists under the
Works Project Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to c ...
(WPA) to write about
African American history African-American history started with the forced transportation of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. The European colonization of the Americas, and the resulting Atlantic slave trade, encompassed a large-scale transpo ...
,
culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
specific and peculiar to their states or regions. The first director was Lawrence Reddick, a professor of history at Dillard, and eventually Christian succeeded Reddick as director in the Project's remaining years. Violet Harrington Bryan in her study, ''The Myth of New Orleans in Literature,'' wrote that members of the Louisiana Negro Writers' Project comprised "a Who's Who of Negro intellectuals" of the time, like artist
Elizabeth Catlett Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was an American and Mexican sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience i ...
, sociologist
St. Clair Drake John Gibbs St. Clair Drake (January 2, 1911 – June 15, 1990)Calloway, Earl (June 28, 1990). "Memorial services held for Dr. Drake, noted author and Roosevelt professor." ''Chicago Defender'', p. 10. was an African-American sociologist and anthr ...
, writer Arna Bontemps, and poet
Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. ...
, with writer
Frank Yerby Frank Garvin Yerby ( – ) was an American writer, best known for his 1946 historical novel ''The Foxes of Harrow''. Early life Yerby was born in Augusta, Georgia, on September 5, 1916, the second of four children of Rufus Garvin Yerby (1886– ...
, also a professor at Dillard, rounding out the group. Christian did extensive research on the black and alternative history of Louisiana. During this productive period, Christian edited a book of poetry, ''From the Deep South'' in 1937, and was featured in Sterling Brown's '' The Negro Caravan'' and Arna Bontemps' '' The Poetry of the Negro.''


Later life

Christian's fortunes rose and fell after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
began. He received a year-long Rosenwald Fellowship to continue his research after the Project was shuttered in 1943. He also made up his mind to marry Dillard co-ed Ruth Morand after dividing his affections between her and Irene Douglas, a New York sketch artist who may or may not have been passing for white. It didn't take long to Christian realize his mistake: Ruth wanted a breadwinner who could command the kind of salary and overtime that many blacks were making in the war industries. Furthermore, she was not willing to share in his artistic vision or his sacrifices. Both women, however, were at least twenty years younger than the poet. Eventually, Ruth left Christian and relocated to
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. One of her letters boasted she was making twice as much money than the poet had received with his fellowship. Both complained of each other's infidelity, either real or imagined: he with the unattainable Irene, she with new friends found while living in Chicago. After several attempts at reconciliation, the couple finally divorced sometime in the 1950s. They had no children. In 1944, Christian became an assistant librarian at the Dillard University library. He might have achieved lifelong financial stability at this post had not another member of the staff objected to his continuing employment without a college degree six years later. After his abrupt and painful termination, coupled with the failure of his marriage, the poet became a complete recluse and sank into what one biographer called "abysmal poverty." At one point, he was reduced to being a paper boy. He tried to maintain his collection in his
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home, especially in the face of flooding caused by
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in 1965, but he was arrested as a looter while wading in the rising, dirty waters, trying to save his papers. Possibly because of this incident, new attention was focused on Christian, and his last years were kinder to him. He received a bronze medal from the Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) Commission of the
Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
in 1965. In 1969, Christian became poetry writer-in-residence and taught
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
at the University of New Orleans. His poem, ''I Am New Orleans'' was published on the front page of the New Orleans ''
Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...
'' in 1968. From his archives, he produced the book, ''Negro Ironworkers of Louisiana, 1718-1900,'' which is still in print. Christian may have worn a suit jacket with mismatched pants, as a former student related, but he was always on time for class.Cains, Deborah Parker, "Memories of Marcus Bruce Christian, New Orleans Poet, Historian, and Educator," ChickenBones, A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes, 2000
/ref> It was fitting that, in a
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
classroom, lecturing on what he loved best, Christian collapsed and was brought to Charity Hospital, where he died a few days later at the age of 76.


References


Anthologies

* Murphy, Beatrice M. Ebony Rhythm. Exposition Press, 1948. * Bontemps, Arna. American Negro Poetry. New York Hill & Wang, 1963. * Bontemps, Arna and Langston Hughes. The Poetry of the Negro: 1746-1970. New York: Doubleday, 1970. * Bontemps Arna. Golden Slippers. * Vojaka, Knihovna. Cernosska Poesie. Praha: Nase Vojski, 1958. * Ward Jr., Jerry W. Trouble the Water. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.


Biographies

* Living Black American Authors: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Ann Allen Shockley and Sue P. Chandler. R.R. Bowker Company. New York & London, 1973. A Xerox Education Company. * Who's Who in Colored America, edited by G. James Fleming and Christian E. Burckel Seventh Edition, 1950 Publishers Christian E. Burckel & Associates. * Contemporary Authors, edited by Frances Carol Locher, Volumes 73-76 Gale Research Company Book Tower, Detroit, Michigan 48226. * Black American Writers Past and Present: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary, V.1; edited by Theresa Gurnels Rush, Carol F. and Myers, Ester Spring Arata; The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ 1975.


External links

* Christian (Marcus) Collection (1900-1976) ArchivesUSA, http://archives.chadwwyck.com * Bontemps, Arna Wendell, 1902-1973, Papers, 1927-1968, https://web.archive.org/web/20080516042832/http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/ * Th
Marcus Christian Collection
in th
LOUISiana Digital Library


Profiles on Marcus Bruce Christian and the Federal Writers' Project

* Bryan, Violet Harrington. The Myth of New Orleans in Literature. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1993. * Clayton, Ronnie W. "The Federal Writers' Project for Blacks in Louisiana." Louisiana History 19(1978): 327-335. * Dent, Tom. "Marcus B. Christian: A Reminiscence and an Appreciation." Black American Literature Forum, 1984, Volume 18, Issue 1, pp. 22–26. * Hessler, Marilyn S. "Marcus Christian: The Man and His Collection." Louisiana History 1 (1987):37-55. * Johnson, Jerah. "Marcus B. Christian and the WPA History of Black People in Louisiana." Louisiana History 20.1 (1979): 113-115. * Larson, Susan. "Poems in the Key of Life." Times-Picayune (Book Section), July 4, 1999. * Lewis, Rudolph. "Introduction." I Am New Orleans and Other Poems by Marcus Bruce Christian. Edited by Rudolph Lewis and Amin Sharif. New Orleans: Xavier Review Press, 1999. Reprinted in revised form in Dillard Today 2.3 (2000): 21-24. * Lewis, Rudolph. "Magpies, Goddesses, & Black Male Identity in the Romantic Poetry of Marcus Bruce Christian." Paper presented at College Language Association, April 2000, Baltimore, MD. * Lewis, Rudolph. "Marcus Bruce Christian and a Theory of a Black Aesthetic." Paper presented at the Zora Neale Hurston Society Conference held June 1999 at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Published in ZNHS FORUM (Spring 2000). * Peterson, Betsy. "Marcus Christian: Portrait of a Poet." Dixie 18 (January 1970). * Redding, Joan. "The Dillard Project: The Black Unit of the Louisiana Writers' Project." Louisiana History 32.1 (1991): 47-62 {{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Marcus Bruce 1900 births 1976 deaths African-American poets American folklorists People from Houma, Louisiana Louisiana Creole people 20th-century American poets 20th-century African-American writers