This anthology compiles all the poems written by women and published in Boston’s Harlem Renaissance literary journal, The Saturday Evening Quill. A defining feature of this landmark publication was its inclusivity: at a time when women were often underrepresented, half of its contributors were women. Poets included Edythe Mae Gordon, Helene Johnson, Gertrude P. Mc Brown, Alvira Hazzard, Vera Postles, Marion Grace Conover, Alice E. Furlong. Two poems were illustrated by the young Boston artist, Lois Mailou Jones.
The Saturday Evening Quill Club, a group of talented African American writers, met on the fourth Saturday of each month in Eugene and Edythe Gordon’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Eugene Gordon led this extraordinary group in producing 250 copies of the first issue of The Saturday Evening Quill, a 72-page paper-bound publication featuring short stories, essays, poems, and visual art. Two more annual issues followed in 1929 and 1930.
Women’s creative contributions to The Saturday Evening Quill extended beyond poetry. The journal also featured short stories by Edythe Mae Gordon, Dorothy West, Florence Marion Harmon, Florida Ruffin Ridley, and Gertrude Schalk, as well as plays by Alvira Hazzard. Visual artist Loïs Mailou Jones, a Boston native, illustrated two children’s poems by Gertrude P. Mc Brown.
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote of The Saturday Evening Quill, ‘Of the booklets issued by young Negro writers in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, this collection from Boston is by far the most interesting and the best.’
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