Anita+Scott+Coleman

Anita Scott Coleman- An important Western Contributer to the Harlem Renaissance By Jeremy Wu Anita Scott Coleman

Anita Scott Coleman was born in Guaymas,Sonora, Mexico in 1890. She grew up on a ranch in New Mexico, and later taught school there. Her teaching was ended after she married James Harold Coleman, who was a photographer and printer born in Virginia. She began a boarding school in which she taught and in her spare time she continued her writing career. Anita published nineteen stories and several poems. Although the work she published was during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance, she is often excluded from discussions of it. Her essays and poems appeared on magazines such as the half century, the crisis, and the competitor.

__ Poetry Analysis __ "Black Baby" The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. Today I set him in the sun and Sunbeams danced on his head. The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. I toil, and I cannot always cuddle him. I place him on the ground at my feet. He presses the warm earth with his hands, He lifts the sand and laughs to see It flow through his chubby fingers. I watch to discern which are his hands, Which is the sand. . . . Lo. . . the rich loam is black like his hands. The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. Today the coal-man brought me coal. sixteen dollars a ton is the price I pay for coal.-- Costly fuel. . . though they say: -- If it is buried deep enough and lies hidden long enough 'Twill be no longer coal but diamonds. . . . My black baby looks at me. His eyes are like coals, They shine like diamonds. The speaker is referring to her child. She compares him to a diamond even though he was a black baby. She is probably trying to make a point that white people are any better than blacks. She uses words of imagery such as diamonds, and coal to describe the baby. There are also words that set the tone such as laughs, and sunbeams. Anita Scott Coleman was not a very well known poet, but she wrote many poems that were related to those of other poets during that time period. Although not much was known about her actual life, it is known she wrote poems, essays, and stories.

__ Works Cited __ "Coleman, Anita Scott" Black Past Blackpast.org n.d. Web. 14 april 2011. < []> ﻿__﻿__