The Selected Works of Georgia Douglas Johnson by Georgia Douglas Johnson

And, indeed, the photographs and pictures of children presented by the Children’s Numbers reinforce the many political ideals of racial uplift ideology at the turn of the twentieth century. Of course, this calculus of (pictorial) representation recalls the numerological basis of Du Bois’ formulation of the “Talented Tenth,” a representational strategy focused on highlighting the group that lifts up, carries, signifies, and legitimizes the other ninety percent. 285), these issues feature hundreds of photographs of Black children submitted to the magazine by parents and relatives, and they make a show of highlighting the tremendous volume of photographs they contain the 1915 Children’s Number, for example, boasts “Selected Pictures of Seventy-Nine of Our Baby Friends” and many more drawn, painted, and photographed images ( The Crisis 1915). A decidedly visual celebration and, according to Du Bois, “easily the most popular number of the year” ( Du Bois 1919, p. Du Bois lyrically described as “a sort of annual festival decorated with flowering faces and their wonder-filled eyes and the mighty softness of their hands” 1 ( Du Bois 1916, pp.

Furthermore, this essay argues for the benefits of reading Johnson’s motherhood poems in relation to her erotic poetry, demonstrating that Johnson’s poetry of Black motherhood addresses the sexual politics of the Black bourgeoisie at the turn of the century and creates a space for the expression of Black female sexuality.īetween 19, the October issues of The Crisis were dubbed the “Children’s Numbers,” what editor W.E.B.

Focusing primarily on Johnson’s motherhood poems that appeared in the “Children’s Numbers” and the striking photographs of children that accompanied these poems, this essay asserts that Johnson’s poems disrupt racialized notions of childhood innocence, intervene in discourses on Black education, and challenge the representational politics of the “Children’s Numbers” by centering the epistemological perspective of Black motherhood. Du Bois’ editorials on childhood and the photographs of Black children that appeared in these issues. This essay considers how Johnson’s poems respond to such ideas of education and innocence in W.E.B. Visually and discursively, the run of “Children’s Numbers” stages the modern crucible of educating Black children on the realities of racism and contends with racialized notions of childhood innocence.

This essay examines Georgia Douglas Johnson’s poetic depictions of Black motherhood and childhood in the annual “Children’s Numbers” of The Crisis that appeared from 1912 to 1934.

The Selected Works of Georgia Douglas Johnson by Georgia Douglas Johnson