Index of Selected Contributors
Adams, Cyrus Field (1858-1942)
Newspaper publisher and educator Cyrus Field Adams contributed numerous articles to the Colored American, the majority of them profiles of notable African American men. Adams is himself profiled in two issues of the magazine, briefly in the September 1900 issue (along with illustration, seen here) and at greater length in the December 1901 issue.
The Afro-American Council, March 1903
Bishop Alexander Walters, D.D., September 1903
Col. William A. Pledger, June 1902
George L. Knox, October 1902
Harry C. Smith: Editor of The Cleveland Gazette, March 1903
John C. Danty: Editor, Author, Orator, January 1903
John Mitchell, Jr., March 1902
Rev. I. B. Scott, D.D., May 1902
Some Interesting Facts, July 1902
Timothy Thomas Fortune: Journalist, Author, Lecturer, Agitator, January-February 1902
Allen, Sarah A.
Braithwaite, William Stanley (1878–1962)
The Boston-born African American poet William Stanley Braithwaite was a prolific contributor to many periodicals in addition to the Colored American, including the Atlantic Monthly and the Boston Evening Transcript, where he later served as literary editor. Late in his career he taught creative writing at Atlanta University. His portrait (seen here) appeared in the May 1901 issue.
Book Reviews, November 1901; January-February 1902; June 1902
A Group of Lyrics, February 1904
Holly Berry and Mistletoe: Lyrics, December 1901
In My Lady’s Praise, August 1903
Keepers of the Temple, September 1909
A Leave Taking, September 1901
A Little Song, September 1901
Love Lyrics (“A Little World,” “Two on the Cliffs”), September 1901
Love’s Wayfaring, August 1902
The Quality of Color, May 1902
Lyrics for June, June 1902
Near the End of April, May 1904
The Returning Road of Dreams, May 1904, July 1904
A Song of Living, January 1909
Thanksgiving, November 1901
To Beatrice, September 1901
Corrothers, James D. (1869–1917)
Boxer-turned-poet James D. Corrothers was profiled (with portrait, seen here) in the article “Three Negro Poets” in the April 1901 issue.
An Awful Problem Solved, November 1903
A Dixie Thanksgivin’ (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
The Gift of the Greatest God, December 1901
Greatness, March 1902
Juny at the Gate, May 1902
The Lost Pearl, March 1904
Me ‘N’ Dunbar, July 1901
Ministerial Courtesy, August 1904
The Psalm of a Race, March 1903
The River in the Dells, July 1904
The Snapping of the Bow, May 1901
A Thanksgivin’ Turkey (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
To ——– (A Sonnet), November 1901
Years That Are to Come, January 1905
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1868-1963)
Writer, scholar, activist, and editor of the Crisis William Edward Burghardt Du Bois contributed only a handful of texts to the Colored American. His photograph appears in the May 1904 and November 1909 issues (the latter seen here).
Georgia Negroes, May 1909
Industrial Education: Will It Solve the Negro Problem?, May 1904
Long in Darke, November 1909
Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906)
Poet and novelist Paul Laurence Dunbar was profiled with photograph (seen here) in the article “Three Negro Poets” in the April 1901 issue. The article incorporated six of Dunbar’s poems, and many other Dunbar poems appeared–often more than once–in future issues of the Colored American. Dunbar is perhaps best known for his poems “We Wear the Mask” and “Sympathy” (with its famous line “I know why the caged bird sings”) and his novel The Sport of the Gods (1902).
Accountability (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901 (rpt. January 1907)
Beyond the Years, January 1908
By the Stream, June 1908
The Colored Soldiers, December 1906 (rpt. August 1909)
Compensation, January 1905
Disappointed, June 1908
Foolin’ Wif de Seasons (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
Frederick Douglass, February-March 1908 (rpt. February 1909)
If, July 1908
John Greenleaf Whittier, December 1907
Life (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
A Plea (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
Preparation, March 1909
Religion, March 1907
Retrospection, May 1907
Soliloquy of a Turkey, January 1907
Spring Song, April 1907 (rpt. April 1908)
Time to Tinker Roun’ (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
Unexpressed, January 1907
With the Lark (in “Three Negro Poets”), April 1901
Elliott, R. S.
The Story of Our Magazine, May 1901
Fortune, Timothy Thomas (1856-1928)
Journalist, editor of the New York Age, and one of the founders of the National Afro-American League, Fortune was profiled in the January-February 1902 and March 1906 issues. His portrait appeared in numerous issues: January-February 1902 (seen here), March 1903, January 1904, May 1904 (cover), August 1905, December 1905, March 1906, August 1906, December 1906, August 1907, October 1907, and June 1909.
Abraham Lincoln (poem), January-February 1902
Abraham Lincoln (essay), March 1906
The Afro-American Political Giant, December 1905
As Romeo Was in Juliet’s Power, September 1904
The Aspirations of the Soul,December 1906
The Diamond in the Clay, November 1904
Douglass, The Orator, February 1909
The Elsmeres, March 1906
False Theory of Education Cause of Race Demoralization, July 1904
I Make My Bed of Roses, July 1907
Industrial Education: Will It Solve the Negro Problem?, January 1904
Intermarriage and Natural Selection, June 1909
Lincoln, February 1907 (rpt. February 1909)
Love’s Dominating Power, July 1902
Love’s Divinest Power, December 1906 (rpt. January 1909)
Moses’ Magic Wand, August 1904
The Pyramids, January 1906
The Tree of Tears, November 1909
The Way of the World, October 1904
We Know No More, April 1908
What a Magazine Should Be, June 1904
What Does the White South Expect from the Black South?, December 1906
Freund, John C. (1848-1924)
A white patron of the magazine who appears to have been instrumental in Hopkins’s removal as editor, John Christian Freund was the subject of Hopkins’s “How a New York Newspaper Man Entertained a Number of Colored Ladies and Gentlemen at Dinner in the Revere House, Boston, and How the Colored American League was Started,” March 1904. His portrait appears in the September 1905 issue.
A Trip to Paradise: Being the Experience of a New Yorker in the Island of Jamaica — Part I, January 1904; Part II, February 1904; Part III, March 1904; Part IV, April 1904; Part V, May 1904; Part VI, June 1904; Part VII, July 1904. Illustrated with numerous photographs by Freund.
Hall, Charles Winslow (1843-1916)
The Eighth Illinois, U.S.V., June 1900
Fascinating Bible Stories — I. Adam and Eve, November 1900; II. Noah and the Flood, December 1900; III. Abraham and Isaac, January 1901; IV. Hagar and Ishmael, February 1901; V. Esau and Jacob, April 1901; VI. Joseph and Benjamin, May 1901; VII. Joseph and Moses, or Israel in Egypt, June 1901; VIII. Moses and Aaron, Part I, July 1901; IX. Moses and Aaron, Part II, August 1901; X. Joshua Defeats the Amalekites, September 1901; XI. The Giving of the Law, November 1901; XII. The Tribute of Beltasar: A Christmas Tale of the Three Magi, December 1901; XIII. The Defeat at Hormah, January-February 1902; XIV. The Death of Moses, March 1902; XV. The Fall of Jericho, June 1902
The Old or the New Faith, Which?, August 1900
Racial Hatred, September 1900
Hamedoe, S.E.F.C.C.
Rarely, the last name is printed as Hammedoe.
The Afridis Rebellion of Central India, September 1902
Cetawajo, King of Zululand, April 1901
The First Pan-African Conference of the World, September 1900
General Dodds and the Conquest of Dahomey, March 1902
The King of Ashanti and his 3333 Wives, September 1901
Ithamar, The Land of the Palm, July 1902
The Lesser Antilles: Life and Customs of the Colored Inhabitants, June 1902
Major-General Antonio Maceo, November 1900
Menelik, Emperor of Abyssinia, December 1900
Osceola, The Great Seminole, May 1901
Plixixit, the Palenachendeskies Kikoo of Arthabasca, January 1904
President of the Republic of Hayti, October 1901
Rainilaiarivony, Prime Minister of Madagascar, June 1901
El Sr. Don Jose Rizal, April 1904
Seyyid Barghash Bin Said, August 1901
Six Hawaiian Kings, November 1901
The Story of the Christian King Khame, — Part I, February 1901; Part II, March 1901
Tamasese and Mataafa, July 1901
The Total Negro Population of the World, July 1901
Hopkins, Pauline E. (1859-1930)
Novelist, essayist, editor, and playwright, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins was the most prolific contributor to the Colored American Magazine and during its first four years served in various editorial capacities, including editor of the Women’s Department (beginning June 1900), literary editor (she is first named as such in the May-June 1903 issue), and eventually editor-in-chief (she is identified as the magazine’s “editress” in the March 1904 issue, although still listed as literary editor in that issue’s masthead). A lengthy feature story on Hopkins appears in the January 1901 issue, as well as a photograph (seen here). A briefer profile, also with photograph, appears in “The Story of Our Magazine,” May 1901. Hopkins was forced out as editor in 1904 when the magazine was moved from Boston to New York. Her resignation from the magazine, putatively for health reasons, was announced in the November 1904 issue. Hopkins later wrote for the Voice of the Negro, co-founded the short lived New Era Magazine (1916), and worked as a stenographer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She died tragically on August 13, 1930, from burn injuries she suffered in her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“As The Lord Lives” (A Tale of the Southwest), November 1903
Bro’r Abr’m Jimson’s Wedding, December 1901
Charles Winter Wood (as J. Shirley Shadrach), September 1902
A Dash for Liberty, August 1901
Echoes from the Annual Convention of Northeastern Federation, October 1903
Elijah William Smith, December 1902
Famous Men of the Negro Race (series; title first applied to the fourth installment) — I. Toussaint L’Overture, November 1900; II. Hon. Frederick Douglass, December 1900; III. William Wells Brown, January 1901; IV. Robert Browne Elliott, February 1901; V. Edwin Garrison Walker, March 1901; VI. Lewis Hayden, April 1901; VII. Charles Lenox Remond, May 1901; VIII. Sargeant Wm. H. Carney, June 1901; IX. Hon. John Mercer Langston, July 1901; X. Senator Blanche K. Bruce, August 1901; XI. Robert Morris, September 1901; XII. Booker T. Washington, A.M., October 1901
Famous Women of the Negro Race (series) — I. Phenomenal Vocalists, November 1901; II. Sojourner Truth, December 1901; III. Harriet Tubman (Moses), January-February 1902; IV. Some Literary Workers, March 1902; V. Literary Workers, April 1902; VI. Educators, May 1902; VII. Educators (cont’d), June 1902; VIII. Educators (concluded), July 1902; IX. Club Life among Colored Women, August 1902; X. Artists, September 1902; XII. Higher Education of Colored Women in White Schools and Colleges, October 1902
Furnace Blasts (as J. Shirley Shadrach) — I. The Growth of the Social Evil Among All Classes and Races in America, February 1903; II. Black or White?, March 1903
General Washington (A Christmas Story), December 1900
Hagar’s Daughter (serial; as Sarah A. Allen) — Part I, March 1901; Part II, April 1901; Part III, May 1901; Part IV, June 1901; Part V, July 1901; Part VI, August 1901; Part VII, September 1901; Part VIII, October 1901; Part IX, November 1901; Part X, December 1901; Part XI, January-February 1902; Part XII, March 1902
Heroes and Heroines in Black, January 1903
How a New York Newspaper Man Entertained a Number of Colored Ladies and Gentlemen at Dinner in the Revere House, Boston, and How the Colored American League was Started, March 1904
Latest Phases of the Race Problem in America (as Sarah A. Allen), February 1903
Mr. Alan Kirkland Soga (as Sarah A. Allen), February 1904
Mr. M. Hamilton Hodges (as Sarah A. Allen), March 1904
Mrs. Sharp’s School for African Girls (as J. Shirley Shadrach), March 1904
Munroe Rogers, November 1902
The Mystery Within Us, May 1900
A New Profession (as Sarah A. Allen), September 1903
Of One Blood (serial) — Part I, November 1902; Part II, December 1902; Part III, January 1903; Part IV, February 1903; Part V, March 1903; Part VI, May-June 1903; Part VII, July 1903; Part VIII, August 1903; Part IX, September 1903; Part X, October 1903; Part XI, November 1903
Reminiscences of the Life and Times of Lydia Maria Child — Part I, February 1903; Part II, March 1903; Part III, May-June 1903
Rev. John Henry Dorsey (as J. Shirley Shadrach), October 1902
A Retrospect of the Past (excerpt from her novel Contending Forces), November 1900
Talma Gordon, October 1900
The Test of Manhood (as Sarah A. Allen), December 1902
Whittier, the Friend of the Negro, September 1901
William Pickens (as J. Shirley Shadrach), July 1903
Winona (serial) — Part I, May 1902; Part II, June 1902; Part III, July 1902; Part IV, August 1902; Part V, September 1902; Part VI, October 1902
Women’s Department, June 1900
Moore, Fred R. (1857-1943)
An associate of Booker T. Washington, Moore edited the Colored American Magazine from 1905 until its demise in 1909. He was instrumental in transforming the magazine from the literary magazine it had become under Hopkins’s leadership to one oriented to business. Photographs of Moore appear in the following issues: October 1904, August 1905, February 1906, August 1906, and January 1907 (seen here).
Mr. Moore Thanks His Friends for Support, September 1905
The National Negro Business League, March 1906
Negro Business Enterprises in New York, July 1904
Organizing Local Business Leagues, October 1904
Moore Smith, Albreta (Alberta)
The magazine’s Chicago correspondent, Albreta Moore Smith is profiled, with photograph (seen here), in “The Story of Our Magazine,” May 1901. The article states that the “energetic and businesslike” Moore Smith had also published work in several Chicago newspapers, and that she came from a distinguished family, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Moore, being two of “the most prominent citizens of Chicago.” In the Colored American Magazine her name is usually given as Albreta but it is sometimes given as Alberta, and her last name is sometimes hyphenated.
An Answer to “Mr. Roosevelt’s Negro Policy,” March 1903
Catering and Chas. H. Smiley of Chicago, July 1901
Chicago Notes, December 1900, April 1901, June 1901, August 1901
A Few Essential Business Qualities, May 1902
Noted Business Women of Chicago, July 1903
A Plea for Missionary Work and Workers, February 1903
Why?, October 1901
Woman’s Development in Business, March 1902
Osborne, Maitland Leroy (1871-1960)
Maitland Leroy Osborne is noteworthy as the author of The Stress of Impulse, the first serialized novel to appear in the Colored American Magazine in August 1900-January 1901. His writings also appeared under the pen name O. S. Borne. Census records indicate that Osborne was white, that he resided in New England, and that he worked in publishing. In addition to his writings for the Colored American Magazine, Osborne published fiction, political essays, and poems in other periodicals, particularly the National Magazine, and published a book of poetry, Pipe Dreams, in 1908. Click to read a biographical sketch by Hanna Wallinger.
Belgian Hares for Pleasure and Profit (with Alex Hannum), April 1901
The God of Terror, June 1900
Putnam’s Wolf Den (as O. S. Borne), August 1900
The Stress of Impulse (serial) — Part I, August 1900; Part II, September 1900; Part III, October 1900; Part IV, November 1900; Part V, December 1900; Part VI, January 1901
A Wild Mountain Rose, May 1900
Shadrach, J. Shirley
Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915)
Orator, author, and founder of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington was the subject of the final installment of Hopkins’s Famous Men of the Negro Race series, October 1901. The tone is notably lukewarm. Washington and his views were a subject of frequent comment in the pages of the Colored American and a complete listing exceeds the scope of this index, although notable is a laudatory poem by George Reginald Margetson in the March 1909 issue. The image here is taken from the October 1901 issue, but Washington’s likeness can be found in countless issues, including advertising pages, with increasing frequency after Hopkins’s ouster in 1904.
Abraham Lincoln, April 1909
The African at Home, October 1909
Honor the Memory of Two Great Poets, September 1907 (with Charles Young)
Industrial Education: Will It Solve the Negro Question?, February 1904
A Most Encouraging Convention, June 1907
A Negro College Town, October 1907
The Negro in Business, February 1906
The Negro in Politics, June 1906
A Negro Potato King, June 1904
Prohibition and the Negro, May 1908
The Storm Before the Calm, September 1900
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler (1850-1919)
One of the most popular American poets of her day, Ella Wheeler Wilcox is perhaps best remembered for the opening lines of her poem “Solitude” (1883): “Laugh and the world laughs with you, / Weep, and you weep alone.” A white author, Wilcox frequently took up the issue of racial injustice in her poems, several of which appeared in the Colored American Magazine. Despite, or perhaps because of, her popular success, her reputation declined after her death. Some writers of the next generation used her name as shorthand for (what they deemed) inartistic, popular poetry, and one of her poems was selected by Wyndham Lewis for inclusion in The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse (1930).
Albert Topping, Horseman, March 1906
The Black Man’s Claim, November 1902
The Difference, October 1903
“Heredity,” May 1904
The Negro and the Church, June 1902
On the Making of Homes, July 1905
The Voices of the People, October 1902