Writings of Carrie Williams Clifford and Carrie Law Morgan Figgs

Both writers from the pre-Harlem Renaissance era, Carrie Williams Clifford (1862-1934) and Carrie Law Morgan Figgs (1878-1968) were teachers and community leaders who saw in poetry a means of addressing racial concerns and promoting the betterment of the black race. The poems in Clifford's Race Rhymes (1911) and The Widening Light (1922) and Figgs's Poetic Pearls (1920) and Nuggets of Gold (1921) cover such issues as the Jim Crow laws, military and social contributions of African Americans, Christian ideals, and the injustice of racial prejudice. This collection also includes Figgs's Select Plays (1923).