This collection is located on-site.
Master's thesis produced by May Randall entitled "The New Negro Poet" for her degree in English from the University of Chicago in the late 1920s. The thesis examines black poets of the Harlem Riennaisance and the collection includes a photocopy of her thesis, and the original letters from 39 Dlack poets of the time, all personal correspondence with Ms Randall regarding her thesis, which she Dlanned to submit for publication. The poets include many of the leading lights: Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Claude McKay, plus 35 lesser known authors. Most of the letters are giving her permission to publish their work, but they also referred her to other poets, and gave her contact information so she could include them. The letters are friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic about the idea that her thesis might become a published book.
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This collection is located on-site.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); May Randall and the New Negro Poet Collection; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Biographical sketch of May Randall by Ingrid N. Kelley: May Randall was my mother's aunt; my grandfather's sister. She was born on December 24, 1890 in Osage City, Kansas. She distanced herself completely from the family for some reason lost to time, and lived an independent life on Vashon Island, Washington. She never married. I don't know the date of her death, but it was in the early 1970's. My only memory of her was the boxes of holly from her property she sent at Christmas for several years, when I was in my teens.
Aunt May earned a bachelor's degree, and was a counselor and English teacher at Broadway High School in Seattle. When she was in her early forties, she earned a Master's Degree in English from the University of Chicago. Her Master's thesis was The New Negro Poets, all that is left of her project is a photocopy of her thesis in advanced editing stage, and the original letters she received from the poets she featured in her work. I am donating these papers to Columbia University, for their Harlem Renaissance archive. Unfortunately, we don't have any of her research notes or copies of her letters to the poets. The incongruity of a middle aged, female English teacher from Seattle taking on a Master's thesis project about the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance can only be explained by looking at how she responded to her father's work as a Methodist Minister.
Her father, Edwin M Randall, DOD, had an adventurous life, and a distinguished career with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his early years, he took off for the Alaska Gold Rush with his view camera and his interest in bringing spiritual counseling to the godless miners. When he returned to Seattle, he settled down to church work, and became involved in church leadership. He was General Secretary of the Epworth League from 1904 to 1912, and a delegate to the General Conference. Then, from 1916 to 1920, he was a member of the Committee on Unification of the Northern and Southern Synods of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The main challenge to this committee was the racism being demonstrated by members of the Northern Synod who opposed unification because there were many black congregations in the Southern Synod. Dr. Randall worked hard for the Synod unification because he believed strongly in equality of the races as part of his ministry. He was an unusual man for his time in this regard, and it is evident that he taught both his children to work for equality as well. May's brother, Edwin T. Randall, DOD, would devote much of his life working for civil rights. Among his contributions was the considerable time he spent in the 1960's traveling around the South in his VW Bug interviewing civil rights leaders, and making radio programs for the American Friends Service Committee. He championed equality to his children as well. His daughter, my mother, and my father (a first generation Swedish immigrant) were committed to the Civil Rights movement, and I also grew up with this issue in the forefront of my social awareness.
It's not unlikely that Aunt May, steeped in the importance of racial equality, felt she needed to make a contribution to the cause. As an English teacher, she was interested in Harlem Renaissance literature and wanted particularly to promote the work of Black poets. She was very impressed with the sophistication of the poetry, particularly in view of the fact that Black people were denied education until the late 19th century. She felt that these poets had made a remarkable job catching up to their white counterparts, and had added an important piece to American literature. She was very concerned about difficulties Black poets had being taken seriously by the White literary establishment. She hoped to publish the thesis, but publishers were not warm to the idea. One told her they already had a book of Black poetry on their list.
When I first read the thesis and the letters, I realized that she had accomplished something incredible. She had built a collegial network of relationships with Black poets around the country who would pass her name on to others, and would refer her to poets she needed to contact. The poets themselves were also hoping she would find a publisher, and it must have been a bitter realization both to her and to the poets that the world was not yet ready for the their perceptions and stories.
May Randall's thesis project was a courageous undertaking for her time, particularly for a woman. She was unable to publish her work, which drove me to organize these few papers, and to donate them to a library where Harlem Renaissance scholars could access them. She introduced me to an amazing group of poets whom I would love to have met, as 1 would love to have met her. I am making this donation in her honor.
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