The making of a Black communist : the selected writings of Eugene Gordon / edited by Louis J. Parascandola.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gordon, Eugene, 1891-1974, author.

Contributor:

Parascandola, Louis J., 1952- editor.

Series:

African American intellectual history.

African American intellectual history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gordon, Eugene, 1891-1974.

Gordon, Eugene.

African American communists--Biography.

African American communists.

African American authors--Biography.

African American authors.

African Americans--Social conditions--20th century.

African Americans.

Communism--United States--History--20th century.

Communism.

African American press--History--20th century.

African American press.

American literature--African American authors.

American literature.

Harlem Renaissance--History.

Harlem Renaissance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 395 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Eugene Gordon (1891-1974) was a major writer involved in the development of the burgeoning Black literary scene in Boston in the 1920s, an active player in the Harlem Renaissance, and a longtime member of the Communist Party. Despite his credentials as a reporter, editor, fiction writer, and political activist, he is rarely mentioned in studies of the Harlem Renaissance or Marxist politics. Here, Louis Parascandola has pulled together Gordon's journalism, autobiographical writing, and fiction. This new collection, featuring both previously published pieces from a wide variety of publications as well as material that has never before been published, demonstrates his range and his skill while establishing his importance as a critical voice of his time. Gordon was born and raised in the South but made his way north at a young age. In Boston, he founded the Saturday Evening Quill Club, an African American literary group that included other notable writers such as Helene Johnson and Dorothy West. He later became editor of and contributor to two major publications coming out of the era: the Messenger and Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life. As he grew more political, he joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and became editor of and contributor to the New Masses. Scholars looking to research him have struggled to find disparate writings to get a fuller sense of his literary stylings as well as his political commitments. This welcome new volume establishes Gordon as a significant, understudied figure"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

A Note on the Selections and the Text

Autobiographical Writings

"Southern Boyhood Nightmares": International Literature (April 1934): 49-58

I. The Story of an American Childhood

II. A Thwarted Friendship

III. Georgia Christmas Morning

IV. A Negro Man of God

Excerpt "Once I Was Afraid": No Date, Unpublished Eugene Gordon Paper

I Learn Distrust

"New Orleans Negro Family": No Date, Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

"Killer at Large!,": No Date, Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

"Jim Peters' Black Boy": No Date, Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

"How Lt. Gordon Took His Seven Colored Heroes into the Jaws of Death-and Back Again: Boston Post (Sunday Supplement) (April 20, 1919): 40

Scouted Way to Cover

Heard Cry "American"

Prepared for Dangerous Trip

Meeting the First Enemy

The Officer Approaches

Fiction

"Rootbound,": Opportunity (September 1926): 279-83, 299

"Game,": Opportunity (September 1927): 264-69

II

III

IV

"Cold-Blooded": Saturday Evening Quill (June 1928): 48-51

"Buzzards": Opportunity (November 1928): 338-42

"Sarcophagus": Saturday Evening Quill (June 1929): 36-39

"The Agenda": Opportunity (December 1933): 372-74

January 1934): 18-22

"Good Thing It Wasn't a Cold Night,": Circa 1943: Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

"And I Ask, Why?": No Date, Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

Nonfiction

Excerpt "The Negro Press": American Mercury (June 1926): 207-15

"The Opportunity Dinner: An Impression": Opportunity (July 1927): 208-9

"The Negro's Inhibitions": American Mercury (February 1928): 159-64

V

"A Word in Closing": Saturday Evening Quill (June 1928): 72.

Excerpt "Christianity and the Negro": The Lantern (March 1929): 14-18

I

"The Negro Grows Up": Plain Talk (July 1929): 81-86

Excerpt "Negro Society": Scribner's Magazine (August 1930): 134-42

"The Legion Takes Boston": The Nation (Oc tober 29, 1930): 469-71

"The Negro's New Leadership": New Masses (July 1931): 14-15

"Scottsboro-and the Nice People": Labor Defender (August 1931): 157

"Negro Novelists and the Negro Masses": New Masses (July 1933): 16-20

"Blacks Turn Red," Negro: Edited by Nancy Cunard, Wishart &amp

Co., 1934

Excerpt "The Borden Case: The Struggle for Negro Rights in Boston": League of Struggle for Equal Rights (August 13, 1934)

Introduction

"The Position of Negro Women" (Gordon with Cyril Briggs): Workers Library Publishers, 1935

Fought for Better Conditions

N.R.A. "Blessings"

Largest Group in Domestic Service

Figures Conceal Terrific Exploitation

Unity of White and Negro Workers Essential

Oppression of Negroes Due to Capitalism

Discrimination Against Negro White-Collar Workers

Color Line Among Teachers

Effects of Unemployment

What Is to Be Done?

"From 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' to 'Stevedore' ": New Theatre (July 1935): 21-23

"How Prostitution Has Been Fought and Almost Completely Eliminated in the USSR": Moscow Daily News (April 14, 1937): 6

The Tsarist Heritage

Decrease in Venereal Diseases

New Principles

Taught to Work

"Alabama Authorities Ignore White Gang's Rape of Negro Mother": Daily Worker (November 19, 1944): 10

Hunt Attackers

All Exonerated

"Cult of the White Woman," 1944: Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers

Excerpt "Black Women's Long, Tough Course: From 'Dat Gal' Carline to This Woman Angela," 1972: Unpublished, Eugene Gordon Papers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781685751487

1685751482

OCLC:

1521495225