African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital Anthology

H. Cordelia Ray (Author Page)

H. Cordelia Ray (1852-1916) (Henrietta Cordelia Ray) was born and raised in New York City. Her parents were well-known abolitionists involved in the Underground Railroad. Ray received a Masters in Pedagogy from what is now the City University of New York in 1876. 

Ray published a book of Sonnets in 1893, simply called Sonnets. These same poems were reprinted as a section of her 1910 volume Poems, included below. 

Ray's poem "Lincoln" was read at the unveiling of the Emancipation Monument in Washington, DC in 1876. Also see her various tribute poems to Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Toussaint L'Ouverture, all from her 1910 collection. 

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