African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital AnthologyMain MenuFull Text Collection: Books Published by African American Poets, 1870-1927Author Pages: Bios and Full Text CollectionsAreas of Interest: Topics and ThemesThe Beginnings of the Harlem Renaissance: Overview and Timeline of Key EventsBlack Poetry Before the Harlem Renaissance: Overview and TimelinePeriodicals: African American Poetry Published in MagazinesAfrican American Poetry: Anthologies of the 1920sExploring Datasets related to African American poetryAbout This Site: Mission Statement, Contributors, and Recent UpdatesFurther Reading / Works CitedAmardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
Clara Ann Thompson Photograph from Songs from the Wayside 1908
1media/clara ann thompson songs from the wayside photograph_thumb.jpg2023-06-01T11:00:19-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e12131Clara Ann Thompson Photograph from Songs from the Wayside 1908plain2023-06-01T11:00:19-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
Clara Ann Thompson was born, possibly in 1868, in Rossmoyne, Ohio. Both of her parents were formerly enslaved people. According to Mary Anne Stewart Boelcskevy, she was a member of the YWCA, the NAACP and was active in the Baptist Church. While her collection, Songs from the Wayside was self-published in 1908, some of her poems were anthologized in prominent collections, including the Walter Clinton Jackson/Newman Ivey White collection An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes (1924).
Songs from the Wayside contains a significant number of poems using Black vernacular English, referred to at the time as "dialect poetry." Dialect poetry was quite popular in the time, as many writers were influenced by the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, who published several volumes of dialect poetry starting in the 1890s. However, for some writers and critics in the 1910s and 20s the use of dialect would be considered passe.
