Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1852-1916), from The Crisis (April 1916), 291. Courtesy Marxists.org.
Henrietta Cordelia Ray (August 30, 1852 - January 5, 1916) was an African-American poet and teacher.[1]
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Ray was born in New York City, and grew up in a family of 7 children of Charlotte Augusta (Burrough) and Charles Bennett Ray, a leading abolitionist.[1] Her father, who began as a blacksmith, rose to become the editor of the Colored American (the 3rd black-owned newspaper in America), and also served as minister of the Bethesda Congregational Church from 1845 to 1865.[2]
She graduated from the City University of New York in 1891 and from the Sauvener School of Languages.[1]
Career[]
Ray taught in the New York City public school system for many years.[1]
Her earliest published book was a collaboration with her sister Florence, a biography of their father.[3] Sketch of the Life of Rev. Charles B. Ray, which appeared in 1887, was widely praised.[1]
Her debut collection of poetry, Sonnets, was published in 1893. A 2nd volume, Poems (which included Sonnets) was published in 1910.[1]
Ray was widely praised in her time for her refined manners and Classical learning. In Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction published in 1926, Hallie Quinn Brown remarked on her “versatility, love of nature, classical knowledge, delicate fancy, and unaffected piety."[3]
Writing[]
The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing describes the 12 poems of Sonnets (1893) as "Petrarchan sonnets ... on topics such as Niobe, life, aspiration, self-mastery, Shakespeare, Milton, Beethoven, and Raphael. Unfortunately, there are very few verses that display any complexity or innovation."[3]
Poems (1910) was a more ambitious collection of 145 poems, grouped in 10 sections.[3]
Her sonnet on Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Overture is notable for its engagement in black politics (mainly absent from her verse) and for its allusions to Wordsworth's famous sonnet "To Touissaint L'Overture":[4]
Emancipation Memorial (Freedmen's Monument), Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. Photo by National Park Service, 1900. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Recognition[]
Ray came to attention as a writer with her poem "Lincoln: Written for the occasion of the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln,"[3] which was publicly read at the unveiling of that monument (now the Emancipation Memorial) in Washington, D.C. in April 1876.[5]
Her volume of Poems was reprinted in Collected Black Women's Poetry, volume 3 of the Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers.[3]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Lincoln; written for the occasion of the unveiling of the freedmen's monument in memory of Abraham Lincoln (chapbook). New York: Press of J.J. Little, 1893.
- Sonnets (chapbook). New York: Press of J.J. Little, 1893.
- Poems. New York: Grafton Press, 1910
- also published in Collected Black Women's Poetry (edited by Joan R. Sherman). Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Non-fiction[]
- Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Charles B. Ray (with Florence T. Ray). New York: Press of J.J. Little, 1897.
Aspiration by Henrietta Cordelia Ray
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[6]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Henrietta Ray, A Fine Black Poet and Biographer, African American Registry, Web, Nov. 20, 2012.
- ↑ H(enrietta) Cordelia Ray Biography, Dictionary of Literary Biography (Thomson-Gale 2005--2006), BookRags Inc., Web, Nov. 20, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Henrietta Cordelia Ray, Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the US (Oxford University Press, 1995). Web, Nov. 20, 2012.
- ↑ Ray, Henrietta Cordelia, "To Touissaint L'Overture" at Poetry Foundation.
- ↑ Henrietta Cordelia Ray 1849-1916, Poetry Foundation. Web, June 2, 2021.
- ↑ Search results = au:Henrietta Cordelia Ray, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 21, 2015.
External links[]
- Poems
- Henrietta Cordelia Ray 1849-1916 at the Poetry Foundation
- Henrietta Cordelia Ray (6 poems) at the Academy of American Poets
- The Procession of the Seasons" (12 poems): "January," "February," "March," "April," "May," "June," "July," "August," "September," "October," "November," "December"
- Henrietta Cordelia Ray Poems at Inspirational Poetry
- Henrietta Cordelia Ray at AllPoetry (6 poems)
- Audio / video
- Books
- H. Cordelia Ray at Amazon.com
- About
- Ray, H. Cordelia (c.1849-1916) at Encyclopedia.com
- Henrietta Ray: A fine black poet and biographer at the African American Registry
- Henrietta Cordelia Ray at Find a Grave
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