Umbra

Hope in a Time of Struggle

Umbra is the first literary magazine to be fully published by black authors, and was catered towards a black audience. Created in the 1960s, the magazine served a political purpose, intending to signify the necessity of radical change and the revelation of the hidden micro-aggression present in the segregated society at the time. The magazine was created by the Society of Umbra, a group of black artists with expertise ranging from poetry, music, and visual art. This formative piece led way for many other African American artists to have their voices heard and to be able to produce more work in a way that would not be hidden by the norms of society at the time.

Reflected in each iteration of the magazine is an inherent message that conveys a need for others to understand what it means to be black in America: "aesthetically, however, it was born of the black struggle."¹ Many of the poems in the book are dark and raw, with little to no filter covering the true struggles that African Americans faced during the 1960s. A pivotal piece in underlying the importance of social consciousness, Umbra was a concrete piece of history that showcased the true talent of African American artistic thought during a time that also challenged its very existence.

Aesthetic

There are numerous examples of how technology during the 1960s was used to demonstrate varying perspectives of aesthetic. The majority of the magazine is written boldly in evenly spaced, letters, with everything black and white, resembling that of a typewriter. Some pages have letters that are fully capitalized, while other pages do not have a single capital letter. Looking back at the entire page, it is challenging to find two pages with the same skeletal structure - particularly due to the seemingly arbitrary spacing between phrases. To add emphasis, certain words are underlined, while others are left in their own cluster of white space - a word is given emphasis through its position, spacing, and brevity. Accompanying some of the poems in text are images, usually portraits of African American individuals, or abstract drawings that span an entire page. The utilization of white space was essential for giving the poems a sense of independence from one another - though they may have been in the same book, it seems as if the publishers did not want all of the poems to be combined, rather they wanted the reader to see each poem and its message independently in its own light.

Calvin C. Hernton, 1960s-1970s.

Calvin C. Hernton: "Street Scene"

This short, concise poem written by Calvin C Hernton accentuates the way in which an individual can develop a perspective about reaching a goal. When reading the poem, everything can be said with one breath, nothing is more than two syllables except for the very last word. The tone of the poem starts out as hopeful and joyful, and within the span of two lines, transitions to a tone of anger and annoyance. The parallelism drawn between the treatment of the dream to the narrator can be likened to the concept of many people being unable to attain a goal that seems to be constantly out of reach. Viewing this through the perspective of technology, it can be seen that the use of a typewriter is important in denoting emphasis to each word.

Certain words have more spacing between them then other. Take, for example, the word “dream”, with more spacing away from it than the other words, more significance is given to it. Furthermore, the use of underlying words plainly adds more attention to them, and the noncontinuous formation of the line indicates a sense of gravity and sharpness. The spacing between each stanza gives the reader more time to comprehend the meaning of each phrase, and helps with the sudden transition between tones.

Joe Johnson: "Hiroshima Otra Vez"

This poem written by Joe Johnson describes in a dark manner the experiences and parallelisms between the Hiroshima bombing and the aspirations of what one can only assume to be an African American during the time this literary work was written. The use of diction with words such as “dripping tissue”, “red pain heat”, and “flowers ash” are symbolic of the excruciating pain and sorrow that many individuals may have experienced with the realization that the barriers placed in front of their dreams were simply too pressing to overcome.

In essence, the hellish description of physical pain from the Hiroshima bombing translates to the mental oppression that many African Americans faced during the creation of the Umbra magazine. The use of spacing between words adds weight to each individual word, giving the reader more time to digest the severity and harshness of every invoked emotion. Additionally, the typewriter font only adds to the darkness due to its robotic nature; the words of the poem hold such negative energy, but they are represented in the neutral, emotionless shape of typewriter font.

Part One

FIGURINE OF THE DREAM SOMETIMES NIGHTMARE

NIGHTDREAMS--BLACK …………...........................................................................................................................................................................…...Thomas C Dent

#3 …………………………………................................................................................................................................................................................…….…...Julian Bond

LANGSTON HUGHES……………………..............................................................................................................................................................…….…... Julian Bond

HIROSHIMA OTRA VEZ……………..……………...............................................................................................................................................................Joe Johnson

HELLO, GOODBYE………………………...............................................................................................................................................................……...…...Jay Socin

AN OCEAN’S ROAR OF PEACE……………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...Robert F Williams

SO HOW’RE YOU WEARING YOUR STRAITJACKET -- a play……………................................................................................................................. Oliver Pitcher

Part Two

BLUES AND BITTERNESS

BEING AND NOTHINGNES……….……………...................................................................................................................................................................Lerone Bennett

SOMETHIN’ BLUE……………………..................................................................................................................................................................…...………..Lerone Bennett

WE SHALL OVERCOME…………...……………....................................................................................................................................................................Robert Gore

THE LONG BLUES……………………...................................................................................................................................................................……….…...Calvin C Hernton

Part Three

TIME AND ATAVISM

TIME AND ATAVISM…….…………...........................................................................................................................................................…………...…...David Henderson

BANA…………………………………………....................................................................................................................................................................….…...LeRoy McLucas

RAY CHARLES…………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……………............…Julian Bond

MILES………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……………………………..............Julian Bond

ODE TO MILES…………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...………….…............Thomas C Dent

THE POET TALKS TO A FACE...........................................................................................................................................................….…...…..….......Lloyd Addison

THE LOVE MOVES IN……………...........................................................................................................................................................….….....…........Lloyd Addison

RESURRECTION BAY…………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……..........Raymond Patterson

Part Four

UMBRA THROUGH ETHOS

FLOODTIDE…………...........................................................................................................................................................….…..…...………………...…….Rolland Snellings

125th STREET……………………...........................................................................................................................................................….….........…...….Calvin C Hernton

STREET SCENE…………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...………...…........….Calvin C Hernton

LINDA YOU CAN’T DRIVE…...........................................................................................................................................................….…...…….....……Joe Johnson

SOUTH AFRIKA……………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……….…….......Lorenzo Thomas

TALE OF TWO CITIES……………...........................................................................................................................................................….….....…........Lorenzo Thomas

BLACK REINCARNATION………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……......Robert Gore

NEGOTIATION……………………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...…….........LeRoy McLucas

KICKS…………………………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...………...........….LeRoy McLucas

GRAPH………………………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...………….............LeRoy McLucas

POEM……………………………...........................................................................................................................................................….…...……….............Patricia Brooks

THE OFAY AND THE N*****............…..............................................................................................................................................................…....David Henderson

BLACK IS THE HOME……………..............................................................................................................................................................….…...….......David Henderson

Cited Sources

*All sources, unless otherwise stated, are collected from the Emory Rose Rare Book Library Collection

¹“Umbra.” From a Secret Location, 6 Feb. 2017, https://fromasecretlocation.com/umbra/.

Johnson, Charles. “Calvin Coolidge Hernton (1932-2001) • BlackPast.” BlackPast, 15 Aug. 2019, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/calvin-coolidge-hernton-1932-2001/.

“Joe Johnson.” The Center for the Humanities, https://www.centerforthehumanities.org/programming/participants/joe-johnson.

“Glossary of Poetic Terms.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms?page=4.

Purdue Writing Lab. “Variation // Purdue Writing Lab.” Purdue Writing Lab, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/creative_writing/pattern_and_variation_in_poetry/variation.html.