Melvin Beaunorus Tolson is an African-American Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and playwright whose work concentrated on the experience of African- Americans and includes several poetic histories. He lived during the Harlem Renaissance and, although he was not a participant, his work reflects its influences. Tolson's year at Columbia University from 1931 to 1932 on a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship put him in Harlem at the end of the Harlem Renaissance thus his becoming friendly with many of the writers who were associated with it most notably Langston Hughes and got inspired to develop his poetic talent. Read more...
