Eric Walrond is the unknown quantity among Negro authors. None is more ambitious than he, none more possessed of keener observation, poetic insight, or intelligence. There is no place in his consciousness for sentimentality, hypocrisy, or clichés. His prose demonstrates his struggles to escape from conventionalities and become an individual talent. But so far this struggle has not been crowned with any appreciable success.

WALLACE THURMAN, AUNT HAGAR’S CHILDREN (1930)