INTRODUCTION

A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories is a collection of little-known short stories and narrative poems written by black writers, journalists, and political activists. These writings, originally published in African American newspapers, periodicals, and journals between 1880 and 1953, are part of the black literary tradition that flourished after the Civil War. This book includes eighteen Christmas stories and four Christmas poems. Six of the writings were published in the late nineteenth century. Fourteen were produced in the period from 1900 to 1939, and two between 1940 and 1953. More than one-third of the writings are from the 1920s and 1930s “New Negro” Harlem Movement, which found expression in what is popularly known as the Harlem Renaissance. The majority of the stories published in the last two decades of the nineteenth century are concerned with correcting the historical record as regards black life and history, and in instructing the black community and others about the political and social issues of the time.

One might ask, What is the nature and function of black literature, especially African American Christmas stories? Why did black political and social activists write Christmas poems and stories? In The Book of American Negro Poetry, published in 1922, James Weldon Johnson asserted that black people must create literature because it is a basic aspect of their struggle for equal rights and justice, and it serves as evidence of the African American’s intellectual potential.

Journalists, intellectuals, and various activists perceived Christmas as a perfect time to capture the attention of black readers. First celebrated by enslaved Africans, the holiday has evolved through generations who envisioned the birth of Christ as a new beginning and embraced Christianity as a means of survival. Following the Civil War, the holiday became a time for reunion with family and friends and a time for reflection on the successes and failures of families, black communities, and the race as a whole. It was a time for renewing relationships and sharing family stories. It was a time for giving thanks to God for their very existence.

Generations of African Americans have been entertained and dazzled by a stunning array of Christmas poems and stories written by, about, and primarily for black readers. Displaying amazing wit and humor, disclosing the innermost secrets of the black psyche, and probing the depths of African American life and thought, writers of all ages and of different persuasions used the Christmas theme to raise questions about the real meaning of the holiday. Some extolled the virtues of Christianity and stressed the importance of family and community, while others questioned America’s commitment to its black citizens. Many of the writers included in this anthology politicized the Christmas theme as a way of bringing attention to the plight of African Americans.

First introduced into American popular culture in the late eighteenth century as St. Nicholas, the mythical figure was popularized in the early nineteenth century as Santa Claus by a member of the New York Historical Society who distributed woodcuts featuring images of a portly white man filling stockings with toys and fruit over a fireplace. The figure grew in prominence as noted writers further embellished his image and wrote stories of his escapades. As giving gifts became a central part of the Christmas celebration, especially for children, stores promoted shopping during the holiday. By the 1850s, newspapers fashioned special sections for holiday advertisements that often featured images of Santa Claus, and stores displayed life-size Santa Claus models and introduced live Santa Clauses. Black and white children alike were mesmerized by stories of Santa Claus and his reindeer flying through the air and delivering gifts to them. The figure was used by parents to persuade their children to be on their best behavior.

During a time when African Americans were being lynched and denied their citizenship rights, it was problematic to have their children worshipping a white Santa Claus. But by the 1880s, it was no longer possible to simply ignore the ubiquitous and benevolent figure of Santa Claus, who invaded the streets of towns and cities, soliciting donations for the Salvation Army to pay for free Christmas meals for families in need. Early African American journalists and political activists intervened to present Christmas and Santa Claus as a way of exploring black cultural traditions and promoting love and hope.

I continue to be amazed at the profundity of the stories, poems, comics, and satirical sketches African American writers produced using the Christmas theme. Straddling the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this is the first anthology of African American Christmas stories to focus exclusively on stories and poems. This is the third volume of African American Christmas stories that I have compiled and edited. Each volume has been unique in terms of the themes, the writers, and the time period covered. The first publications comprised stories published between 1880 and 1940. This book, as a compilation of the best stories included in the first two volumes, plus five additional stories and narrative poems, includes writings from the earliest period to 1953. All of these Christmas stories were originally serialized in black-owned newspapers and periodicals such as the Christian Recorder, Indianapolis Freeman, Colored American Magazine, Baltimore Afro-American, Chicago Defender, Washington Bee, Crisis, and Opportunity—essential venues for the majority of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writers who were excluded from the white press. White publishers were more interested in black caricature than in addressing issues of economic, political, and social oppression of African Americans.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, writers such as Lelia Plummer, Augustus Hodges, and T. Thomas Fortune explored themes regarding the impact of slavery and freedom on the lives of black men and women in the North and South. For example, in “The Autobiography of a Dollar Bill,” Plummer utilizes the dollar bill as a metaphor for the enslaved African to examine human commodification in slavery. Fortune conveys critical concerns about definitions of black manhood and womanhood, and black male-female relationships in “Mirama’s Christmas Test.” Augustus Hodges displays unique insight into the multiple issues that engaged black and white Americans in the 1890s, including lynching, interracial relationships, and self-determination. In “Three Men and a Woman,” he uses historical fiction to explore the most critical issues of the time. Likewise in “The Christmas Reunion Down at Martinsville,” Hodges emphasizes the strength of the black family in slavery and freedom.

As a result of the Great Migration, the black population in New York City, in particular in Harlem, soared. By 1920, Harlem was recognized as a major center for black culture. It was there that the “New Negro Movement,” which became known as the Harlem Renaissance, began. African Americans, in celebrating their blackness and African heritage, became more vocal in challenging the notion and image of a white Christ. W. E. B. Du Bois, the editor of the Crisis, wrote “The Sermon in the Cradle,” in which he declares that Jesus is black! Well-known journalists such as Andrew Dobson used the Christmas theme to raise questions about the relationship of American values to existing patterns of segregation, discrimination, and lynching. For example, in “The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie,” Dobson speaks about trees “loaded with humans.” This exquisite and haunting narrative poem was published six years before Billie Holiday popularized “Strange Fruit,” a song about the Southern practice of lynching.

Pauline Hopkins, Adele Hamlin, and Valena Minor Williams demonstrate the evolution of African American Christmas narratives that reveal the broad and richly textured context of black life and history in the United States from 1900 to the 1950s, and also illustrate the impact of racial discrimination on the black family. Beginning with Hopkins’s “General Washington: A Christmas Story” and ending with Williams’s “White Christmas,” readers are afforded an opportunity to travel through time and become immersed in the essence of African American culture at the core.

The mythical image of Santa Claus permeates many of the poems and stories, as African Americans pondered the relevancy of the iconic figure to their lives. “Uncle U.S. Santa Claus,” and “Santa Claus Is a White Man” obviously reference Santa Claus; however, there are many more stories that explore the multidimensional Santa Claus theme. Whereas a few stories, such as “Elsie’s Christmas,” “Fannie May’s Christmas,” and “A Christmas Story,” consider questions regarding the identity and significance of Santa Claus in the lives of children. In the nineteenth century, Carrie Jane Thomas views Santa Claus as a force for good. Langston Hughes and John Henrik Clarke, products of the Harlem Renaissance era, deconstruct traditional Christmas values and themes by stripping away the veneer of the jolly old Santa Claus to expose the racist and anti-Christian views and practices that predominated in the white South during the 1930s and threatened the existence of African Americans. “White Christmas,” a 1950s story, signals the growing concern of African Americans with the exclusive portrayal of Santa Claus as white.

Gwendolyn Brooks, the recipient of many honors and awards, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, revealed, in a 1950 interview with the Baltimore Afro-American, that like most children she raised serious questions about the identity of Santa Claus, the “magnanimous figure clad in red and white who whirled over roofs with no trouble at all.” At Christmas in 1925 or 1926, Brooks recalls finding two sets of beautiful doll clothing under her Christmas tree. She knew that the clothes were made for her dolls, Gertrude and Sally, and told her mother which doll each set was for. “Oh, no,” her mother gently corrected her, it was quite the reverse. After an extended disagreement, her mother forgot herself and exclaimed, “I ought to know, because I made those clothes myself.” Embarrassed by her outburst, her mother tried to distract her child’s attention. However, Brooks privately relished the revelation. For her, that was the best Christmas ever, for “at last she knew who it was that deserved her gratitude.” Reminiscing about the event, Brooks asserted “It was pleasant to discover that it was my parents who loved me so much, and not a busy flying fairy.”

But the real meaning of Christmas, and its attendant images and practices, including Santa Claus, the legendary power of the kiss under the mistletoe, and the magical aura of the story of the Christ child, is in the happiness these beliefs, traditions, and practices bring both to children and adults, as well as in the values of sharing, caring, and loving that are annually celebrated and emphasized in the holiday’s traditional ceremonies and activities. For African Americans, Christmas is also steeped in race memory and heritage. Through this rich body of Christmas literature bequeathed to us, we are reminded once again of the complexity of the African American experience.

Although the plots of these Christmas stories are set in different time periods and explore subjects as diverse as slavery, the Civil War, marriage and family, lynching, and miscegenation, most reinforce traditional values and themes that have defined the meaning of Christmas for time immemorial. For example, Mary E. Lee, in “Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift,” stresses that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ and his gift to humanity. Bruce L. Reynolds, in “It Came to Pass,” and Louis Lorenzo Redding, in “A Christmas Journey,” emphasize that Christmas is about loving, sharing, caring, and forgiving.

This rich and complex collection of poems and stories reminds us once again of the enduring significance of the Christmas holiday among African Americans. We are allowed a glimpse into a past that highlights the love, hope, faith, aspirations, holiday traditions, family values, spirituality, and fears common to our ancestors yesterday and meaningful to us today.

In 1966, Ron (Maulana) Karenga created Kwanzaa, the first Pan-African holiday, to honor African heritage in African American culture. Kwanzaa, observed from December 26 to January 1, culminates in a feast and gift giving. Covering eighty years of black life and history, culture, expression, and thought, A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories, captures the essence of the black experience in all its forms. It is a wonderful resource for those who celebrate both the traditional Christmas and Kwanzaa.