Lewis Alexander

Lewis Grandison Alexander (July 4, 1898 – November 25, 1945) was an African-American poet, actor, playwright, and costume designer born in Washington, D.C., whose work placed him among the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Though he pursued theater throughout his life, it is his poetry for which he is primarily remembered.

Alexander received his early education in the Washington public school system. By the age of 17 he had begun writing poetry, developing a particular interest in Japanese forms, including haiku — then referred to as hokku — and tanka, making him one of few Black American poets to work in those styles. He went on to study at Howard University, where he was an active member of the Howard Players, the institution's theater group, and later continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania.

His literary reputation was built through consistent publication alongside major Harlem Renaissance figures. Between 1925 and 1929, Alexander appeared multiple times in Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, a literary magazine edited by Charles S. Johnson. His first appearance in that publication placed his work alongside poems by Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. His poem "Enchantment" was included in Alain Locke's landmark anthology The New Negro, and his most frequently anthologized piece, "Negro Woman," appeared in Opportunity on at least two occasions. In 1927, Alexander contributed two poems — "Little Cinderella" and "Streets" — to the single published issue of Fire!!, a literary quarterly he helped create with Hughes and other writers, which ceased publication after its headquarters burned. That same year, a set of eight tanka by Alexander appeared in Carolling Dusk, an anthology edited by Countee Cullen. In October 1926, his work was featured in a special issue of The Palms, a poetry journal based in Guadalajara, Mexico, also edited by Cullen, which included his "A Collection of Japanese Hokku" and the poem "Dream Song."

Alexander's engagement with Japanese poetic forms extended to critical writing as well. In December 1923, he published an article on hokku in The Crisis, drawing on the work of John Gould Fletcher and including fourteen original English-language hokku. Additional collections of hokku followed in Opportunity in September 1925 and in Black Opals in December 1927.

Although Alexander lived in Washington rather than New York, he participated actively in Harlem Renaissance networks and extended their influence to other cities. In Philadelphia he was associated with writers published in the Black Opals literary magazine, and in Boston he appeared in the Saturday Evening Quill. He also served as honorary editor for special issues of The Carolina Magazine at the University of North Carolina, helping select works from Crisis and Opportunity for its Negro Poetry Numbers and Negro Play Numbers; the continued issues of the Negro Poetry Numbers were dedicated to him.

Alexander's theater work was equally wide-ranging. After his time with the Howard Players, he directed productions at the Randall Community Center in Washington and for the Ira Aldridge Players. He studied and toured with the Ethiopian Art Theatre. During the company's 1923 tour, which included Broadway engagements, Alexander appeared in Oscar Wilde's Salome and William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.