By Sarah Turner
An impactful poet can exude extensive meaning with little wording. And with small but emotionally powerful poems, Bernice Love Wiggins speaks volumes. Being Black in the United States was painful enough during the 1920s and ‘30s, but being a Black woman brought Wiggins its own set of challenges, extra prejudice, and constant heartaches, difficulties she expressed through thoughtful verse.
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, but racism prevailed due to the abundance of people who disagreed with the changes. This was especially true in the South and, perhaps, more so in Texas. While most of the U.S. sought to outlaw slavery during the Civil War, Texas fought long and hard to keep slave laws intact, making it one of the most hostile states for Black people. Some do not know why the Lone Star State finally decided to secede, but after it seceded from the Union in 1861, racism began exiting very slowly along with other states. Sadly, it’s still not completely eradicated in the U.S.
Martin Luther King Jr. preached against complacency and violent protest in the 1960s, emphasizing the Black community’s need for symmetry through nonviolent protest, an act that Wiggins beautifully orchestrated in the 1920s through the written, poetic word. She artfully demonstrated her intelligence, perceptiveness, and inner drive to pursue justice and peace. Although not widely known, she touched the hearts of the few people who read her poems; they better understood the Black community’s plight and feelings of oppression, despair, and anxiety during her time. They understood better because her poems, masterfully written, exude tremendous emotion in short yet powerful lines.
Image caption: Bernice Love Wiggins, cover of Tuneful Tales, courtesy of Amazon.com
Born March 4, 1987, in Austin, Texas, not much is written or known about Wiggins; in fact, there is very little information on her life and works. Wiggins, it appears, never lived with her father, Jessie Austin Love, a college-educated Black poet and laborer who also directed Sunday school for the local Holiness Church in Austin. A 1905 book of poems entitled A Scroll of Facts and Advice by Josie Briggs Hall, a Black schoolteacher, published writer and poet, features Jessie Austin Love’s work. Nothing is known about her mother, Josephine Johnson, other than she died in 1903, leaving Wiggins orphaned at age five. Wiggins then went to live with her aunt, Margaret Spiller, in El Paso, Texas. Spiller did not own a home library, but Wiggins’ first-grade teacher, Alice Lydia McGowan, noticed Wiggins’ knack for inventing and reciting rhythmical lines and encouraged her to write.
Wiggins attended the segregated Douglass Grammar and High School, the only African American secondary educational institution in El Paso, named after abolitionist Fredrick Douglas, which served El Paso Black students from 1891 to 1920. While at Douglass, Wiggins admittingly learned “some-thing [sic] of the art of versification,” a hindrance rather than an advantage, for her weakest poems model the “white writing” conventions of the time. Wiggins soon developed a reputation as a poet by reading her poems within her community. Her poem “Miss Annie’s Prayer” was written for piano accompaniment, and “Church Folks,” a satire in dialect, is immortalized by J. Mason Brewer, a folklorist and critic. He not only published it but often used it for several decades as his opening to his speeches.
Wiggins resided in El Paso from 1903 to the early or mid-1930s, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, “an explosion of Black literary, musical, and artistic creativity centered in New York City, [attracting] national attention to the cultural and political aspirations of African Americans,” states a 2002 El Paso Times article. In 1915, Wiggins married Allen D. Wiggins of Terrell, Texas, a construction foreman who had moved to El Paso.
The El Paso Herald, the Chicago Defender, the Houston Informer, the New York Amsterdam News, the Half-Century Magazine, and Brewer’s own Heralding Dawn, An Anthology of Verse in 1936 published some of Wiggins’ poems with positive reviews. Brewer says she was the best of her contemporaries and often compared her to Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first influential Black poets in American literature and internationally acclaimed for his historic verse in collections such as Majors and Minors from 1895.
In 1925, Wiggins self-published her anthology Tuneful Tales, edited by Maceo C. Daily and Ruth Winegarten, her only book of poetry. It showcases her proficiency in poetry, but, ironically, even then, she remained largely unknown. According to the Texas State Historical Association, “Scholars agree that the contributing factors to her relative obscurity and limited recognition as a poet were the remoteness of her physical location in El Paso (which was far from the centers of literary activity in the United States) and the fact that her single book of poetry was self-published. ”Tuneful Tales contains Wiggins’ entire known body of work, comprised of 102 poems, a third of which is dialect pieces in the vein of Dunbar’s style and tone. In fact, her poem “Dunbar” acknowledges her debt to Dunbar.
Wiggins wrote in two styles of poetry, dialect and satire. The 2002 El Paso Times article states that “dialect provided colorful and often humorous depictions of the African American experience. Dialect evoked an unthreatening minstrel tradition and was popular among white readers.” Only a few copies existed of Tuneful Tales, possibly due to the building of Interstate Highway 10 in the 1950s when several buildings were destroyed.
Douglass’ principal, William Coleman, a Howard University and Brown alumnus, wrote the preface for Wiggins’ Tuneful Tales, acknowledging and praising her talent as a poet: “The author is yet young. With the consciousness of a Higher Presence, and an imagination, divinely enlivened by a light that never was on sea or land, may she be inspired to sing still more touchingly.” Having read her poetry, her every word indeed possesses the divinity of song and touch. Coleman further praises her for her “poetic vision born of holy passions, high hopes, and burning enthusiasms.”
El Paso proved to be more progressive in advocating safety, respect, and prosperity for Black people than other cities in Texas. In the city’s Second Ward in 1910, El Paso founded the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, its mission to dismantle racial prejudice and ensure the fulfillment of civil rights of minority group citizens. Churches, such as the Second Baptist Church, and businesses were dedicated to this close Black community. Tuneful Tales derives much of its inspiration from the ever-changing culture in El Paso during this time. El Paso Black citizens overcame obstacles and built lives for themselves despite having suffered great racial atrocities.
Wiggins’ work obtained national attention thanks to Dr. Ruthe Winegarten, a sponsor of the exhibition “Texas Women: A Celebration of History” and curator for the Foundation for Women’s Resources, a private, non-profit, educational organization that develops programs and projects to advance and improve the personal, economic and professional status of women. Having found Wiggins’ book at the Center for American History in 1979, Winegarten, along with assistant curator Frieda Werden, included some of her work in the exhibit and featured Wiggins’ life and work in several volumes about Black Texas women.
Critics characterize Wiggins’ most touching poems in Tuneful Tales as having “excellent scansion, good narrative flow, and a marvelous attention to detail,” all poetical devices prompted by emotional flow and lyrical identity. Werden, in American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present, describes Wiggins’ poem “A Race with a Corpse” as a “broadly humorous ballad,” emphasizing that “Wiggins carefully lays the groundwork by stating ‘dis t’ing yo’ call ‘Embalmin’ / Didn’t hab dat in my day’ and filling in details of a church funeral. Often her poems are tragicomic.” The mixture of humor with tragedy flows through much of Wiggins’ poetry, creating a palpable and eye-opening reading of her works.
Breaking down Wiggins’ “Who’s to Blame,” Werden writes, “A man walks home in the snow and puts his only pair of shoes in the oven to dry. In the morning, his mother has built a fire and reduced the shoes to cinders. Wiggins’ characteristically loving tone comes through as the character ponders, ‘Who’s I gwine to blame fo’ it, / De party or de weather?’ He does not blame his mother or himself.” Wiggins enjoyed a wonderful sense of humor, good medicine for all of us.
Themes of the ordinary Black community – love, political and social growth, poverty, racism, the church, African heritage, culture, aesthetics, poverty, women’s rights, racism, lynchings, and relations between parents and children – run throughout her poetry. Wiggins’ verse is written in standard, idiom, and dialect language, and she wrote “profoundly to find meaning in the Black experience, not to demean or denigrate African Americans,” notes Maceo C. Daily in the new introduction to Tuneful Tales. Her poetry displays keen attention to general and nuanced behavior, and, in this sense, the tone and style of her writings are reminiscent of Dunbar and other great Harlem Renaissance writers, such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Countee Cullen.
Her poem “Ethiopia Speaks,” a poem that brought tears to my eyes, contains immense meaning within just a few lines:
Why not take it back?
Until in the South, the “Land of the Free,”
They stop hanging my sons to the branch of a tree,
Take it back till they cease to burn them alive,
Take it back till the white man shall cease to deprive,
My sons, yea, my black sons, of rights justly won,’ ’
Til tortures are done?
Wiggins here writes about World War I. Lynching was a common occurrence during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Black community supported the war, and the military drafted Black men to defend the United States. However, African American males were drafted more than white males, thus facing the cynical task of fighting bravely for a country that continuously supported racial injustice against them. When Wiggins writes to “stop hanging her sons from the branch of a tree,” she refers to the men and women lynched and hung outside to “send a message,” warning other African Americans to abide by segregation, for it reared its ugly head in restaurants, travel accommodations, amusement and recreational facilities, libraries, hospitals, prisons, housing, and municipal services, such as fire stations. Restaurants did not seat minorities in the dining room and movie theaters had second and third balcony seating for only African Americans.
When Wiggins argues to “take it back,” she means to take back the loyalty that the Black community had given to the U.S., this bravery and respect, take it all back until this country becomes what it claims to be, “The Land of the Free.”
Another Wiggins poem, profoundly and fittingly titled “Society,” has meaning even today, suggesting that the societal mindset has not changed all that much:
Where all the bad is counted good,
And all the right is wrong,
Where gossip is the chief asset,
And slander floats in song,
Where chaperons need guides themselves,
Where virtuous maids are rare,
Where men win hearts and then break hearts,
Without a thought or care,
Where baby is a brother now,
Instead of a love and joy,
A little doggie takes its place,
“He’s such a darling toy”
“Where all the bad is counted good / and all the right is wrong,” is a testament to how, during Wiggins’ time, people were praised for racist behavior, police officers were promoted and commended for the wrongful arrest or abuse of African Americans, and employers were encouraged not to hire people of color because it would “taint” the image of the company or business. Today, employers have diversity policies to avoid such a mentality, but these policies should not even need to exist. Diversity should be a natural phenomenon that comes about organically, not through a forced policy.
“Where gossip is the chief asset / and slander floats in song.” In the 1920s, people never knew what was real or fake. Citizens depended on the printed news, which was unreliable at times. It is the same today, with a wide variety of news mediums, in the form of social media, online and printed newspapers, and news broadcasts, some favoring liberal viewpoints, some conservative viewpoints. Truth, tailored to fit a particular agenda, platform, or ideal, sometimes slanders opposing views.
“Where chaperones need guides themselves.” It is safe to say that not a single adult acts like an outstanding person 100 percent of the time. We all have moments where we are not as stellar as we could be. Police officers come to mind. While there are more honest and good officers, there are those few who abuse their power and hide behind their badges. They are supposed to be our “chaperones,” but when they think no one is watching, they act unjustly, without question.
“Where virtuous maids are rare.” Wiggins may be referring to the few job opportunities for African American women. We can safely assume that in many cases, Black women held jobs they did not care about; it was something they had to do and not something they wanted to do. Again, the same can be said today, with few opportunities that exist for immigrants. If they come to the U.S. and legally acquire citizenship, for example, they work a lot harder to have blue-collar jobs than those born here. Often, the jobs they get are challenging and labor intensive, with little pay.
“Where men win hearts and break hearts without a thought or care.” This, of course, today / applies to people in relationships. With social media, and apps like Tinder, for example, we have stopped taking relationships seriously because it is easy to move on to the next person. And when relationships form, they encompass far less significance or emotion; relationships become a thing of appearance, so breaking them off “without a thought or care” has become far simpler.
“Where baby is a brother now / instead of a love and joy.” Once a person reaches adulthood, besides family members and loved ones, the person is expendable. In many workplace settings, employees become numbers and tools. They mean nothing but a device to produce in abundance any given commodity.
“A little doggie takes its place, / ‘he’s such a darling toy.’” A person, at times, is more meaningless than a dog. Today, people cringe at the news of an abused animal. However, with violence heavily televised, with the instant delivery of reports on wars, violent crimes, and innocent lives taken, along with violent video games, we have become desensitized to human suffering and death. I love dogs; they are excellent companions, but human life should be much more significant than that of an animal. That said, Wiggins refers to the value people of color were given during her time, lower than a “doggie.” It is heartbreaking to imagine such treatment of fellow human beings.
Throughout her life and beyond, Wiggins did not get the recognition she deserved, and so much of her later life is unknown. Sometime between 1920 and 1927, Wiggins divorced Allen D. Wiggins and moved to Los Angeles, California, where she remarried and spent her remaining years with Thomas Bracket Clay. Her voice on political and racial injustices conveyed through an artistic form enriched the conditions she wished to shed light on. People across the country need to hear what her work has to say; she has given us yet another example that progress towards racial equality is entirely too slow. Her words, lost in time, need to be brought back, for this hardly known woman has genuinely made a difference.
We often and rightly refer to activists like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, John Lewis, and scores of others. These are big names in the progressive movement, but we ignore the lesser-known fighters. They too have a voice. They deserve to be heard; they need to be heard. These racial and political problems affect everyone, both big and small, known and unknown. Wiggins gives this smaller community this voice, and I hope the echo will grow louder and louder one day.
Bernice Love Wiggins – her writing reflects her heart, her voice reflects the signs of her time, and her sole book, Tuneful Tales, stands today as a masterpiece in poetry. I hope this article can bring attention to Wiggins, prompting college professors to teach her works, students to grasp her poetic style, and casual readers to soak in the beauty and finesse of her every poem. May her life and work be celebrated in the same light as those of Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Nella Larson, James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B. Dubois, Jesse Redmon Faucet, and the many other Harlem Renaissance poets and writers who graced us with artistry and style that will live through the ages.
I invite you today to pick up a copy of Tuneful Tales and be enlightened.
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