24 Facts About Helene Johnson

Helen Johnson was an African-American poet during the Harlem Renaissance.

Helene Johnson is remembered today for her poetry that captures both the challenges and the excitement of this era during her short-lived career.

Helen Johnson was born on July 7,1906, to Ella Benson and George William Johnson in Boston, Massachusetts.

Helene Johnson was raised by her mother and her grandfather, Benjamin Benson.

When growing up, Helene Johnson was raised in a town near Boston that was named Brookline.

Helene Johnson was named after her maternal grandmother, Helen Pease Benson, who, along with her maternal grandfather, Benjamin Benson, was born into slavery in Camden, South Carolina.

Helene Johnson was raised with her cousin and future Harlem Renaissance novelist writer, Dorothy West, in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Helene Johnson received her high school education at the Boston Girls' Latin School, which was considered an exceptional public school for adolescents to attend at the time.

Helene Johnson made this decision regardless of her previous awards and recognition and decided to stop writing for the public completely.

Many of Helene Johnson's readers were confused by her disappearance, but Helene Johnson never explained the reason she made this decision.

Helene Johnson made sure to stay away from cameras and curious media outlets.

However, even out of the eye of the public, Helene Johnson continued to write, and eventually, her work appeared in anthologies.

Helene Johnson published several periodicals throughout the 1920s and early 1930s when she was 19 years old.

Helene Johnson gained most of her notoriety from her work published in the journal of the National Urban League, Opportunity, which was a leading platform that showcased the talents of African-American artists.

In 1925, Helene Johnson collected multiple honorable mentions in a poetry contest organized by Opportunity.

Helene Johnson reached the height of her popularity in 1927, when her poem, "Bottled", was published in the May issue of Vanity Fair.

In 1935, Helene Johnson's last published poems appeared in Challenge: A Literary Quarterly.

Helene Johnson continued to write one poem a day for the rest of her life, even after leaving the public eye.

Helene Johnson is known for her descriptive poems that deal with major social topics such as gender and femininity, music, and the most evident social topic of race.

Helene Johnson was able to write and make a name for herself in this era of emerging African-American artists, which speaks to how powerful her works of writing are.

Helene Johnson's poems were often said to be extremely relatable and comforting for those reading her work.

Helene Johnson was acquainted with other major literary figures of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Helene Johnson.

The Harlem Renaissance is a major depiction of Helene Johnson's writing and is an inspiration for a lot of her poetry.

Helene Johnson's poetry attested to different movements and issues that were a reality for many other African-American women.