Georgia Douglas Johnson, a poet and playwright from the Harlem Renaissance era, was known not only for her creative contributions but also for her support of fellow black artists. She opened up her home on S Street in Washington DC as a gathering place for creative minds to meet, exchange ideas, and socialize. Judith L. Stephens notes in “The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights” (1999) that Johnson played an important role in nurturing and sustaining the artistic activity of the period.

“The Heart of a Woman”

The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes, the heart calls home.
The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.

Image of Poet is in the Public Domain | Poem “The Heart of a Woman” Published By Boston: The Cornhill Company, 1918.