http://oldpoetry.com/oauthor/show/Jean_Toomer
Jean Toomer's family was not typical of migrating African-Americans settling in the North, or fleeing the South. Each of his maternal grandparents were born of a Caucasian father. But the Law says; "a speck of Black makes you Black."
Thus, Toomer's grandfather, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, was a free born black, a Union officer in the Civil War and was elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor and later Acting Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction.
Pinchback retired north and settled his family in the Negro community of the capitol. Shortly after Toomer's birth, his father deserted his wife and son, and in 1896 Toomer's mother, Nina Toomer, gave him the name Nathan Eugene. Thus, Nina and her son went to live with grandfather Pinchback, and Jean used the name Eugene Pinchback Toomer (which he later shortened to Jean).
The Pinchbacks lived in a racially mixed neighborhood, but Jean attended the all-black Garnet Elementary School. At the age of ten he was stricken with severe stomach ailments which he survived with a greatly altered life. He showed strength early - when faced with adversity, rather than wring his hands and retreat further into himself, Toomer searched for a plan of action, an intellectual scheme and method to cope with a personal crisis.
Toomer writes in Wayward and Seeking; "I had an attitude towards myself that I was superior to wrong-doing and above criticism and reproach ... I seemed to induce, in the grownups, an attitude which made them keep their hands off me; keep, as it were, a respectable distance."
Nina, a new husband, and Jean, moved to New Rochelle, New York, in 1906. They lived in a white neighborhood and Jean attended an all-white school; however, upon Nina's death in 1909, Nathan moved back to Washington and his grandparents. He attended the very good all-black Dunbar High School [whose faculty, even then, had teachers who had graduate studies under their belts]. After graduation in 1914, he renounced racial classifications and sought to live not as a member of any racial group but as an American.
Jean was a forerunner in the Harlem Renaissance. His works lead the way for the likes of Langston Hughes, Jess Faucet, Alain Locke, and many other famous writers of that era.
He did not hold his tongue with his pen. In his poem; "A Portrait in Georgia"
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/55966-Jean-Toomer-A-Portrait-in-Georgia
He paints with words, the grim reality of a lynching, and how Southern Whites would burn the corpse as it hung from the hanging tree.
An abundance of sense is made in the words from his poem; "People"
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/13283-Jean-Toomer-People.
Oh and you will love the wit in his poem "Unsuspecting"
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/13280-Jean-Toomer-Unsuspecting-wbr-
I am not for sure who the poem "For M.W."
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/toomer/toomerpoems.html#For%20M.W.was
I must add this poem to the list at OldPoetry. My work is never done. LOL I do suspect the above poem is written to or in regards to the poet Margaret Walker. She can be found at OldPoetry as well;
http://oldpoetry.com/oauthor/show/Margaret__Walker.
Jean Toomer also said; "black women are exquisite butterflies, trapped in an evil honey, toiling away, while others look at them as mules of the world..." I have never felt much like a mule but I have heard both of my grandmother's refer to themselves as such.
I have performed a tour called; "Rhythms of the (Harlem) Renaissance" since 1993 where Jean Toomer is one of the 38 characters myself, and 'madamcb' (AP member) portray. It is my honor and pleasure to wish him a Happy Birthday on December 26th.
Please visit him and many others at our sister site;
We welcome your support!
Adding your comment:
So much happened in my life in October and November that I was totally overwhelmed. I still have to add some of his poems that are missing at OP. The link in the lighter green color has to be added. I will do that sometime today but right now I am waiting for Joy (PlayfulPassion) to arrive! YEY! MY Joy is coming to see me. 
