Lewis Grandison Alexander

Lewis Grandison Alexander was born on July 4, 1900, in Washington, D.C. He was one of four children born to Cornelia and Lewis Alexander. He attended the city’s public schools and Howard University, where Alexander was a member of the Howard Players, a student-run performing arts organization. He later studied at the University of Pennsylvania. Alexander began writing poetry in 1917, taking particular interest in Japanese verse forms. His poems appeared in the magazines The Crisis, Opportunity, Fire!!, and the October 1926 issue of the Guadalajara-based literary journal Palms, which was guest edited that month by Countee Cullen. Alexander’s work was also featured in the anthologies Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), edited by Cullen; Ebony and Topaz (National Urban League, 1927), edited by Charles S. Johnson; and The New Negro (Albert and Charles Boni, 1925), edited by Alain Locke. Alexander was also actor, playwright, and editor. While on a tour in North and South Carolina with his theater company, he edited the “Negro Number” of Carolina Magazine in May 1927. Lewis Grandison Alexander died on November 25, 1945, in Washington, D.C., and was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery.