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tor of The Crisis, used the journal as a space where he could showcase black writers. In an editorial in 1920, he praised the accomplishments of The Crisis and tried to shape future literature by arguing for the need for a "renaissance of American Negro literature" (Kramer 12):
Since its founding, THE CRISIS has been eager to
discover ability among Negroes, especially in
literature and art. … Indeed, the CRISIS has
always preferred the strong matter of unknown
names, to the platitudes of well-known writers …
(Kramer 12)
He thought that it was important to encourage black artists in their endeavours; he worked for many years "to promote literary activity and to foster racial pride through literature" (Kramer 11). W.E.B. Du Bois wrote:
We have today all too few [black artists], for
the reason that there is a small market for their
ideas among whites, and their energies are
being called to other and more lucrative ways of
earning a living. Nevertheless, we have literary
ability and the race needs it. A renaissance of
American Negro literature is due: the material
about us in the strange, heart-rending race
tangle is rich beyond dream and only we can tell
the tale and sing the song from the heart.
(Kramer 12)
Mainstream publications were segregated, and, thus, not a viable option for the black artist. In response to these challenges, W.E.B. Du Bois decided that "The Crisis would have to be a literary journal as well as the voice of the burgeoning civil rights movement" (Nichols 11A). The Crisis would serve as both a forum and an "outlet for the public expression of African-American opinion" (Scruggs and Van DeMarr 48); it would be his means for combating social injustices. W.E.B. Du Bois, "a social scientist and a political leader who considered art--especially literature--to be a vehicle for enunciating and effecting social, political, and economic ideas," (Kramer 11) also believed that literature should further black culture. He argued that ``until the art of black folk compels recognition, they will not be regarded as human" (The Crisis Reader xxii). Of course, it was assumed that life would improve for the Negro if the injustices they faced were finally uncovered and exposed. As the publisher of The Crisis, "he created the vehicle by which the Harlem Renaissance reached the whole of
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