Toomer, Jean
1894-1967 · Contribution: 1923-1936
Literature & Writing
Modernist poetry and fiction; his genre-blending masterwork 'Cane' (1923) wove prose, poetry, and drama to portray African American life in the rural South and urban North

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Quick facts
- Born
- 1894-1967
- Category
- Literature & Writing
Impact on the world
Toomer produced one of the defining modernist texts of the era, giving lyrical, experimental form to the Black Southern experience even as he resisted racial categorization.
Sources
- Poetry Foundation
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