Frank S. Horne
Frank S. Horne was an influential figure in the African American literary and educational landscape, recognized primarily as a poet associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from the College of the City of New York and earned his degree in optometry, which he practiced briefly before dedicating himself to education and administration. Horne became dean and acting president at Fort Valley High and Industrial School in Georgia, where he also coached a successful track team. He maintained connections with his family, notably his niece, the renowned singer and actress Lena Horne.
In the 1930s, Horne transitioned to Washington, D.C., where he held significant roles within the National Youth Administration and the United States Housing Authority, advising notable figures including President Franklin Roosevelt. Throughout his career, Horne was also a prolific writer, publishing poetry that engaged with themes of African American history and culture. His work appeared in various literary periodicals and anthologies, solidifying his status as a minor yet persistent voice in African American literature. Horne's contributions spanned multiple decades, encompassing both the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, reflecting his enduring impact on the literary arts.
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Frank S. Horne
Poet
- Born: August 18, 1899
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
- Died: September 7, 1974
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Frank Horne was the third of four sons born to Edwin Horne, a journalist and businessman, and his wife Cora (née Calhoun) Horne. After graduating from Boys’ High School in Brooklyn, New York, Horne attended the College of the City of New York, excelled in track, and received a B.S. degree in 1921. He enrolled in the Illinois College of Optometry School and earned an Opt.D. in 1922. Horne established a private practice of optometry in Chicago prior to returning to New York and relocating his office in Harlem; he was employed as an optometrist until 1926.
Horne then moved to Georgia, where he taught prior to his promotions to dean and acting president at Fort Valley High and Industrial School (now Fort Valley State College). Horne also found time to coach the school’s track team, and under Horne’s leadership, the team won several championships in the 1920’s and early 1930’s. While at Fort Valley, Horne married Frankye Bunn, and in the late 1920’s, the couple was responsible for Horne’s niece, Lena, who lived temporarily with her uncle and aunt after her parents’ divorce. When Lena Horne grew up, she became the legendary singer and actress, and her Uncle Frank remained an important person in her life until his death.
When Frank Horne left Fort Valley in 1936, he moved to Washington, D.C., and was employed as assistant director of the National Youth Administration’s Division of Negro Affairs; Mary McLeod Bethune was the director. Horne, as assistant director, was an informal advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Four years after Horne moved to Washington, his first wife died, and he married Mercedes Rector in 1950. Horne held various administrative positions with the United States Housing Authority (1938-1955), was executive director of the New York City Commission on Intergroup Relations (1956-1962), and human relations consultant for the New York City Housing Redevelopment Board (1962-1974).
Although Horne changed jobs during his more than five decades of employment, he continued to write and publish poetry from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. Horne, using the essay format, wrote about African American poetry, living in the South after being raised in the North, athletics, industrial schools, and housing, among other topics. However, he is primarily known for his poetry.
In 1925, Horne, using the pseudonym Xavier I, won second prize in the Amy Spingarn Contest in Literature and Art sponsored by Crisis magazine for his “Letters Found Near a Suicide”; the group of eleven poems was published in Crisis that same year, as was “Harlem” in 1928. In 1929, Horne added seven more poems, and they were published in Crisis as “More Letters Found Near a Suicide.”
His poetry has been included in other periodicals and various compilations including two anthologies by his Harlem Renaissance contemporaries: Countee Cullen’s Caroling Dusk (1927) and Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps’s Poetry of the Negro, 1746-1949 (1949). To date, the only published collection of Horne’s verse is Haverstraw (1963). Themes present in Horne’s poetry include African American history, religion, and events. Horne is viewed as a minor Harlem Renaissance poet, yet he continued to write poetry long after the Harlem Renaissance ended. Thus Frank Horne contributed to two important periods in African American literature: the Harlem Renaissance (1920’s-1930’s) and the Black Arts Movement (1960-1970).