John F. Matheus
John Frederick Matheus was an influential writer and educator born in Keyser, West Virginia, in 1887. With a background steeped in the complexities of race and culture, he drew inspiration from his early life experiences, particularly the stories of his father, a former slave who overcame adversity. Matheus pursued higher education, graduating cum laude from Western Reserve University and earning a master's degree from Columbia University, later expanding his studies in Paris and Chicago. He wrote twenty-four short stories, many addressing themes of racial injustice and societal ignorance, with notable works like "Fog" and "Swamp Moccasin" earning him recognition in various literary competitions.
Throughout his career, Matheus dedicated himself to education, teaching in several states as well as internationally in places such as Haiti, where he worked as the director of English teaching. His collaboration with composer Clarence Cameron White led to the creation of the opera "Ouanga!", which was performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1956. Despite the beauty and depth of his messages advocating for reconciliation and understanding, Matheus's writing style was often critiqued for being overly formal and embellished. His life and work reflect a profound commitment to addressing the racial issues of his time through the power of literature and education.
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John F. Matheus
Writer
- Born: September 10, 1887
- Birthplace: Keyser, West Virginia
- Died: February 19, 1983
Biography
John Frederick Matheus was born in Keyser, West Virginia, in 1887 to John William and Mary Susan Brown Matheus. His father, a slave, worked in servitude he received a threat of a beating. Countering with a warning that he would retaliate with rocks, the elder Matheus struck out on his own. He found work in a tannery and later became a bank messenger, a position that he held for forty-three years, in Steubenville, Ohio. It was in this unique setting where West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania converge along the Ohio River that John Matheus grew up and gathered material for many of his twenty-four short stories. He once noted of the area: “even as the black coal seams run under hills, mountains and deep into the ground, so runs that other black seam of race and color.”
Matheus loved books. He read one of his favorites, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852), to his grandmother, a former slave who couldn’t read or write. Edgar Allan Poe’s tales and the works of Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar had a profound influence on him.
In 1910, Matheus graduated cum laude from Western Reserve University with an A.B., later in 1921 earning an A.M. from Columbia University. In the summer of 1925, he continued his graduate studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and then again in 1927 at the University of Chicago.
He received many awards and much recognition for his writing as well as for his service to the community. An early short story, “Fog,” won first prize in a contest in Opportunity magazine. The fog was symbolic of the closed minds of people who hated blacks because of their skin color. He said: “ignorance is thick and impenetrable, but, like a fog, it can be replaced by the clear light of understanding.” Another story, “Swamp Moccasin,” garnered first prize in 1926 in Crisis magazine.
Beginning in 1911, with his first teaching job as a Latin instructor and professor of modern languages at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in Tallahassee, he devoted most of his life to education. He held positions in many states as well as in Europe, Africa, and Haiti. He was the director of English teaching in Haiti for the Inter-American Educational Foundation from 1945 to 1946. He was awarded the title of Officier de l’Ordre Nationale Honneur et Merite from the Haitian government.
Matheus believed that the world’s evils could be overcome by Christian love and understanding. His writings showed the vile and inhumane treatment of blacks in a South that resisted change by whites who were mean, petty, hateful, and violent. His message was powerful, calling for reconciliation, but his works did not have wide appeal because his prose was often stilted, flowery, genteel, and exaggerated, filled with exclamation points and capital letters for emphasis.
In 1924, classical violinist and composer Clarence Cameron White asked Matheus to accompany him to Haiti and share his knowledge of that country’s history and music. There they formed an alliance that led to a three-act opera based on a Matheus story about Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who helped liberate Haiti from French rule and became president in 1804. The play, Ouanga!, meaning voodoo charm, with music by White and the libretto by Matheus, was published in 1939, aired on radio in 1948, staged in 1949, and performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1956, winning high praise from The New York Times.