Lewis Grandison Alexander (July 4, 1898 – November 25, 1945) was an African-American poet, actor, playwright, and costume designer who lived in Washington, D.C., and had strong ties to the Harlem Renaissance period in New York.
Little biographical information is available on Alexander until, at the age of 17, he began writing poetry; he took special interest in Japanese forms including haiku, hokku, and tanka.
poems of Hughes, Helene Johnson, and Lewis Alexander deserve recognition as important modernist verse because they make key forms of modernist poetry – free verse, imagism, and dramatic monologue – into racial critique" [1] Alexander's notoriety as a poet can best be exemplified by his publications in many popular journals and magazines.
Throughout his career, he was published regularly with other major Harlem Renaissance figures such as Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Countee Cullen.
[2] He was published several times in Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, a popular literary magazine associated with the Harlem Renaissance edited by Charles S. Johnson, from 1925 to 1929.
[4][failed verification] In 1927, Alexander, along with many other poets (most notably Langston Hughes) and writers set out to create a literary quarterly expressing the Black experience in America.
This special issue, edited by Countee Cullen included two poems by Alexander, "A Collection of Japanese Hokku" and "Dream Song".
After writing extensively in Washington, Alexander moved around the country and joined whichever literary circle that existed in his new city.
During their 1923 tour, in which they opened for Broadway, Alexander appeared in Oscar Wilde's Salome and William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.