Who is Arna Bontemps?

Arna WenDELL Bontemps (October 13, 1902 - June 4, 1973) was a well-known African- American poet and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. As the librarian at Fisk University, he established important collections of African-American literature and culture, establishing it as an important goal of scholarly study. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Arna Bontemps on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. His parents were Paul Bismark Bontemps, a bricklayer, and Maria Carolina Pembroke, a schoolteacher.