born Oct. 13, 1902, Alexandria, La., U.S.
died June 4, 1973, Nashville, Tenn.
U.S. writer of the Harlem Renaissance .
At age three Bontemps moved with his family to California. His poetry began appearing in the black magazines Crisis and Opportunity in the 1920s. With Countee Cullen he turned his first novel, God Sends Sundays (1931), into the play St. Louis Woman . Two later novels dealt with slave revolts. He edited anthologies with Langston Hughes and wrote prolifically for children, mostly nonfiction works on African Americans and African American history. He worked at Fisk University for most of his adult life.