Born and raised in Charleston, Carolina, E. N. Harleston worked many jobs before self-publishing his first poems. After gaining some popularity in the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the first Black-run newspapers in the United States, he published his sole volume of poetry, The Toiler’s Life, in 1907.
I cannot sing, because when a child, My mother often hushed me. The others she allowed to sing, No matter what their melody. And since I've grown to manhood All music I
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