John F. Matheus

{{Infobox person | name = John F. Matheus | birth_date = {{birth date|1887|9|10|mf=y}} | birth_place = Keyser, West Virginia, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1983|2|19|mf=y|1887|9|10}} | death_place = Florida | education = Case Western Reserve (1910, BA), Columbia University (1921, MA) | occupation = Writer, scholar | notable_works = "Fog", "Swamp Moccasin", ''Ouanga!'' | parents = John William, Mary Susan Brown Matheus }} '''John Frederick Matheus''' (September 10, 1887 – February 19, 1983) was an American writer and a scholar who was active during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1578|title=John Frederick Matheus|website=The West Virginia Encyclopedia|publisher=West Virginia Humanities Council|language=en-us|access-date= May 15, 2018}}</ref> He is well known for his short stories, and he also wrote essays, plays and poetry. His story "Fog" won first place in ''Opportunity'' magazine's literary contest in 1925 and was published that same year in Alain Locke's famous anthology ''The New Negro''. Matheus won first prize in the ''Crisis'' magazine's contest in 1926 with his story "Swamp Moccasin".<ref name=":0" /> His works were influenced by Harriet Beecher Stowe's ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', Edgar Allan Poe's tales, and the writings of Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia|last=Zieger|first=Gay Pitman|publisher=Salem Press|year=2013|isbn=|location=Ipswich, MA|pages=}}</ref>

== Biography == John Frederick Matheus was born on September 10, 1887, to John William, a former slave, and Mary Susan Brown Matheus in Keyser, West Virginia.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Double-Take : A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology|date=2001|publisher=Rutgers University Press|editor-last=Patton|editor-first= Venetria K.|editor2= Maureen Honey|isbn=0-8135-2929-8|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|pages=246|oclc=45166625}}</ref> After being threatened at his workplace, his father found a job in Steubenville, Ohio, and the family moved to Ohio. This relocation to a new state and new environment next to the Ohio River was the best opportunity for the young Matheus to collect material for his 24 short stories. In addition to stories drawing on the Ohio landscape, he went on to write stories based on his travels to Africa, Europe, and Caribbean. In the terms of his writing, he was influenced by other writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Phillis Wheatley, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. He was interested in writing about themes related to African-American life and experiences.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia|last=Zieger|first=Gay Pitman|publisher=|year=2013|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref>

== Education and career == Matheus received a B.A. from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve) in 1910 and received an M.A. from Columbia University in 1921.<ref name=":2" /> After starting his graduate studies in Sorbonne in Paris in 1925, he continued his studies at the University of Chicago in 1927.<ref name=":1" /> After his first teaching job as Latin instructor and professor of modern languages at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in Tallahassee in 1911, he continued to teach throughout his life, teaching foreign languages at West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) from 1922 until his retirement in 1958.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

By the mid-1920s, his creative writing was receiving critical acclaim and attention. In 1925, he won the first prize of the ''Opportunity'' magazine literary contest for his short story "Fog", which was included in Alain Locke's anthology ''The New Negro''.<ref name="Wintz & Finkelman">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: Volume 2 K–Y|editor-first=Cary D. |editor-last=Wintz|editor2= Paul Finkelman|chapter=Matheus, John Frederick|pages=772–773|publisher=Routledge|date=2004}}</ref> The following year in 1926, Matheus won first prize for drama from ''Opportunity'' with his one-act play ''Cruiter'',<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=O'Daniel|first=Therman B.|title=In Memorium: John Frederick Matheus (1887–1983|date=1983|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26432716|journal=The Langston Hughes Review|volume=2|issue=1|pages=36–38|jstor=26432716|issn=0737-0555}}</ref> and his essay "Sand" won first prize in the magazine's "personal experience" category.<ref name="Wintz & Finkelman" /> He received another first prize in the 1926 ''Crisis'' magazine contest for his story "Swamp Moccasin".<ref name=":3" /> Matheus also published poetry in ''The Crisis'' and ''Opportunity'', and his poem "Requiem" was included in Countee Cullen's 1927 anthology ''Caroling Dusk''.<ref name="Wintz & Finkelman" />

He taught in Haiti from 1927 to the mid-1940s. In 1939, he wrote the libretto of the opera, ''Ouanga!'', based on his knowledge of Haitian history and music.<ref>{{cite book|title=John F. Matheus, a Forgotten Ethnic Voice of the Harlem Renaissance|last=Fabre|first=Michel|publisher=Presses universitaires François-Rabelais|year=1992|isbn=|location=|pages=57–67}}</ref> The opera, about Jean-Jacques Dessalines who helped his country to liberate from the French, was performed in Chicago in 1939. In 1956, ''Ouanga!'' was performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Matheus died in Florida on February 19, 1983, aged 95.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1578|title=John Frederick Matheus|last=Smith|first=Judie|date=December 7, 2015|website=e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== External links == * {{wikisource author-inline|John Frederick Matheus}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheus, John F.}} Category:1887 births Category:1983 deaths Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:20th-century American writers Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Florida A&M University faculty Category:People from Institute, West Virginia Category:Writers from Keyser, West Virginia Category:People from Steubenville, Ohio Category:West Virginia State University faculty