author
James E. (James Ephraim) McGirt
1874–1930
A poet, publisher, and entrepreneur from North Carolina, he built a literary career on his own terms at the turn of the twentieth century. His work ranges from lyrical poems to sharp reflections on race, ambition, and public life.
1 Audiobook
For Your Sweet Sake: Poems
by James E. (James Ephraim) McGirt
About the author
Born in Robeson County, North Carolina, in 1874, James Ephraim McGirt grew up on a farm and later studied at school in Greensboro, earning a degree from Bennett College in 1895. He began publishing poetry while working ordinary jobs, showing an early determination to make space for himself as a Black writer in the post-Reconstruction South.
McGirt published books including Avenging the Maine, a Drunken A.B., and Other Poems and Some Simple Songs and a Few More Ambitious Attempts. He also moved to Philadelphia, where he founded and edited McGirt's Magazine, giving his writing and ideas a wider audience. His poems and prose touched on patriotism, injustice, religion, love, and everyday experience.
Later in life, he turned increasingly toward business, becoming known not only as a writer but also as a publisher and entrepreneur. He died in 1930, leaving behind the story of a man who kept reinventing himself while contributing to African American literary and cultural life.