'''Arna Wendell Bontemps''' ([[October 13]], [[1902]] - [[June 4]], [[1973]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[poet]] and a noted member of the [[Harlem Renaissance]].
Heshe was born in [[Alexandria, Louisiana]], in a house at 1327 Third Street that has been recently restored and is now the [[Bontemps African America Museum & Cultural Arts Center]]. When he was three, his family moved to the Watts district of [[Los Angeles, California]]. He was graduated from Pacific Union College in California in 1923. After graduation he went to New York to teach at Harlem Academy, where he became a contributor to the Harlem Renaissance. He began writing while a student at [[Pacific Union College]] and became the author of many children's books. His critically most important work, ''The Story of the Negro'' ([[1948]]), received the [[Jane Addams Book Award]] and was also a [[Newbery Honor|Newbery Honor Book]]. He is probably best known for the 1931 novel ''God Sends Sunday''. He also wrote the 1946 play ''St. Louis Woman'' with [[Countee Cullen]].
