Most of the figures well known as part of the Harlem Renaissance were men: W.E.B. DuBois, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes are names known to most serious students of American history and literature today. And, because many opportunities that had opened up for black men had also opened up for women of all colors, African American women too began to "dream in color" -- to demand that their view of the human condition be part of the dream, too.
Jessie Fauset not only edited the literary section of The Crisis, she also hosted evening gatherings for the black intellectuals of Harlem: artists, thinkers, writers. Ethel Ray Nance and her roommate Regina Anderson also hosted gatherings in their home in New York City. Dorothy Peterson, a teacher, used her father's Brooklyn home for literary salons. In Washington, DC, Georgia Douglas Johnson's "freewheeling jumbles" were Saturday night "happenings"for black writers and artists in that city.
Regina Anderson also arranged for events at the Harlem public library where she served as an assistant librarian. She read new books by exciting black authors, and wrote up and distributed digests to spread interest in the works.
These women were integral parts of the Harlem Renaissance for these roles they played. As organizers, editors, decision-makers, they helped publicize, support and thus shape the movement.
But they also participated more directly. Jessie Fauset not only was literary editor of The Crisis and hosted salons in her home. She arranged for the first publication of work by the poet Langston Hughes. Fauset also wrote articles and novels herself, not only shaping the movement from the outside, but being part of the movement herself.
The larger circle included writers like Dorothy West and her younger cousin, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Hallie Quinn and Zora Neale Hurston, journalists like Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Geraldyn Dismond, artists like Augusta Savage and Lois Mailou Jones, singers like Florence Mills, Marian Anderson, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Ida Cox, Gladys Bentley. Many of the women addressed not only race issues, but gender issues, too: what it was like to live as a black woman. Some addressed cultural issues of "passing" or expressed the fear of violence or the barriers to full economic and social participation in American society. Some celebrated black culture -- and worked to creatively develop that culture.
The Depression made the literary and artistic life more difficult, even as it hit black communities even harder economically than it hit white communities. White men were given even more preference when jobs became scarce. Some of the Harlem Renaissance figures looked for better-paying, more secure work. America grew less interested in African American art and artists, stories and story-tellers. By the 1940s, many of the creative figures of the Harlem Renaissance were already being forgotten by all but a few scholars specializing narrowly in the field.
Alice Walker's rediscovery of Zora Neale Hurston in the 1970s helped turn public interest back towards this fascinating group of writers, male and female. Today, scholars are working on finding more of the works growing of the Harlem Renaissance, rediscovering more of the artists and writers.
The works found are a reminder not only of the creativity and vibrancy of those women and men who participated -- but they're also a reminder that the work of creative people can be lost, even if not explicitly suppressed, if the race or the sex of the person is the wrong one for the time.
Perhaps that's why the Harlem Renaissance artists can speak so eloquently to us today: the need for more justice and more recognition are not so different than they were. Into their art, their writings, their poetry, their music, they poured their spirits and hearts.
The women of the Harlem Renaissance -- except perhaps for now Zora Neale Hurston -- have been more neglected and forgotten than their male colleagues, then and now. To get acquainted with more of these impressive women, visit the biographies of Harlem Renaissance women.
Bibliography:
- Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black Women Writers 1900-1945: Lorraine Elena Roses and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph. Paperback, 1990.
( compare prices) - Harlem's Glory: Black Women Writing 1900-1950: Lorraine Elena Roses and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph, editors.
(compare prices: hardcover, paperback)
