From about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression--the period of the Harlem Renaissance--young black aspiring artists from all over the country were drawn to Harlem. Although most of the young writers came from the South, the...

Born August 16, 1902 Salt Lake City, Utah Died December 21, 1934 New York, New York American novelist, playwright, editor, essayist, short story writer, and...

Wallace Henry Thurman (1902–1934) was an African American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, which describes discrimination based on skin color among black...

The Collected Writings of Wallace Thurman: A Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. Amritjit Singh and Daniel M. Scott III. New Brunswick N J: Rutgers UP, 2003. xix + 449 pages. $65 cloth; $30 paper. The rich literary and cultural activity of the Harlem...

Despite his dynamic output as an author and critic of the Harlem Renaissance, Wallace Thurman has not often inspired critical admiration. Several generations of scholars have lamented the alcoholic excess of his lifestyle and the indecent content of his writing. From the beginning...