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 poet

Wallace Thurman. (Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.)

Editor of the daring one-issue literary magazine Fire!!, Wallace Thurman was also a talented writer.

One of the most active, energetic, and multitalented participants in the Harlem Renaissance, Wallace Thurman was considered a leader of the group of young writers and artists who formed its most daring core. In addition to his own literary works, Thurman contributed to the movement through his editorial efforts and his sometimes biting—or even bitter—criticism of its excesses. Central to his work and, indeed, to his own personal life was the issue of color-consciousness and prejudice within African American society: Thurman felt that many blacks looked down upon those among them with the darker shades of...