A FEW WORDS ABOUT WORDS
BOOKSMART
“ HARLEM RHAPSODY”
By DIANE HARRIS
The Harlem Renaissance, a vibrant cultural and intellectual movement of the 1920s and 1930s, stands as a defining chapter in American history. It was a time when the streets of Harlem pulsated with creativity, ambition, and an unrelenting quest for self-expression.
Amid this flourishing backdrop, many African Americans documented Black life in America through their art, literature, music, film and activism, breaking away from societal constraints that had long sought to stifle Black voices.
This extraordinary era gave rise to the artistry of a generation of Black men and women whose creativity continues to resonate and paint a tapestry of Black resilience, pride, and genius.
And it is, no doubt, our great fascination with this era that was the motivation for“ Harlem Rhapsody,” Victoria Christopher Murray’ s historical fiction about a compelling time in the life of Jessie Redmon Fauset.
The first and only literary editor of The Crisis, the NAACP magazine that W. E. B. DuBois created in 1910 to uplift and inform Black people, Fauset has been called“ the midwife” of the Harlem Renaissance. During this period’ s early years, Fauset discovered, mentored, and cultivated young poets and writers. She provided a platform for the talents of emerging literary icons like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Jean Toomer, when few other outlets existed for Black writers in the early 1920s.
Murray’ s historical novel imagines the Harlem Renaissance through the literary experiences of Fauset and her relationship with DuBois. In preparing to write her book, Murray read every issue of The Crisis, from October 1919 to September 1925, probed newspaper articles, biographies, census records, research
papers and personal letters to develop a plausible timeline of actual events, like the 1921 Pan-African Congress, in which Fauset had a major role.
DuBois created the literary editor job at The Crisis specifically for Fauset, who was a talented poet and writer in her own right. It was widely believed that Fauset and DuBois had a romantic relationship that, at times, made their professional interactions stormy. Navigating this complicated relationship while trying to pursue her own lofty ambitions against the prevailing expectations for Blacks, let alone women, during this period provides the central theme of this historical novel. In this book, Murray puts on display Fauset’ s brilliance in discovering and nurturing Black artist, and her tenacity and dedication to her craft, but also her vulnerabilities.
“ Harlem Rhapsody” draws you in with its richly written imagery. Murray’ s detailed description of Fauset’ s arrival in Harlem via taxi in 1919 to a“ cacophony of city sounds” immediately transports readers to that bygone era. Her vivid accounts of the spare office decor, exquisite restaurant table settings, sparkling chandeliers in a hotel lobby and the refined details of the clothing worn by middle class Blacks of that time make those scenes come to life. Murray’ s melodic writing makes you, seemingly, hear music played on an old record player and hear the lyrics sung by Mamie Smith, and the poetry of giants in the literary world being recited at intimate gatherings.
I was tempted to break away from reading Murray’ s book several times to research Du Bois’ speeches and to read more poetry by Langston Hughes. Murray unselfishly implores you to explore beyond the pages of her book the Harlem Renaissance’ s amazing writers, poets, political figures, and seminal events.
Entertaining and enlightening,“ Harlem Rhapsody” is a distraction in the best possible way from a contemporary world in which the works of many Harlem Renaissance writers are being banned across this country. •
Diane Harris is an avid reader and regular contributor to the Morgan Global Journalism Review.
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