Female Figures of the Harlem Renaissance Throughout

Female Figures of the Harlem Renaissance

Throughout the tumultuous span of America's existence, perhaps no era in our national history has come to define both the promise of freedom and the tortured path taken to its deliverance than the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century. Inspired by the collective yearning for artistic expression which consumed many newly liberated African-Americans during the heady days of the Reconstruction, the term Harlem Renaissance came to describe a period from 1918 through 1935 in which thousands of former slaves and their descendants migrated from the broken South to the urban centers of the northeastern states. Today modern scholars observe that "as the population of African-Americans rapidly urbanized and its literacy rate climbed, Harlem, New York, the 'Negro capital of America' rose out of the vast relocation" (Lewis, 999) to stand as a monument to the creative and professional heights that were now suddenly in reach for nearly half of the county's population. Although relatively brief when compared to other transformative artistic ages, the Harlem Renaissance produced a wealth of invaluable contributions from novelists and essayists, poets and playwrights. While today thoughts of the Harlem Renaissance invariably conjure images of intellectuals like W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, writers like Langston Hughes, and even detractors such as Booker T. Washington, it can be argued that female figures played an even greater role in the overall movement. Women like Nella Larsen, Regina Anderson, and A'Lelia Walker epitomize the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance, forced to endure two forms of oppression and half of the opportunity afforded to their male counterpart while courageously contributing their ideas and inspirations to a wary world.

Penned and published in 1928, Nella Larsen's largely autobiographical novel Quicksand has been hailed as "a triumph of vivid yet economical writing and rich allegory," and the fact that "its very modern heroine experiences misfortunes and ultimate destruction from causes that are both racial and individual" (Lewis, 1004) represents a reflection of the author's unique position as a female African-American artist. Having worked previously in the field of nursing, reaching the position of head nurse at the prestigious Tuskegee Institute's hospital, and as a librarian within the New York Public Library, Larsen embodied the ideal of independence and ambition which eventually became a hallmark of the Harlem Renaissance. Although her literary output was limited to just a pair of novels, Larsen "explored the psychology of urban sophisticates" in both Quicksand and 1929's Passing, "analyzing the psychological intricacies of race consciousness, and exposing the massive pressures to subordinate women's sexuality to the rules of 'race' and class" (Darity, 426). By demonstrating the natural abilities of both her race and gender through perceptive and penetrating prose, Larsen contributed courageously to the cause of the Harlem Renaissance, and "at a time when de facto and de jure segregation were becoming ever more entrenched features of American society & #8230; hers was a unique achievement" (Darity, 426).