Womanica

Eulalie Spence (1894-1981) was a playwright, director, and teacher from the British West Indies. She made a living as a school teacher, a profession she stayed in for 40 years, but truly made a name for herself by winning awards in several theater competitions. As a self-described “folk dramatist,” her plays depict everyday Black life. This led her to gain criticism from contemporaries...

Georgette Seabrooke, also known as Georgette Seabrooke Powell, (1916-2011) was an American muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist, and community educator. She is best known for her mural Recreation in Harlem at Harlem Hospital, which she made while working for the WPA in 1936. A true lifelong learner, Seabrooke was educated at the Harlem Community Art Center, and studied at the Cooper Union,...

Anne Spencer (1882-1975) was a poet, educator, and activist. Located in Lynchburg, Virginia, she advanced local efforts for literacy, access, and civil rights. Her home also became a hub for Black writers and activists traveling to the South. For Further Reading: Virginia Public Media: The Garden That Inspired a Harlem Renaissance Poet UVA Today: Through a Harlem Renaissance Poet's Garden, and Int...

Effie Lee Newsome (1885–1979) was a Harlem Renaissance poet and activist. She is most famous for her volume of children's poetry, Gladiola Garden: Poems of Outdoors and Indoors for Second Grade Readers. As the NAACP got started, Newsome also worked extensively with W.E.B DuBois on TCrisis magazine, writing poetry for the magazine and editing the “Little Page” column.  Her wr...

Edna Lewis Thomas (1885-1974) was a stage actress during and after the height of the Harlem Renaissance. For Further Reading: Edna Thomas, Lloyd Thomas & Olivia Wyndham Residence Edna Thomas collection 1936: Macbeth With an All-Black Cast Plays Bridgeport This Black History Month, we're talking about Renaissance Women. As part of the famed cultural and artistic Harlem Renaissance movement, the...

Jennie Louise Touissant Welcome (1885-1956) was one of the first Black female silent film creators in the 1910s and 20s, most well known for her documentary, Doing Their Bit. She was also a renowned painter, musician, and real estate mogul who ran the Toussaint Conservatory of Art and Music. For Further Reading: Jane Louise Van Der Zee Toussaint Welcome Jane Louise Van Der Zee: One of the first bl...

Helene Johnson (1906-1995) was an African-American poet during the Harlem Renaissance. She is remembered today for her poetry that captures both the challenges and the excitement of this era during her short-lived career. For Further Reading: Helene Johnson, Poetic Voice of the Harlem Renaissance Toward an Understanding of Helene Johnson's Hybrid Modernist Poetics Poets: Helene Johnson ORAL HISTOR...

Norma Miller (1919-2019) was a professional dancer dubbed “The Queen of Swing” for her mastery of the popular Jazz Age dance the Lindy Hop.  For Further Reading: Norma Miller, Lindy-Hopping ‘Queen of Swing,' Is Dead at 99 - The New York Times The Queen Of Swing Takes Old Age In Stride : NPR Norma Miller is still 'Alive and Kicking' and the focus of a new documentary From Har...

Edythe Mae Gordon (c. 1890-1980 ) was an African American writer of poetry and short stories during the Harlem Renaissance. Her work was primarily published in the Saturday Evening Quill , a Boston based publication founded by her husband and fellow Harlem Renaissance figure Eugene Gordon. Little is known about her both before or after her marriage to Gordon, but her most famous work is her 1928 s...

Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) was one of the most well-known Black female writers, poets, and playwrights of her time. Though she spent most of her adult life in Washington D.C., she is considered a predominant figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Georgia became known for her weekly Saturday salons she hosted at her home with fellow black writers, intellectuals and contemporaries, which became...

Rose McClendon (1884–1936) was a trailblazing African-American actress and director who rose to prominence on Broadway during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 30s. Rose became known for her powerful performances in plays like the Pulitzer Prize-winning play In Abraham's Bosom and Langston Hughes' Mulatto . Rose co-founded the Negro People's Theatre, contributed to the Federal Theatre...

Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948) was an American artist known for her landscapes, still-lifes, and portraits of African-American life. She was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a civil rights activist whose time spent abroad in France greatly influenced her artistic work. For Further Reading:  Artnet: Laura Wheeler Waring The New York Amsterdam News: Painter Laura Wheeler War...

May Miller (1899-1995) was considered the most widely published woman playwright of the Harlem Renaissance. Though she was almost entirely based in Washington, D.C. during the era, she still managed to attract acclaim from her contemporaries and earn her place in the movement for her many plays and poems. For Further Reading: May Miller | African-American, Feminist, Poet | Britannica WASHINGTON PO...

Ida Forsyne (1883-1983) was an African-American vaudeville dancer, known for her unique take on the famous Cakewalk dance. As a self-taught performer from the southside of Chicago, Ida appeared in various shows worldwide and toured her solo act across Europe. Eventually, audiences in the U.S. would come to outgrow her dance style, but Ida continued to stand by her craft and perform on her own term...

Adelaide Hall (1901-1993) was a Brooklyn-born singer, actress, and performer. She made her debut in one of the first Black-led Broadway shows and remained a fixture both on New York's Broadway and London's West End for more than three decades. Her contributions to  Duke Ellington's “Creole Love Call” are also believed to be one of the first recordings of “scat” singing...

Esther Popel (1896-1958) was an African-American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, an activist, and an educator. She wrote and edited for magazines such as The Crisis, The Journal of Negro Education, and Opportunity. One of her most recognized works is her poem, “Flag Salute,” which was written in response to the publicized lynching of George Armwood on October 18th, 1933. For Further Re...

Anise Boyer (1914–2008) was an American dancer and actress during the Harlem Renaissance. She joined the Cotton Club chorus line when she was just a teenager. In 1932, she starred in the film Harlem is Heaven . For Further Reading: Anise Boyer Jazz & Blues: What Was the Legendary Cotton Club? Harlem is Heaven (1932) This Black History Month, we're talking about Renaissance Women. As part...

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1887-1968) was an early Harlem Renaissance sculpture, poet, playwright, and theater designer. She was a protégé of Auguste Rodin and is most famous for her emotionally captivating sculptures like Ethiopia Awakening .  For Further Reading:  Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller The Sculpture of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Collection This Bl...

Nella Larsen (1891-1964) was a novelist and writer who also worked as a librarian and nurse. She published two novels: Passing, for which she is best known, and Quicksand. The former explores themes of race and identity, and remains relevant today (it was adapted as a movie in 2021). For Further Reading: The New York Times: Nella Larsen WNYC: Get Lit: The Life of Nella Larsen   NPR: 'Passing'...

Regina M. Anderson Andrews (1901-1993) was a playwright, librarian, and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, known for her role in fostering Black arts and culture. As a librarian in New York City, she created spaces for emerging Black writers and artists, hosting salons that connected creatives like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.  For Further Reading: Regina Anderson Andrews, libra...

Lillie Langtry (1853–1929) was a renowned Victorian beauty, actress, and socialite who captivated high society with her charm, wit, and scandalous love affairs, including one with the future King Edward VII. Known as “The Jersey Lily,” she reinvented herself as a successful stage actress and entrepreneur, breaking social conventions of her time.  For Further Reading: Fembio:...

Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017) was a leading French actress of French New Wave cinema, as well as a singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. Orson Welles once called her “the greatest actress in the world.” She often played complex, controversial female characters. She was also a signatory of the famous French Manifesto of the 343 (1971) which publicly announced that she had obtained...

Luisa Casati (1881-1957) was an Italian socialite, muse, and eccentric fashion icon. Whether it was her costumes made from peacock feathers or extravagant parties involving live snakes, her unconventional attire and expensive taste pushed the boundaries of both art and fashion.  For Further Reading: The Divine Marquise The extraordinary life of the 1920s Lady Gaga Luisa Casati (1881-1957) An...

Jane Digby (1807-1881) was an English aristocrat, who lived a life filled with adventure and scandal, mostly on her own terms. She had four husbands and many lovers, many of whom were royalty and nobility. Her divorce and infidelity shocked polite society and rendered her an outcast. In the deserts of Syria, she explored ancient ruins and fell in love with Bedouin life. She married Sheikh Medjuel...

Maria Callas (1923-1977) was an iconic opera singer known for her “diva” antics. A soprano, she sang in opera houses around the world, until her sudden decline and premature death at the age of 53. For Further Reading: The biggest myth about Maria Callas? She was no tragic icon Maria Callas: The soprano of the century Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas This month, we're divin...