Alice Childress (1916-1994)

Alice Childress, playwright, novelist, actor, and screenwriter, was born Alice Herndon in Charleston, South Carolina.  Her parents separated in 1925 and Childress moved to the Harlem, New York home of her grandmother Eliza Campbell White, who encouraged her to write and exposed her to the … Read MoreRead MoreAlice Childress (1916-1994)

Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Early 20th Century Harlem Radicalism

[…] and one of its foremost orators. Though he was a trailblazing literary critic in Harlem during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance, he questioned the “Renaissance” concept on grounds of its willingness to take “standards of value ready-made from white society” and on […] … Read MoreHubert Harrison: The Voice of Early 20th Century Harlem Radicalism

American Negro Theatre (1940-ca. 1955)

Harlem Federal Theatre Project Production of MacBeth (FTP was the Predecessor to the American Negro Theater) Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress Formed by Abram Hill, Frederick O’Neal, and other actors in Harlem, New York in 1940, the American Negro Theatre (ANT) was an … Read MoreRead MoreAmerican Negro Theatre (1940-ca. 1955)

Maceo Pinkard (1897-1962)

Maceo Pinkard was born on June 27, 1897 in Bluefield, West Virginia. He was an American lyricist and music composer that emerged from the Harlem Renaissance. Some of his best known works include “Sweet Georgia Brown,” now the Harlem Globetrotters theme song, and the Broadway musical, Liza. After his […] … Read MoreMaceo Pinkard (1897-1962)

Wilfred A. Domingo (1889-1968)

The Jamaican-born Wilfred Adolphus Domingo was part of an influential community of West Indian radicals active in Harlem’s New Negro movement in the early 20th century. Domingo was born in Kingston, Jamaica on November 26, 1889, the son of a Jamaican mother and Spanish father.  … Read MoreRead MoreWilfred A. Domingo (1889-1968)

Africa and Africans in the Imagination of Renaissance Italians (1450-1630)

[…] African continent and its peoples have been imagined by Italians across time. Since my field of teaching and research is the Italian Renaissance, I have been drawn back to that period of roughly 1450-1630. There are two types of sources to plumb for this […] … Read MoreAfrica and Africans in the Imagination of Renaissance Italians (1450-1630)

369th Infantry Regiment “Harlem Hellfighters”

First organized in 1916 as the 15th New York National Guard Infantry Regiment and manned by black enlisted soldiers with both black and white officers, the U.S. Army’s 369th Infantry Regiment, popularly known as the “Harlem Hellfighters,” was the best known African American unit of … Read MoreRead More369th Infantry Regiment “Harlem Hellfighters”