The Plagiarism Scandal That Ended Nella Larsen’s Career
Larsen's 1930 story "Sanctuary" had a similar plot to an earlier British story. So what? Perhaps the tale never really belonged to either writer.
Teaching Black Women’s Self-Care during Jim Crow
Maryrose Reeves Allen founded a wellness program at Howard University in 1925 that emphasized the physical, mental, and spiritual health of Black women.
The Haiku of Richard Wright
As he lay bedridden with dysentery, the author wrote an astonishing number of haiku. What inspired him?
Sonnets by 11 Contemporary Poets
The name of this fourteen-line poetic form comes from the Italian sonetto, meaning "a little sound or song."
Poems by 10 Contemporary Black Poets
Poems by Black poets, including Morgan Parker, Hanif Abdurraqib, Simone White, Terrance Hayes, and more.
Black Caribbeans in the Harlem Renaissance
The "Capital of Black America" was also a world capital, thanks to the influence of West Indian–born artists and writers like Claude McKay.
How Civil Rights Groups Used Photography for Change
As one activist said, “If our story is to be told, we will have to write it and photograph it and disseminate it ourselves.”
When Black Celebrities Wore Blackface
A Black Bohemia flourished in New York before the Harlem Renaissance and with it a new type of self-determined, contradictory Black celebrity.
The Defense of Ethiopia from Fascism
For black activists in the 1930s, defending Ethiopia from Mussolini’s invasion created unprecedented unity.
What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.