The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women

Description

This first definitive edition of Harlem Renaissance stories by women includes twenty-eight stories that are as compelling today as they were in the 1920s and 1930s. The writers are Gwendolyn Bennett, Marita Bonner, Anita Scott Coleman, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Ottie Beatrice Graham, Angelina Weld Grimke, Zora Neale Hurston, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Nella Larsen, Maude Irwin Owens, Leila Amos Pendleton, Eloise Bibb Thompson, and Dorothy West. Published originally in periodicals such as The Crisis, Fire!!, and Opportunity, these stories have until now been virtually unavailable to readers. In them, we find the themes of black and white racial tension and misunderstanding, economic deprivation, passing, love across and within racial lines, and the attempt to maintain community and uplift the race. Marcy Knopf’s introduction surveys the history of the Harlem Renaissance, the periodicals and books it generated, and describes the rise to prominence of these women writers and their later fall from fame. She also includes a brief biography of each of the writers. Nellie Y. McKay’s foreword analyzes the themes and concerns of the stories.