INDEX

Abyssinian Baptist Church, 22, 91, 118

ACLU. See American Civil Liberties Union

Africa, 10, 24, 25, 31, 42, 54, 57, 72, 75

African Americans. See Black Americans

Ailey, Alvin, 68, 76, 191

Allan, Lewis, 53, 64, 66, 74

America. See United States

American Bar Association, 98

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 75

American Dream, 89, 90, 108, 112

American Medical Association, 98

American Negro Theater (ANT), 101–103

American Nurses Association (ANA), 98–99

Ammons, Albert, 45

Ammons, Gene, 12

Amsterdam News, 23, 43, 85, 86, 92, 94, 118, 134, 137, 140

ANA. See American Nurses Association

Anderson, Marian, 48, 166

Angelou, Maya, 49, 131

Anna Lucasta, 102

ANT. See American Negro Theater (ANT)

Armed services. See Military

Art

      for art’s sake, 116

      in Harlem, NY, 32

      movement in, 16

      politics and, 2–3, 12, 14

      Popular Front and, 5

      as propaganda, 116

      social justice and, 30

Asch, Moses “Moe,” 167–168, 182

Attaway, William, 114

Auden, W. H., 128

Autobiography (Franklin), 108

Bailey, Dixie, 150fig

Baker, Ella, 110

Baker, Harold, 14, 54, 147, 148

Baker, Josephine, 11–12, 176

Baldwin, James, 9, 13, 115–116, 117, 120, 127

Baltimore Afro-American, 140

Bambara, Toni Cade, 131

Bandy, Robert, 119, 124

Basie, Count, 136, 138, 139, 173

Bearden, Romare, 104

Bears-Bailey, Kim, 66–67

Beatty, Talley, 30, 31, 63, 168

Bebop. See Music

Belasco Theater, 63, 67

Benedict, Ruth, 71

Bennett, Gwendolyn, 104

Bethune, Mary McLeod, 37

Bible, 11, 116, 117

Black Americans

    civil rights and, 5

    class differences and, 27

    Communist Party and, 20

    confinement within mobility and, 17, 27

    culture and, 3

    dance and, 42

    Double V Campaign and, 5–7

    FEPC and, 20

    Great Migration of, 28, 55, 119

    in military, 88–89, 111–113

    movement and, 16–17

    New Negro and, 21–22

    Second Great Migration in, 28

    Second Great Migration of, 5, 7

Black Arts movement, 15

Black nationalism, 31, 32, 136

Black Power movement, 15, 197

Black press, 6, 20

    black Americans in military and, 88

    Double V Campaign and, 92

    government interest in, 92

    People’s Voice newspaper and, 84, 86, 90–96

Petry, Ann and, 113

    Primus, Pearl and, 43

    racism and, 92

    segregation and, 91, 113

    The Street (Petry) and, 13

Black women

    in American fiction, 13

    beauty and, 48–50

    FEPC and, 21

    forties and, 5

    Jim Crow and, 27

    “lady,” meaning of and, 27

    oppression of, 115

    politics and, 99

    sexuality of, 96–97

    stereotyping of, 96, 115

    war years and, 4, 36

Boas, Franz, 70, 71

Bolin, Jane, 83–84

Bond, Horace Mann, 58

Bond, Julian, 58

Boots, Smith, 111, 112

Borde, Percival, 39, 54, 190

Bridges, Aaron, 154

Broadway, 63, 85, 102, 137

Brooks, Gwendolyn, 12, 63–64, 114, 127

Browder, Earl, 60

Brown, Claude, 173

Brown, Lloyd, 114

Brown, Sterling, 45, 114

Brown v. Board of Education, 7

Buck, Pearl S., 128

Bunche, Ralph, 45

Burley, Virginia, 143

Burnham, Louis and Dorothy, 58

Bush, George H. W., 190

Byas, Don, 166

Cacchione, Peter V., 137

Café Society, 67, 136, 139

    audience of, 46

    Communist Party and, 45

    demise of, 74

    founding of, 43

    Popular Front and, 8, 45

    Primus, Pearl and, 2, 44–48, 50–53, 60, 152, 153

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 2, 45, 139, 140, 152–154, 160

Café Society Downtown, 46

Café Society Uptown, 47, 153, 157, 163

Cage, John, 51

Capra, Frank, 89

Caribbean, 10, 28, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43, 73

Caribbean Carnival, 67

Carnegie Hall, 14, 53, 162, 167

Carpenter, Thelma, 154

Carroll, Vinette, 66

Catlett, Elizabeth, 114

Catlett, Sidney, 52fig

Chaplin, Charlie, 46

Chesnutt, Charles, 27

Chicago Defender, 24, 140

Childress, Alice, 102

Civil rights movement, 4, 7, 61, 117, 130, 197

Class, 27, 95, 102

“Close Ranks” (Du Bois), 20

Coca, Imogene, 45, 152, 168

Coker, Norman, 39

Cold War, 4, 15, 114, 116, 130, 189

Collins, James, 119

Columbia University, 71–72, 104

Common Ground, 106

Communist Party

    Café Society and, 45

    Davis, Benjamin J., Jr. and, 135, 138

    Double V Campaign and, 20

    People’s Voice newspaper and, 92–94

    Petry, Ann and, 10–11, 90, 129–130

    Popular Front and, 7–8

    Primus, Pearl and, 10, 60, 62, 74, 75

    racism and, 62

    Robeson, Paul and, 23, 37

    SNYC and, 59

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 9, 10, 20, 139–140

Cooke, Marvel, 93, 94, 99, 129–130

Cooper, Esther, 110

Cortor, Eldzier, 55

The Crisis, 20, 81, 106, 127

Cullen, Countee, 136

Culture

    African Americans and, 3

    American, 3

    dance and, 72

    in Harlem, NY, 32

    in New York City, NY, 2

    Popular Front and, 5, 8

Cuney, Waring, 23

Dafora, Asadata, 29, 39, 53

Daily Compass, 94

Daily Worker, 30, 54, 60, 61, 62, 93, 98, 135

Dameron, Tadd, 149, 150fig

Dance

    African, 24, 25, 29, 31, 42, 43, 44, 72

    ballet, 25, 38, 44, 47

    black American, 42

    black concert, 76

    Caribbean, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43, 55

    contemporary black vernacular, 25

    cultural, 38

    culture and, 72

    education and, 31, 42

    folk, 29

    jazz, 47, 53

    Lindy Hop, 35, 37, 46

    modern, 24–25, 29–31, 38, 39, 44, 47, 70

    politics and, 23–25, 27, 32, 38, 53

    segregation and, 25, 27

    social, 29, 35

    social justice and, 30

    social protest and, 29–31, 53

    tap, 38, 47

    See also Primus, Pearl

Daniels, Billy, 136

Davis, Angela, 59

Davis, Benjamin, 120

Davis, Benjamin J., Jr., 133–139

Davis, Ben, Jr., 99

Davis, Miles, 12, 160, 164

Davis, Ossie, 102

Davis, Sallye Bell, 59

Delmer, Judith, 39

Democracy, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 20, 29, 54, 59, 76, 89, 98, 109

Democratic Party, Democrats, 90

Dickens, Charles, 84, 114

Dinkins, David, 112–113

Discrimination, 6, 7, 19, 69

Dodson, Owen, 51

Dorham, Kenny, 12

Double V Campaign, 5–7, 19, 20, 30, 53, 59, 61, 92, 94

Douglas, Aaron, 103

Dreiser, Theodore, 84, 114

Drug use, 130, 133, 158–159, 164, 169

Du Bois, W. E. B., 20, 27, 55, 57, 75, 130, 148

Duke University, 148

Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 64

Dunham, Katherine, 12, 13, 23, 30, 31, 39, 40, 42–44, 48, 54, 63, 68, 70, 72, 153, 168, 175

Ebony, 49, 113

Eckstine, Billy, 12, 159–162

Education, 7, 8, 31, 42, 91, 98, 114

Ellington, Duke, 147, 148, 152, 162, 173

Ellison, Ralph, 13, 62, 106, 117, 120, 122–123, 127, 157, 173

Embree, Edward, 72

Emma Ransom House, 85

Emperor Jones, 67

Employment, 7, 22, 35–36, 91

Equality, 4, 6, 7, 9, 19, 76, 94, 98

Executive Order 8802, 6, 36

Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), 20, 21

Fascism, 6, 7, 19, 20, 22, 30, 32, 61, 62, 135

Fast, Howard, 37

Fauset, Jessie, 11, 95

FBI. See Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 3, 17, 45, 58, 59–62, 68, 73–76, 129, 130

Feminist movement, 15, 197

FEPC. See Fair Employment Practices Commission

Fiction. See Literature

Fisk University, 72

Fitzgerald, Ella, 12, 137, 139, 173

Five Dancers, 39–40, 44

Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley, 137

Flynn, Errol, 46

Fort, Syvvilla, 70

Foulkes, Julia L., 70

Founding Fathers, 108, 111

Franklin, Benjamin, 108, 115

Frazier, E. Franklin, 45

Freedom, 9, 24, 31, 98, 136

Freud, Sigmund, 116

Gangs, 97, 133, 169, 173–174

Garland, Phyl, 49

Garner, Erroll, 146

Garvey, Marcus, 32

Gary, Johnnie, 154

Gender, 95, 115

Gillespie, Dizzy, 111, 119, 149, 150, 150fig, 160, 166, 168, 173, 193

Gold, Ben, 136

Goodman, Benny, 147, 166, 181–182

Gordon, Dexter, 12

Gottlieb, William P., 149

Graham, Martha, 29, 38, 69

Great Depression, 5, 7, 36, 114, 128

Greatest Generation, 4

Great Migration, 28, 55, 119, 128

Greenwich Village, NY, 43

Hackett, Bobby, 52fig

Haig, Al, 166

Hairston, Jacqueline, 68

Hall, Edmund, 165

Hammerstein, Oscar, II, 22

Hammond, John, 45, 174

Hansberry, Lorraine, 131

“Hard Time Blues,” 23, 50, 55, 63, 65, 66, 67, 77

Harlem, NY, 9

    art in, 32

    artists in, 1, 11–12

    Black Americans in, 28

    black urbanites in, 79

    Caribbean immigrants in, 33

    changes in, 189–190

    culture in, 32

    drug use and, 130, 133, 158–159, 169

    in forties, 11

    gang violence in, 133, 169, 173174

    Harlem Renaissance and, 11–12

    housing in, 81

    “latchkey” children in, 97

    nightlife of, 86, 127, 133, 169–170

    Petry, Ann and, 81, 89, 90–91, 98, 110, 170, 189

    Petry, Ann in, 2, 9, 79

    politics in, 32

    Primus, Pearl and, 95

    Primus, Pearl in, 2

    racism and, 79

    segregation and, 79

    The Street (Petry) and, 170

    urban renewal and, 130–131

Williams, Mary Lou and, 9, 168–175, 189

Harlem Arts Center, 96

Harlem Community Art Center, 104

Harlem Housewives League, 99

Harlem Nocturne (Neel), 188fig, 189

Harlem Quarterly, 106

Harlem Renaissance, 11–12, 21, 95

Harlem Riots (1943), 17, 90, 118–127

Harlem Riverside Defense Council, 98, 110

Harlem Youth Center, 60

Harrington, Ollie, 95

Hadassah, 68

Hawkins, Coleman, 135, 136

Helman, Lillian, 74

Herndon, Angelo, 135

Herskovitz, Melville, 70

Hill, Abraham, 101–102

Hindemith, Paul, 162–163

Hines, Earl “Fatha,” 12

Hitler, Adolf, 19, 94, 116

Holder, Geoffrey, 39

Holiday, Billie, 45, 46, 47, 48, 118, 135, 136, 138, 146, 157, 158, 163

Holiday magazine, 131

Hollywood, 43, 89, 104, 129

Holm, Hanya, 69

Homzy, Andrew, 164–165

Hoover, J. Edgar, 45, 61, 74, 92, 130, 176

Horne, Lena, 12, 45, 46, 47, 54, 74, 112, 118, 136, 154, 173

Houghton Mifflin, 81, 107, 113

House of Representatives, U. S., 21

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 74, 75, 103, 129

Housing, 7, 22, 81, 91, 94, 109, 130

Housing Act of 1949, 130, 189

Houton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, 81

Howard, Jack, 144

HUAC. See House Un-American Activities Committee

Hughes, Langston, 24, 37, 45, 51, 53, 55, 87, 114, 120–121, 126, 136, 149, 173

Humphrey, Doris, 38

Hunter College, 34, 35, 36, 47, 50

Hurston, Zora Neale, 11, 55, 70, 72, 117, 192

In Darkness and Confusion (Petry), 103

“In Darkness and Confusion” (Petry), 118, 122–127

in New York City, NY, 31

International Theatre, 67

Invisible Man (Ellison), 62, 120, 122–123

Ivy, James, 127

Jackson, Ada B., 99

Jackson, Esther Cooper, 58–59

Jackson, James, 58, 59

Jackson, “Lassido,” 31–32

Jackson, Red, 174

Jamaica, 40

Jamal, Ahmad, 146

James, Anna Louise, 82, 83

Jim Crow, 6, 17, 19, 20, 23, 27–28, 29, 30, 55, 88, 89, 98, 112, 120, 175, 177

“Jim Crow Train,” 23, 27–28, 65, 77

John Cage Trust, 51

Johnson, James P., 144

Johnson, Lutie, 88, 96–97

Johnson, William H., 103

Johnston, Toosie, 76–77

Jones, Bill T., 76

Jones, Hank, 149, 150fig

Jones, Max, 161–162

Josephson, Barney, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 52, 73–76, 139, 152, 153, 157, 160, 168, 174, 176, 194

Journey of Immersion, 55

Judeo-Christianity, 11

Julius Rosenwald Foundation, 16, 72

Kent, Rockwell, 62–63

Kern, Jerome, 22

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 177

Kirk, Andy, 147

Kurath, Gertrude Prokosch, 39

Kykunkor, 29

LaGuardia, Fiorello, 95–96, 100, 120

Lane, Anna Houston. See Petry, Ann

Lane, Bertha James, 82

Lane, Peter Clark, 82

Larsen, Nella, 11, 95

Laundry Workers Joint Board, 97

Lawrence, Jacob, 37, 104

League for Political Education, 166

Lee, Canada, 74

Left, 8–9, 10, 46, 93–94, 115

Leftists, 30, 99, 136

Lenin, V. I., 8

Levien, Julia, 39

Levy, Herbert Mont, 75

Lewis, Norman, 103

Lewis, Sinclair, 114–115

Liberals, 8, 30, 99

Liberty, 9

Life magazine, 53, 174

“Like a Winding Sheet” (Petry), 114

Lincoln, Abbey, 50, 131

Lincoln, Abraham, 90

Literature, 77

    education and, 114

    Left and, 115

    movement in, 16

    society, reform of and, 114

    sociological novel and, 115–118

    See also Petry, Ann

Little, Malcolm. See Malcolm X

Lloyd, Margaret, 42

Louis, Joe, 113, 176

Lunceford, Jimmie, 136

Lynching, 63, 64, 91, 145

Mabry, Iris, 39

Mainstream press, 13, 106, 113

Makeba, Miriam, 50

Malcolm X, 35, 111, 112, 170

Manchild in the Promised Land (Brown), 173

Manhattan, NY, 33, 63

Mannings, Muriel, 48

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), 4

March on Washington movement (1941), 6–7

Martin, David Stone, 144, 155–156

Martin, John, 13, 24–25, 39, 46, 52, 53

Martinique, 40

Marx, Karl, 10

Marxism, 10–11, 116

Mary Lou Williams: Circle Recordings, 183

Mary Lou Williams’s Piano Workshop (radio program), 13–14, 157

Mayfield, Roland, 146

Mays, Benjamin, 177

McBurnie, Beryl, 38–39

McCarthy, Joseph, 74, 93, 130

McCarthyism, 16, 37, 61, 74, 130, 189

McDowell, Deborah, 192–193

McGarity, Lou, 52fig

McKay, Claude, 182

McKayle, Donald, 65–66, 191

McRae, Carmen, 119

Mead, Margaret, 71

Merriwether, Louis, 131

Migrants, migration, 5, 7, 17, 28, 32, 55, 100, 119

Miles College, 59

Military, 6, 12, 88–89, 91, 111–113

Monk, Thelonious, 13, 33, 150, 159, 160

Moore, Audley, 136

Morrison, Toni, 117, 192

Morton, Jelly Roll, 144

Mostel, Zero, 45, 74

Moten, Benny, 147

Motley, Willard, 114

Movement, 16–17, 24–25, 29, 42, 55, 67, 68, 69, 101

Murray, Albert, 113

Music

    bebop, 11, 13, 123, 150, 159–162, 179, 180, 181

    black, 143, 164, 180

    boogie-woogie, 180

    classical, 165

    forties and, 5

    in Harlem, NY, 11–12

    jazz, 13, 143, 157, 164, 166, 179, 181

    movement in, 16

    in New York City, NY, 11–12

    rhythm and blues, 11

    swing, 11, 15, 159, 179, 180

    See also Williams, Mary Lou

“Music and Progress” (Williams), 179–180

NAACP. See National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The Narrows (Petry), 88, 105, 192

Nash, Joe, 48

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 96, 113, 168

National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, 98

National Association of Graduate Nurses, 98

National Black Nurses Association, 98–99

National Council of Negro Women, 113

National Maritime Workers Union, 35–36, 47

National Medical Association, 98

National Negro Congress (1936), 8

National Urban League, 96, 113, 120

National Youth Administration (NYA), 36–37

Native Son (Wright), 84–85, 113, 116

Naylor, Gloria, 192

Nazism, 6, 30

Neel, Alice, 188fig, 189

Negro Bar Association, 98

Negro Digest, 106, 113

Negro Freedom Rally (1943), 17, 19, 21–24, 28, 30, 50, 52–53, 55, 60, 62

Negro Liberator, 135

Negro People’s Front, 8

Negro Quarterly, 106

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 53, 66

Negro Story, 106

“Negro Women Have a Vote—How Shall They Use It?,” 99

Negro Women Incorporated (NWI), 87, 99–101, 109

“Negro Youth’s Heritage in Dance” (Jackson), 59

New Dance Group, 37–40, 68, 72

New Negro movement, 21–22, 119

New Republic, 149

New York City, NY

    artists in, 1–2, 11–12

    culture in, 2

    obstacles to freedom in, 12–13

    Petry, Ann and, 12–13, 85–87, 185

    politics in, 2

Primus, Pearl and, 29, 185

    racism in, 12–13

Williams, Mary Lou and, 12–13, 17, 168–169, 185

New York Daily News, 91, 93

New York Post, 120

New York Public Library, 85, 101, 162

New York Times, 13, 23, 39, 125, 126, 137, 166, 191, 193

New York University, 36, 71

Nichols, Herbie, 161

Notes of a Native Sun (Baldwin), 120

Novak, Kim, 104, 129

“The Novel as Social Criticism” (Petry), 115–118, 128

Nunn, Bill, 176–177

NYA. See National Youth Administration

Oberlin College, 58

O’Brien, Peter, 182

O’Neal, Frederick, 101–102

“On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon” (Petry), 81

On Strivers Row (Hill), 102, 103

Opportunity, 106, 113

Orent, Milton, 150fig, 156, 162, 166

Organized labor, 5, 6, 8

Parker, Charles, 166

Parks, Gordon, 174

People’s Voice newspaper, 10, 84, 86, 90–96, 98, 130, 137

Perske, Betty, 46

Petry, Ann, 80fig, 81, 149

    aesthetic concerns of, 3, 7, 95, 114, 115–118

    ANT and. see American Negro Theater (ANT)

    appearance of, 84

    audience of, 84–85

    background of, 2, 81–84

    birth of, 2

    Communist Party and, 10–11, 90, 129–130

    Davis, Benjamin J., Jr. and, 138

    democracy and, 3, 10

    Double V Campaign and, 5

    education of, 14–15, 82–84, 103, 104–105

    everyday people, portrayal of by, 2

    Harlem, NY and, 2, 9, 79, 81, 89, 90–91, 98, 110, 170, 189

    Harlem Riots (1943) and, 90, 118–127

    Harlem Riots and, 17

    “In Darkness and Confusion” of, 118

    as intellectual, 3, 14–15, 82–83

    as journalist, 81, 84, 90–96, 97–98

    legacy of, 15, 192–193, 196–197

    “Like a Winding Sheet” of, 114

    The Narrows of, 105, 192

    New York City, NY and, 2, 12–13, 85–87, 185

    “The Novel as Social Criticism” of, 115–118, 128

    NWI and, 99–101

    People’s Voice and, 10, 84, 90–96, 98

    personality of, 2

    political activism of, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 81, 83, 89–90, 94–96, 97–101

    Popular Front and, 8

    Reformist Left and, 8

    relationships of, 86

    reputation of, 15, 79

    screenwriting of, 104, 129

    segregation and, 98–99

    short stories of, 81, 106, 114, 192

    significance of, 3, 11, 15

    social problems and, 84–85, 97–98

    social realism and, 114, 117

    “Solo on the Drums” of, 102

    The Street of, 81, 88, 96–97, 107114, 128–129, 192, 193

    See also Literature

Petry, Elisabeth, 82, 83, 87, 88, 192

Petry, George David, 85–86, 88, 104, 107, 111, 112, 127, 128–129

Philadanco, 68

Phylon, 113

Pittsburgh Courier, 20, 140, 176–177

Plessy, Homer, 27

Plessy v. Ferguson, 6

PM newspaper, 8, 106

Politics

    art and, 2–3, 12, 14

    Cold War, 4, 15

    dance and, 23–25, 27, 32, 38, 53

    Double V Campaign and, 6–7

    forties and, 5

    militant, 4

    Petry, Ann and, 3, 7, 10, 11, 14, 81, 83, 89–90, 94–96, 97–101

    Popular Front and, 5, 45

    Primus, Pearl and, 7, 10, 14, 29–31, 38, 57–62, 69

    progressive, 38, 155

    protest, 83

    radical, 25, 32

    Reformist Left and, 9

    tactics and, 4

    war years and, 4

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 3, 7, 10, 14, 139–140, 175–178

Popular Front, 5, 7–8, 30, 45, 106

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 21–22, 45–46, 87, 91, 92, 101, 110, 118, 120, 129, 137, 153, 154

Powell, Bud, 13, 150, 160, 161

Premice, Josephine, 68

President’s Fair Employment Practices Committee, 6

Press. See Black press

Primus, Pearl, 26fig, 41fig, 52fig, 138, 175

    aesthetic concerns of, 3, 7, 24–25, 30–31, 49, 51, 52

    Africa, trip to of, 3, 16, 31, 57

    afrocentricity and, 31

    appearance of, 47–50

    audiences, relationship with of, 42–43, 50

    background of, 2, 28, 29, 31–32, 33–34

    birth of, 28, 33

    black press and, 43

    on Broadway, 63, 67

    Café Society and, 2, 44–48, 50–53, 60, 152, 153

    choreography of, 25, 43, 50, 53, 67, 77, 190

    collaborations of, 2, 50–52

    Communist Party and, 10, 60, 62, 74, 75

    democracy and, 3, 10, 76

    Double V Campaign and, 5, 30, 53

    Dunham, Katherine and, 13, 40, 42–44

    early career of, 35–37

    education of, 14–15, 24, 33–35, 36, 69–73, 190

    FBI investigation of, 3, 16, 17, 58, 59–62, 68, 73–76

    firsthand accounts of, 65–66

    Five Dancers performance of, 3940, 44

    friendships of, 2

    Harlem, NY and, 2, 9, 95

    “In Darkness and Confusion” of, 122–127

    as intellectual, 3, 14–15, 30, 31, 34, 44, 54, 55, 69–73, 85

    legacy of, 15, 190–192, 196–197

    marriages of, 53–54, 190

    Negro Freedom Rally (1943) and, 17, 23–24, 28, 30, 50, 52–53, 55, 60, 62

    nervous breakdown of, 62–63

    New Dance Group and, 37–40, 68, 72

    New York City, NY and, 2, 12–13, 29, 185

    personality of, 34, 51

    political activism of, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 29–31, 38, 57–62, 69

    Popular Front and, 8, 30

    reputation of, 13, 15

    reviews of, 39–40, 42

    segregation and, 24, 27, 43

    SNYC and, 57–60

    social realism and, 31, 110

    South, trip to of, 54–57, 63–65

    as teacher, 68–69, 72

    white supremacy and, 9

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 2, 50–51, 67, 152, 168

    See also Dance

Racism, 6, 61, 139

    Black Americans and, 28

    black press and, 92

    Communist Party and, 62

    dance as protest against, 53

    democracy and, 10

    employment and, 22, 35–36

    Harlem, NY and, 79

    housing and, 22

    New York City, NY and, 12–13

    South and, 28

Radicalism, 8, 25, 32, 94

Rahman-Ndiaye, Andara Koumba, 191

Randolph, A. Philip, 6–7, 19, 124

Realism, social, 11, 31, 110, 114, 117

Reckling, Frances Kraft, 86–87, 88

Renaissance, Harlem, 11–12, 21, 95

Republican Party, Republicans, 90

Richards, Lloyd, 102

Roach, Max, 166

Roberts, Lucky, 136

Robeson, Paul, Jr., 37

Robeson, Paul, Sr., 22–23, 37, 45, 48, 74, 75, 130, 135, 137

Robinson, Bill “Bojangles,” 23, 118

Robinson, Dollie, 87–88, 98–99, 110

Robinson, Mabel Louise, 104–105

Rockefeller, Nelson, 46

“Roll ’Em” (Williams), 147–148

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 46, 53, 176

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 6, 36, 92, 93

Rorty, Richard, 8–9, 46, 114–115

Rosenkrantz, Timmie, 167

Rosie the Riveter, 4

Rowley, Hazel, 156

Russell, Curley, 166

Rustin, Bayard, 6–7

Sapphire, 76–77

Saturday Evening Post, 106

Savage, Augusta, 37

Savoy Ballroom, 29, 35, 46, 95–96

Schoenberg, Arnold, 163

Schurman, Nona, 39

Scott, Hazel, 12, 45, 46, 47, 74, 75, 91, 136, 137, 153–154, 157, 175

Scottsboro Boys, 135

Scruggs, Mary Elfrieda. See Williams, Mary Lou

Second Great Migration, 5, 7, 28

Segregation, 24, 94, 98

    black migrants and, 28–29

    black press and, 91

    dance and, 25, 27

    democracy and, 29

    Democratic Party and, 90

    Double V Campaign and, 6

    in employment, 7

    Harlem, NY and, 79

    in housing, 7

    in military, 6, 12, 91, 111–113

    Petry, Ann and, 98–99

    Primus, Pearl and, 25, 27, 43

    professional organizations and, 98–99

    protest against, 25

    racial, 19, 28

    transportation and, 25, 26–27, 29

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 175–177

Shange, Ntozake, 192

Show Boat (musical), 22, 67

Sierra Leone, 29

Simms, Hilda, 54

Simone, Nina, 50

Simons, John, 52fig

Six Men and a Girl (Williams), 160

Smith, Bessie, 11

Smith, Ferdinand, 136, 138

Smith, Lillian, 176

Smith, Marvin, 95

Smith, Morgan, 95

SNYC. See Southern Negro Youth Congress

Social justice, 10, 14, 24, 30, 151

Social movements, 15, 17

Social realism, 11, 31, 110, 114, 117

“Solo on the Drums” (Petry), 102

“Souls of Black Folk” (Du Bois), 57

South, 32, 73

    Primus, Pearl trip to, 54–57, 63–65

    racism in, 28

    Williams, Mary Lou and, 144

“Southern Landscape,” 63

Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC), 57–60

“Southland,” 63

Soviet Union, 59, 62

Spirituality, 10, 11, 15, 140, 142, 178, 185, 191, 193–194

Stalin, Joseph, 93–94

Steinbeck, John, 114–115

Stereotyping, 8, 89, 96, 115

Stormy Weather (film), 42, 118

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 115–116

“Strange Fruit,” 45, 53, 63–66, 67, 77

Stravinksy, Igor, 163

Strayhorn, Billy, 146, 154

The Street (Petry), 13, 81, 88, 96–97, 105, 107–114, 128–129, 170, 192, 193

“Study in Nothing,” 67

Sugar Hill, NY, 110, 133, 140, 149

Tamiris, Helen, 137

Tatum, Art, 136, 163

Taylor, Billy, 164

Teagarden, Jack, 149, 150fig

That Hill Girl (Petry), 104, 129

Thenstead, Adolph, 67

Time magazine, 48, 153, 181

Tolson, Melvin, 114

Toomer, Jean, 55

Town Hall, 14, 165, 166

Train, Arthur, 104

Trilling, Lionel, 128

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe), 116

Unions, 5, 6, 8

United States

    capitalism in, 9

    culture of, 3

    democracy in, 3, 10

    equality in, 19

    racism in, 10

Urban Bush Women, 68, 191

Urban League, 113–114

Urban renewal, 130–131, 133, 189

Vaughan, Sarah, 12, 119

Walker, Alice, 192

Walker, Margaret, 12, 114

“Walking with Pearl . . . Southern Diaries,” 66–67, 191

Washington, Booker T., 83

Washington, Dinah, 12, 128

Washington, Fredi, 91, 135, 136, 137

Waters, Ethel, 118, 168

Webster, Ben, 156, 163, 166

Weeks, James, 63

Weidman, Charles, 38, 69

Weingarten, Gray, 154, 163, 168, 178

Welles, Orson, 176

Wells, Ida B., 27

West Africa, 3, 16, 24

White, Charles, 37, 114

White, Josh, 23, 45, 50, 67, 74, 75, 77, 94–96, 137, 138

White, Walter, 45, 96

White supremacy, 9, 28, 30, 69, 70, 108

Wilder, Austin, 68

Wilkerson, Doxey, 93

Williams, Cootie, 118–119

Williams, Johnny, 147

Williams, Mary Lou, 138, 141fig, 150fig, 158fig

    aesthetic concerns of, 3, 7

    as arranger, 14–15, 147–148, 181–182

    audiences, relationship with of, 42–43, 50

    audiences of, 7

    background of, 2, 142–147

    bebop, birth of and, 13, 159–162

    birth of, 2

    Café Society and, 2, 45, 139, 140, 152–154, 160

    career resurgence of, 15–16

    collaborations of, 2

    Communist Party and, 10, 139140

    as composer, 14–15, 151–152

    Davis, Benjamin J., Jr. rally and, 135, 136, 139

    death of, 194

    democracy and, 3, 10

    Double V Campaign and, 5

    education of, 14–15, 146

    Europe, trip to of, 3, 15, 184–185

    gambling and, 171–173

    Hamilton Terrace apartment of, 148–150, 160, 167, 171

    Harlem, NY and, 2, 9, 168–175, 189

    humanitarian efforts of, 151, 174–175, 194

    as intellectual, 3, 14–15

    legacy of, 15, 194–197

    as mentor to young musicians, 13, 160

    nervous breakdown of, 185

    New York City, NY and, 2, 12–13, 17, 148–152, 168–169, 185

    as pianist, 14–15, 144, 145

    political activism of, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 139–140, 175–178

    Popular Front and, 8

    Primus, Pearl and, 2, 50–51, 67, 152, 168

    radio broadcasting and, 13–14, 157

    relationships of, 147, 148, 150, 155–156

    reputation of, 15

    segregation and, 175–177

    significance of, 3, 11, 15

    social issues and, 177–178

    spirituality of, 10, 11, 15, 140, 142, 151, 178, 185, 193–194

    as teacher, 148

    writing of, 151–152, 179–180

    Zodiac Suite of, 14, 50, 162–168

    See also Music

Williams, Serena, 49

Williams College, 84

Wilson, Teddy, 45, 136, 138, 139, 174, 181

Winchell, Walter, 74, 176

Windsor Theater, 42

Wolfe, Jacques, 22

Woll, Yael, 53, 190

Woodruff, Hale, 114

Works Progress Administration, 104

World War I, 19–20

World War II, 1, 4, 5–7, 11–12, 19, 92, 115

Wren, Elsa, 46

Wright, Richard, 13, 45, 84–85, 113, 114, 116, 127, 136, 192

Yergan, Max, 93, 94

Young Communist League, 60

Zodiac Suite (Williams), 14, 50, 162168

Zola, Émile, 84, 114

Zollar, Jawole Willa Jo, 66–67, 76, 191–192