名人轶事67:Writer Dorothy West: Last Living Member of Harlem Renai
Written by Doreen Baingana
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VOICE ONE:
I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with the Special English Program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Every
week, we tell about a person who played an important part in the history and
culture of the United States. Today, we tell about the writer Dorothy West.
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VOICE ONE:
Dorothy West
Dorothy West's first long book was published when she was more
than forty years old. Her second book was published when she was in her late
eighties.
Yet African American poet Langston Hughes called her "The Kid." This means a
child. Dorothy West had been one of the youngest members of the group of
writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. This was a creative period for
African Americans during the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties.
VOICE TWO:
During and after World War One, thousands of southern blacks moved to northern
cities in the United States. They were seeking jobs and better lives. Many
settled in an area of New York City known as Harlem. Many were musicians,
writers, artists and performers. Harlem became the largest African American
community in the United States.
The mass movement from south to north led African Americans to examine their
lives: Who were they? What were their rights as Americans? The artistic
expression of this collective examination became known as the Harlem
Renaissance. Renaissance means rebirth. The Harlem Renaissance represented a
re-birth of black people as an effective part of American life.
Dorothy West helped influence the direction and form of African American
writing during this time.
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VOICE ONE:
Dorothy West was born in nineteen-oh-seven in the city of Boston,
Massachusetts. Both her parents were born in the southern United States, and
moved north. Her father was a former slave. He became the first African
American to own a food-selling company in Boston.
The family became part of the black upper middle class social group of Boston.
Dorothy West had private teachers, dancing classes, and holidays on Martha's
Vineyard -- an island off the coast of Massachusetts. She studied at Boston
University and the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.
Later, she would use her own experiences and observations to write about
social class in the black community.
VOICE TWO:
Dorothy West started writing stories at age seven. When she was fourteen, she
published her first story in the "Boston Post." After that, she wrote often
for that newspaper. In nineteen twenty-six, she won second place in a short
story contest by "Opportunity" magazine. Her story was called "The
Typewriter." It describes an African American man who hates his real life. He
creates a better life for himself -- in his imagination -- in order to help
his daughter improve her typing skills.
VOICE ONE:
Dorothy West won second place in the competition with Zora Neale Hurston.
Hurston was another famous writer of the Harlem Renaissance. West moved to
Harlem, too. She was considered a little sister by Hurston and other writers
and poets such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Wallace Thurman.
Members of the Harlem Renaissance group were very serious about their art.
West once told a reporter that they all thought they were going to be the
greatest writers in the world.
VOICE TWO:
During this time, Dorothy West wrote a number of short stories. They were
published in magazines in and around New York. One story was called "Funeral."
Another was called "The Black Dress."
She once said the writer whose work she liked most was the Russian Fyodor
Dstoevsky. Experts say some of her work is similar to his. Like Dostoevsky,
she wrote about the idea of being saved by suffering. She wrote about
unsatisfied people who feel trapped by their environment, or by racism, or
because they are female or male.
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen thirty-two, Dorothy West went to Russia with a group of black
intellectuals and artists. They went to make a film about racism in the United
States. The film, "Black and White," was never completed. West remained in
Russia for about a year. It appears she did not stay for political reasons,
