Oct 08 2013
Much has been written about the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on American race relations. We know about the black writers, artists, and activists, and the white benefactors and cultural allies – but only those who were male. Very little is known about the white women who participated in the Harlem Renaissance at a time when the combination of societal expectations of feminine modesty intersected with bigoted notions of racial purity.
In fact there were a significant number of white women who crossed the barriers of sex and race in the 1920s in New York but so little is known about them that rather than being known by their individual names, they are simply known by the collective moniker of “Miss Anne.”
Now a new book by Carla Kaplan about these women strives to tell the story, and in doing so, paints a nuanced portrait of racial and gender relations in the early part of the American 20th century. The book is entitled Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance. Kaplan is best known for her earlier acclaimed book Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.
GUEST: Carla Kaplan, Davis Distinguished professor of American Literature at Northeastern University, author of Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance
CARLA KAPLAN’S SPEAKING EVENTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, LOS ANGELES, CA
@ 7:30pm, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, PASADENA, CA
@ 7:00pm, 695 E Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena