Wallace Thurman

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1902, Wallace Thurman became one of the most energetic literary figures of the Harlem Renaissance. He worked as a novelist, editor, critic, playwright, and screenwriter, helping shape the conversations of the 1920s and early 1930s rather than simply joining them.

Thurman is especially remembered for The Blacker the Berry and Infants of the Spring, books that confronted difficult subjects including color prejudice within Black communities and the tensions inside Harlem's artistic scene. He was also closely involved with the influential magazine Fire!!, a short-lived but important publication created by younger Black writers and artists who wanted more freedom in how Black life was represented.

He died in New York in 1934, only 32 years old, but his reputation has lasted because his writing was fearless, funny, and often ahead of its time. Readers coming to his work today often find a writer who challenged both prejudice and respectability, and who insisted on telling the truth as he saw it.