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Nella Larson

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Nella Larson was a prominent novelist who contributed greatly to the Harlem Renaissance. While she only wrote two novels and short stories, the impact of her work has been strong and she gave a greater insight into the issues faced by many black Americans during this time. She is most known for her book Passing, which dealt with issues of identity development in the black community. Many light skinned black people lived their social lives “passing” as white. This was a dangerous endeavor due to the consequences one would face if found out, and also for the rejection and disapproval of blacks that did not try to pass for white. Tourists staying in hotels New York USA can still experience the influence of the Harlem Renaissance today.
She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1891, the daughter of a Danish immigrant and a West Indian. Her parents disappeared from her life at an early age and she went to live with her mother’s relations in Denmark. She returned to the States and attended Fisk University in Tennessee for a short period of time. It has been speculated that she left the university due to her refusal to follow the strict dress codes that were in effect. She returned to Denmark and lived there for four years before returning once again to the US. Due to her parents’ mixed heritage, Larson was considered to be black and she attended New York’s all black nursing school at Lincoln Hospital. She would later become a librarian and in 1919 she married Elmer Samuel Imes, who was the second black American to receive his PhD in physics.

She and her husband moved to Harlem where Larson began working at the New York public library. She developed friendships with prominent figures in the Harlem Renaissance and began to get involved in the movement. She also began writing and had her first works published in the early 20s. She would soon decide to give up her work as a librarian and focus fulltime on her writing. She published her first novel Quicksand in 1928. This was largely autobiographical and received substantial acclaim, though it was not commercially successful. In 1929 she published her second novel, Passing, and it too received critical acclaim.

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Tags: Fisk University, hotels, Nella Larson, New York, Tennessee

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