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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'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 Dostoevsky.  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, however.  She

said she went to Russia with Langston Hughes and the others

because she liked them.  She returned to the United States when

her father died.

VOICE TWO:

By the middle of the Nineteen-Thirties, the Harlem Renaissance was dying out.  Dorothy West wanted to re-capture the creativity of the period.  So she created a magazine called, "Challenge."

She edited and published the works of new, young African American

writers.  The magazine lasted only three years.  West did not

have enough money to continue producing it.  She also said she

did not receive enough writing of a high quality.

The magazine was criticized by a group of black writers.  They included Richard Wright, author of the book “Native Son,â€?and Margaret Walker.  They said the magazine was too concerned with artistic values.  They felt it should deal with political issues.

VOICE ONE:

In Nineteen-Thirty-Seven, Dorothy West created another magazine called "New Challenge."  She asked Richard Wright to help her, even though he had criticized her earlier magazine.

The two writers disagreed on a number of issues, however.  Also,

West again had financial difficulties producing the magazine.  So

"New Challenge" was published only once.  Yet that one

publication was very important.  It included a document by Wright

called "Blueprint for Negro Writing."  That was a statement about

what he believed African Americans should write about.  "New

Challenge" was the first publication to bring together black art

and politics.  Other magazines would follow its example.

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VOICE TWO:

In the late Nineteen-Forties, Dorothy West left New York.  She

moved to her family's holiday house on Martha's Vineyard island.

She lived there for the rest of her life.

In Nineteen-Forty-Eight, she published her first book, “The Living

Is Easy.â€?SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  It is partly based on her life and on her mother.  It is

about a light-skinned black woman named Cleo Johnson.  She wishes

that her dark-skinned daughter were more like her.  She treats

her husband badly because he is from a lower social class.  The

book describes black middle class values in Boston.  Many critics

liked the book and its message about racism against blacks and

within the black community.

VOICE ONE:

“The Living is Easyâ€?was published again by the Feminist Press in Nineteen-Eighty-Two.  Critics at that time described the book as important because it showed the position of women in the family and in life.  The book also is valued for its description of the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter.  “The Living Is Easyâ€?is now recognized as having an important influence on the writing tradition of African American women.

VOICE TWO:

After her first novel, Dorothy West continued writing stories and

short pieces containing her ideas on different subjects.  Her

second novel was published forty-seven years later, in

Nineteen-Ninety-Five.  It is called “The Wedding.â€?/P>

The story takes place in the black community of Martha's Vineyard

during the Nineteen-Fifties.  It is about a rich young black

woman who is to marry a white jazz musician.  It deals with class

and color issues between blacks, and racial issues between blacks

and whites.  West believed that different races should not be

separated from each other.  She also believed in love.

VOICE ONE:

She began the book in the Nineteen-Sixties.  But she stopped

writing it when the Black Power political movement grew strong.

She thought members of the group would denounce it.  She was not active in the civil rights movement to guarantee fair treatment for black Americans.

In Nineteen-Ninety-Two, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis began to

visit Dorothy West to help her finish “The Wedding.â€?SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Missus

Onassis was married to American President John Kennedy when he

was killed in Nineteen-Sixty-Three.  Later, she worked for a

publishing company.  She died just before “The Weddingâ€? was

published.  Dorothy West noted that the two women looked very

different but had worked together perfectly.

The book was so popular that its publishers produced another one

by Dorothy West.  “The Richer, The Poorerâ€?is a collection of

stories and other writings she made throughout her life.

VOICE TWO:

Dorothy West was the last living member of the Harlem

Renaissance.  She died in August, Nineteen-Ninety-Eight.  She was

ninety-one years old.  Not long before she died, she was honored

at a special ceremony.  Many different people praised her work.

They described her influence on American culture over so many

years.  One said, simply, that Dorothy West was a "national

gift."

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Doreen Baingana.  I'm

Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another

PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.