with NELLIERATHBORNEBRIGHT, a fellow Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania alumna and member of
the Black Opals literary circle. America: Red,
White, Black, Yellowwas published posthumously
by Publishing & Supply Company, the first press
to distribute his work.
Fauset’s writing reflected his deep interest in
religiosity and its redemptive power for black
Americans. His biography of Sojourner Truth fo-
cused on her religious development. Carter G.
Woodson reviewed the book for the American His-
torical Reviewin 1939. In addition, Fauset’s anthro-
pological research in African-American culture
and religion informed his writing projects. His
essay “American Negro Folk Literature” was in-
cluded in Locke’s influential New Negro.In Black
Godshe proposed that African-American churches
of all denominations were vital and empowering
places for people of color.
Bibliography
Woodson, Carter. “Arthur Huff Fauset: Sojourner Truth,
God’s Faithful Pilgrim.” American Historical Review
44, no. 2 (1939): 403.
Fauset, Jessie Redmon(1882–1961)
Hailed as the “midwife” of the Harlem Renais-
sance, Jessie Redmon Fauset was an accomplished
writer, editor, scholar, teacher, and mentor. Her vi-
sionary efforts, mentoring, and outreach to emerg-
ing writers intensified the intellectual and creative
output of the period. A prolific writer in her own
right, Fauset’s career reflected her keen evalua-
tions of social tensions, racial ideals, and the cre-
ative challenges and opportunities for American
writers of color during the era. She believed that
“[t]o be a Negro in America posited a dramatic sit-
uation” but that “there are breathing-spells, in-be-
tween spaces where colored men and women work
and love and go about their ways with no thought
of the ‘problem’” (NYT,10 January 1932, BR7).
The most prolific and published author of the
era, Fauset was born in New Jersey to Redmon and
Annie Seamon Fauset. When her mother died and
her father remarried, Jessie became part of a large
family. Her stepmother, Bella Huff, had three chil-
dren of her own and, with Redmon Fauset, went
on to have three additional children. One of Jessie
Fauset’s closest relations was her half brother
ARTHURHUFFFAUSET, who, like his sister, pur-
sued a literary career and was dedicated to encour-
aging the collective literary endeavors of his
Philadelphia community.
A gifted student, Jessie Fauset graduated from
the Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1900. She
gained admission to Bryn Mawr College, but once
the school determined her race, it made every effort
to prevent her from enrolling. As a result, the
school helped to negotiate her acceptance to Cor-
nell University. Fauset attended the Ivy League
school in Ithaca, New York, and graduated Phi Beta
Kappa in 1905. She became the first African-Amer-
ican woman to graduate from Cornell University
and the first elected to PHIBETAKAPPA. She re-
mained especially proud of her scholarly accom-
plishments, and her Phi Beta Kappa key, which she
wore on a necklace, is evident in many of the pho-
tographs that were taken of her in later life. Her
undergraduate studies focused on languages, and
Fauset later continued her scholarship at the UNI-
VERSITY OFPENNSYLVANIAand at the SORBONNE.
Following her graduation from Cornell, Fauset
returned to Pennsylvania with an interest in teach-
ing. Unfortunately, ingrained racial prejudice pre-
vented her from acquiring a position in the
segregated public school system. After gaining em-
ployment at a school in Baltimore, Maryland, for
one year, she relocated to WASHINGTON, D.C.,
and joined the faculty of the renowned M Street
High School. Like her half brother, Arthur, she
taught in the public schools but was forced to pur-
sue teaching positions in Washington, D.C., when
denied employment in Philadelphia because of her
race. Fauset taught French for 14 years at the leg-
endary M Street High School, also known as the
DUNBARHIGHSCHOOL, where Sorbonne Ph.D.
and pioneering feminist scholar Anna Julia Cooper
was headmistress. At the institution, Fauset was
part of a formidable intellectual and literary elite
that, in addition to Cooper, included fellow teach-
ers and scholars EVABEATRICEDYKESand MARY
CHURCHTERRELL.
In 1918 Fauset began graduate studies at the
University of Pennsylvania, and she completed a
master’s degree in 1919. Her early correspondence
with W. E. B. DUBOIS, whose scholarship and ac-
tivism she admired greatly, prompted her relocation150 Fauset, Jessie Redmon