to New York City, where she accepted a position as
literary editor at THECRISIS.Fauset’s leadership
role in the Harlem Renaissance was facilitated by
her prominent position in the NATIONALASSOCI-
ATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED
PEOPLEand The Crisis,its official publication. She
began working with W. E. B. DuBois, Crisiseditor
and a longtime correspondent and inspiration, in
1919.
At The Crisis,Fauset became responsible for
the day-to-day management of the magazine,
played a central role in the preparation of THE
BROWNIES’ BOOK,a children’s periodical, and cul-
tivated new literary talent. Fauset is credited with
having discovered successful writers such as
LANGSTONHUGHESand CLAUDEMCKAY. It was
Fauset who sent ARNABONTEMPShis first literary
acceptance letter, and her encouragement
prompted the aspiring writer to leave California
and head East to participate fully in the Renais-
sance. Fauset’s commitment to literary matters
meant that The Crisisbegan to showcase more lit-
erary material and to pursue meaningful debates
about literary trends and issues. The journal’s turn
toward annual literary competitions was directly
linked to Fauset’s own influence, and it allowed
the NAACP to further enrich its offerings to mem-
bers and the public at large. She took advantage of
her position and used it to generate thoughtful cri-
tiques of her contemporaries. While her close col-
league DuBois published a less-than-glowing
introduction to BRONZE(1922), GEORGIADOU-
GLAS JOHNSON’s first volume of poems, Fauset
took the time to address the work in the regular
Crisiscolumn “Notes on New Books.” Fauset sug-
gested that “Mrs. Johnson seems to me to hear a
message, a message that gains through being softly
but intensely insinuated between the lines of her
poems” and in deference to Johnson, quoted the
Washington, D.C.–based writer when she invoked
“the saving grace of the motherheart” and hoped
that it would “save humanity” (Hull, 164). In re-
sponse to COLOR(1925), COUNTEECULLEN’s first
published collection of poems, Fauset asserted that
she was “convinced” of the poet’s ability to articu-
late the complexities of African Americans’ experi-
ences. “He has the feelings and the gift to express
colored-ness in a world of whiteness,” she wrote in
The Crisis,“I hope he will not be deflected from
continuing to do that of which he has made such a
brave and beautiful beginning” (Lomax, 241).
Fauset’s deft handling of a professional and lit-
erary career also served as a role model for writers
such as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, NELLA
LARSEN, and CLAUDEMCKAY, whose work she
published during her time at The Crisis.According
to Larsen biographer Thadious Davis, “Fauset’s
background, credentials, achievement, and style
impressed Nella Larsen Imes, who saw in Fauset a
reflection of the accomplished woman that she
herself wanted, and intended, to be” (Davis, 143).
Her correspondence with writers is a documented
part of the Harlem Renaissance record and reflects
the great esteem in which many, like Langston
Hughes, held her. In 1963, as he was preparing to
take a collection of his papers to the library at
YALEUNIVERSITY, Hughes noted to his lifelong
friend Arna Bontemps that he had come across “a
real treasure trove of Jessie Fauset letters, from the
one accepting my first poem to 10 to 12 years
thereafter” (Nichols, 460). Many years earlier,
when Claude McKay was hospitalized after suffer-
ing a stroke, Hughes informed Bontemps and
urged him to “Tell Fauset” (Nichols, 133). Fauset’s
close ties to the 135th Street Branch of the NEW
YORKPUBLICLIBRARYand its energetic staff in-
cluding REGINAANDERSON ANDREWS, also in-
creased her ability to effectively build professional
contacts and sustain the creative enterprises of so
many.
During her tenure at The Crisis,Fauset collab-
orated with DuBois on one of the most significant
ventures to produce substantive and appealing lit-
erature for and about children of color. As Fauset
declared in the dedicatory notice that appeared in
the first volume, The Brownies’ Bookwas created to
fill the insistent void in works by and about peoples
of African descent. According to Fauset, the publi-
cation was expressly for “children, who with eager
look / Scanned vainly library shelf and nook, / For
History or Song or Story / That told of Colored
People’s glory” (Davis, 132). The volumes included
numerous short stories, puzzles, biographies, and
poetry, and it was Fauset herself who authored a
majority of the pieces published in the 24 issues of
The Brownies’ Book.The journal for children also
included works by other writers such as Nella
Larsen, from whom Fauset solicited submissions,152 Fauset, Jessie Redmon