Square neighborhood of New York City, received
major support from the American Socialist Society.
The school’s mission to educate workers re-
flected the Herron-Rand’s political commitment
to socialism. Courses focused primarily on eco-
nomics and history but also included a number of
other subject areas. Its faculty included A. PHILIP
RANDOLPHand CHANDLEROWEN, the founders
of THEMESSENGER,one of the three most widely
circulated Harlem Renaissance–era African-
American periodicals. Additional faculty included
Charles Beard, Mary Beard, George Willis Cooke,
and SCOTTNEARING. The writer-poet LANGSTON
HUGHES frequently attended lectures at the
school during his year at COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY.
The school closed in 1956 due to financial hard-
ships brought on by a sharp decline in enrollment.
Bibliography
Rand School of Social Science. The Case of the Rand
School.New York: The School, 1919.
Ransom, Birdelle Wycoff(1914– )
A Texas poet whose work appeared in the southern
anthology Heralding Dawn: An Anthology of Verse
(1936).
Born in Beaumont, Texas, Ransom began pub-
lishing her work in the Houston Informerfollowing
her graduation from the Houston Junior College in
- In 1956 Ransom, who completed a thesis on
Charles Dickens and social reform, earned a mas-
ter’s degree from Texas Southern University. She
was one of six women whom folklorist J. Mason
Brewer selected for inclusion in Heralding Dawn,
his 1936 anthology of African-American Texan
poets. Brewer praised her for the “accuracy and
skill” with which “her verse portrays in a very vivid
manner, race consciousness.” Ransom’s poem
“Night” celebrated the kinship between the poet
and the night, a time in which “infinite shade was
manifest.” Despite the fact that Ransom was part
of an important southern Harlem Renaissance lit-
erary tradition, she appears to have slipped into
obscurity.
Bibliography
Brewer, J. Mason. Heralding Dawn: An Anthology of Verse.
Dallas, Tex.: Superior Typesetting, 1936.
Rapp, William Jourdan(1895–1942)
Rapp, a white NEWYORKTIMESreporter and ed-
itor of True Story Magazine,collaborated with
WALLACETHURMANto write and produce an
ambitious play about life in Harlem. Rapp and
Thurman saw their first collaboration, HARLEM:
A MELODRAMA OF NEGRO LIFE, open on
BROADWAY’s Apollo Theatre on February 20,- A few months later, the play enjoyed a 16-
show revival at the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre.
Edward Blatt was the producer for both produc-
tions. The two joined forces again to write the
three-act play JEREMIAH, THEMAGNIFICENT,a
play inspired by the life and ambitions of black
nationalist MARCUSGARVEY. Jeremiahwas not
produced until after Thurman’s death in 1934.
Rapp, who enjoyed a lifelong friendship with
Thurman, went on to write at least three addi-
tional plays after Harlemwas produced. His play
Whirlpool, directed by Edwin Morse, was pro-
duced by the group American Playwrights. The
play had only three performances at the Biltmore
Theatre on Broadway in early December 1929. In
the fall of 1935 Substitute for Murderopened and,
in December 1936, The Holmeses of Baker Street
ran for some 53 performances at the Theatre
Masque.
Bibliography
van Notten, Eleonore. Wallace Thurman’s Harlem Renais-
sance.Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan(1896–1953)
An accomplished writer who may be best known as
the author of The Yearling(1938), the PULITZER
PRIZE–winning novel about a boy and the deer that
he befriends. Rawlings was born in Washington,
D.C., and moved to Florida with her husband,
Charles Rawlings, in 1928 in an unsuccessful at-
tempt to save their marriage. Rawlings remained in
Cross Creek, Florida, and began publishing regu-
larly while supervising the orange grove on the
property.
Rawlings met ZORA NEALE HURSTON in
Florida shortly after the end of the Harlem Renais-
sance. The two enjoyed a lively tea at Rawlings’s
apartment in the segregated hotel that Norton
Sanford Baskin, her second husband, owned.442 Ransom, Birdelle Wycoff