Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

began a lengthy career as a librarian. She worked at
the Jones Memorial Library and also at the DUN-
BARHIGHSCHOOLlibrary until her retirement in



  1. The Spencer home was an active literary
    salon, one that catered regularly to lively gatherings
    of contemporary scholars, artists, and writers.
    Spencer developed friendships with leading poets of
    the period including Langston Hughes, Georgia
    Douglas Johnson, and Claude McKay. In addition,
    her home at 1313 Pierce Street was where influen-
    tial public figures such as GEORGEWASHINGTON
    CARVER, W. E. B DUBOIS, ADAMCLAYTONPOW-
    ELL, SR., and PAULROBESONgathered.
    Spencer combined her literary career with so-
    cial activism. Her efforts to secure educational op-
    portunities for African-American students led to the
    establishment of a library at Dunbar High School.
    In addition, her protests on behalf of African-


American teachers who were denied employment
opportunities because of their race eventually led to
their hiring in Lynchburg’s segregated schools. Vir-
ginia Seminary and College celebrated Spencer’s ca-
reer by awarding her an honorary degree in 1975.

Bibliography
Anne Spencer Papers, Anne Spencer House Historic
Landmark, Lynchburg, Virginia; Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Greene, J. Lee. Time’s Unfading Garden: Anne Spencer’s
Life and Poetry.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Uni-
versity, 1977.
Stetson, Erlene. “Anne Spencer.” CLA Journal 21
(March 1978): 400–409.

Spingarn, Amy(1883–1980)
One of the best-known white patrons of the Harlem
Renaissance. In December 1895 she married JOEL
SPINGARN, the first Jewish professor at COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITYand a dedicated member and officer of
the NATIONALASSOCIATION FOR THEADVANCE-
MENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLE(NAACP). The Spin-
garns dedicated themselves to civil rights reforms
and were generous supporters of the Harlem Re-
naissance literary and arts movements.
The daughter of David Einstein and the sister
of the American scholar and diplomat Lewis Ein-
stein, Amy Spingarn inherited considerable wealth
from her father, a New Jersey mill owner and
landowner. After schooling abroad, she enrolled at
BARNARDCOLLEGEbut did not graduate. While
there, she fell in love with Columbia professor Joel
Spingarn and proposed marriage to him. The cou-
ple had four children, Hope, Honor, Stephen, and
Edward. In addition to their home in New York
City, the Spingarns owned Troutbeck, a spacious
country estate in Amenia, New York. Guests as the
18th-century home included SINCLAIR LEWIS,
Ernest Hemingway, LANGSTONHUGHES, and Pres-
ident Theodore Roosevelt.
Spingarn, who had interests in art and litera-
ture, also published during the Harlem Renais-
sance. In the summer of 1924, writing under her
maiden name, Einstein, she published a poem in
THECRISIS.
In 1925 Spingarn established a literary contest
that was run in conjunction with The Crisis,the

Spingarn, Amy 491

Anne Spencer (Yale Collection of American Literature,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

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