Thompson’s connection to the Harlem Re-
naissance began in the mid-1920s, when, after re-
locating to Chicago, she came into contact with
W. E. B. DUBOIS. She previously had met the emi-
nent scholar and CRISIS editor at a lecture in
Berkeley. After this second meeting, she benefited
directly from his help. DuBois’s assistance netted
Thompson teaching positions at Southern College
and at Hampton Institute. She and Susan Bailey,
the future wife of educator Howard Thurman, left
Hampton after chafing against the double stan-
dards of etiquette and the restrictive environment.
Bailey and Thompson moved to NEWYORKCITY.
Thompson, the recipient of a scholarship from the
NATIONALURBANLEAGUE, began studies at the
New School for Social Research.
In New York, Thompson pursued sociology
studies and immersed herself in the vibrant world
of Harlem. She became friends with LANGSTON
HUGHES,AARONDOUGLAS, and WALLACETHUR-
MAN. In August 1928 she married Thurman, an in-
genious literary talent and writer. Although many
of Thurman’s acquaintances knew of his homosex-
ual preferences, Thompson apparently did not. The
marriage soon dissolved, but Louise Thurman’s ef-
forts to secure a divorce were frustrated by family
illnesses and limited financial resources.
Six years after Thurman’s tragic death in
1934, Thompson remarried. Her second husband,
William Patterson, was a well-known political ac-
tivist. Their daughter, Mary Louise, was born in
- The couple, who met at a meeting sponsored
by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THEAD-
VANCEMENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLE, became tireless
proponents of civil rights and workers’ rights.
William defied Senator Joseph McCarthy and his
efforts to suppress free speech and to target sus-
pected Communist Party supporters. He also was
instrumental in the SCOTTSBORO TRIAL, the legal
fight to defend nine youths in Alabama falsely ac-
cused of rape.
Louise Thompson, like GEORGIA DOUGLAS
JOHNSON,ETHELRAYNANCE, and REGINAAN-
DREWS, used her home to foster connections
among emerging writers and thinkers of the period.
Intellectuals gathered often at her Convent Av-
enue apartment to participate in the Vanguard
Salon, a gathering that reflected Thompson’s leftist
political views and interest in addressing issues re-
lating to African-American life. She also devel-
oped close friendships with several prominent
Harlem Renaissance figures, including Langston
Hughes and CHARLOTTEOSGOODMASON. It was
Mason who funded Thompson so that she could
work as administrative and secretarial support for
Hughes, and it was Thompson who typed the
manuscript of his novel GOD SENDS SUNDAY
(1931).
She also worked with Hughes when he collab-
orated with ZORANEALEHURSTONon their ill-
fated comedy MULEBONE(1930). Thompson had
met Hurston and hosted her and Hughes many
times at her New York City apartment. The duo
employed her to type the Mule Bonemanuscript.
Eventually, however, Hurston was outraged when
Hughes lobbied on Thompson’s behalf and pro-
posed that she receive one-third of the profits. The
partnership between the two writers was unduly
strained by events relating to Mule Boneand by
what Hurston regarded as a full-fledged conspiracy
between Thompson and Hughes. Hughes’s efforts
to reward Thompson for her work frustrated
Hurston and contributed to the explosive demise
of the project and the friendship between the two
authors. Hughes later dedicated Shakespeare in
Harlem(1942), a volume of poems, to Thompson.
“Would you like to have a book of poems dedi-
cated to you?” he asked her in a letter. “Such is
Shakespeare in Harlem,the present collection I’m
assembling for Knopf. Folk, blues, and lyric verse in
the lighter manner—but not too light” (Berry,
299).
In the early 1930s, Thompson volunteered her
time to the Co-Operating Committee on Produc-
tion of a Soviet Film on Negro Life. Working along-
side W. A. DOMINGO, she publicized BLACK AND
WHITE,the film project that the MESCHRABPOM
FILMCORPORATIONwas preparing to begin. She,
Hughes, DOROTHYWEST, and TEDPOSTONwere
among the 22 writers, artists, and scholars who
sailed for Russia. Challenged by conservative white
American businessmen who were working in Rus-
sia, the film company was forced to halt the project.
Thompson’s early optimism about the project
prompted some of her colleagues to nickname her
“Madame Moscow.”
Thompson’s turn toward activism intensified
during the 1930s and in the years following the516 Thompson, Louise