emigrated from Russia to the United States with
her Jewish family. The Marinoffs settled in Boston,
but Fania soon joined her older siblings, who had
relocated to Denver, Colorado. Marinoff enjoyed
an early and successful start in theater and joined
troupes such as the Camilla Martins St. George
Company that enabled her to travel throughout
the West and the Midwest. She met her future
husband when she began performing in New York
City. According to biographer Bruce Kellner, Van
Vechten was smitten by the “darksome and de-
lightful slip of a girl” (Kellner, 63). The couple
married in 1914 and were together until Van
Vechten’s death in 1964.
Bibliography
Kellner, Bruce. Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent
Decades.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1968.
Vengeance of the Gods and Three Other
Stories of Real American Color Line Life
William Pickens(1922)
A collection of short stories by WILLIAMPICKENS,
a PHIBETAKAPPAgraduate of YALEUNIVERSITY
and field secretary of the NATIONALASSOCIATION
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLE.
The volume, published by the PHILADELPHIA-
based A.M.E. Book Concern, included “The
Vengeance of the Gods,” “The Superior Race,”
“Passing the Buck,” and “Tit for Tat.”
“Vignettes of the Dusk”Eric Walrond
(1924)
Five vignettes by ERIC WALRONDthat provide
perspectives on negotiations of the color line in
1920s America. Walrond’s story is part of his rich
collection of fiction that examines the social reali-
ties and survival strategies of people of color in the
modern world.
Published in the January 1924 issue of OPPOR-
TUNITY,the piece ranges from first-person anec-
dotes to omniscient narratives marked for their
observations of the practical and whimsical strate-
gies that individuals use to preserve their sense of
self and racial pride. The narrator of the first
sketch circumvents segregation in an upscale
restaurant that does not cater to African Ameri-
cans. The narrator achieves the goal—even
though the order is given in a take-out bag. Other
sketches honor the irreverent sensibilities of mi-
grants of color who, despite 20 years of life in the
United States, are not prepared to become citizens.
As a Mr. Williams of New Jersey, husband to a
“pretty wife, a jewel of one of the best colored fam-
ilies of Baltimore,” notes, “America is all right...
but I ain’t taking no chances!” The collection ends
with intraracial exchanges about skin color and
caste.Bibliography
Parascandola, Louis, ed. Winds Can Wake Up the Dead:
An Eric Walrond Reader.Detroit: Wayne State Uni-
versity Press, 1998.Villa Lewaro
An opulent mansion and the home of A’LELIA
WALKER, daughter of the successful hair-care en-
trepreneur Madam C. J. Walker, the first self-made
African-American woman millionaire. The villa,
located in Irvington, N.Y., and the place in which
Madam Walker died, was designed by Vertner
Woodson Tandy, the first African-American archi-
tect who was licensed to practice in New York
State. The legendary tenor Enrico Caruso sug-
gested the name for the 20-room mansion that
cost $250,000 to build.
Harlem Renaissance figures often enjoyed
splendid weekend parties at the Villa Lewaro. In
keeping with the wishes of Madam Walker, her
daughter bequeathed the estate to the NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION FOR THEADVANCEMENT OFCOL-
OREDPEOPLE. The high maintenance costs and
the toll of the Great Depression, however, forced
the organization to sell the property. The buyers
used the estate as a home for the elderly. The
mansion has been designated a National Historic
Landmark.Bibliography
Bundles, A’Lelia Perry. Madam C. J. Walker.New York:
Chelsea House Publishers, 1991.
———. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of
Madam C. J. Walker.New York: Scribner, 2001.544 Vengeance of the Gods and Three Other Stories of Real American Color Line Life