Chicago, the first African-American suffrage orga-
nization. She was an impassioned clubwoman and
with colleagues such as MARYCHURCHTERRELL
helped to advance the practical and ambitious
goals of the African-American women’s club
movement. In 1924 she ran for president of the
National Association of Colored Women but lost
to MARYMCLEODBETHUNE.
Wells-Barnett played a significant role in the
formation of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
(NAACP). She was a member of the organization’s
executive committee and advocated that there be
an official publication to reflect and communicate
the organization’s agenda. She also was involved in
the founding of the NATIONALURBANLEAGUE
and was one of the only two women who signed
the documents calling for the formation of the
NAACP. In 1930 she became one of the first
African-American women to run for public office
when she campaigned for an Illinois state senate
seat.
Wells-Barnett died in 1931 as a result of ure-
mic poisoning. The leadership, commitment to
African-American suffrage, advancement, and suc-
cess that embodied her life were at the heart of
what many in the Harlem Renaissance movement
hoped to realize.
Bibliography
The Ida B. Wells-Barnett Papers are held at the Univer-
sity of Chicago Library, Special Collections Re-
search Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Duster, Alfreda. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of
Ida B. Bells.Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1972.
Schecter, Patricia. Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Re-
form, 1880–1930.Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2001.
McMurry, Linda. To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of
Ida B. Wells.New York: Oxford University Press,
1998.
West, Dorothy (1907–1998)
A writer, editor, actress, and journalist who, at the
time of her death, was the last surviving member of
the Harlem Renaissance. West, who enjoyed her
status as the youngest of the Harlem Renaissance
artists and writers among whom she circulated,
was one of the most enthusiastic and enterprising
writers of the period. Her reminiscences of the lit-
erary figures, many of whom she counted as
friends, have provided invaluable insights on the
period.
Born in BOSTON, she was the only child of
Isaac and Rachel Pease Benson West. Her father
was an enterprising businessman who had enjoyed
financial success in Springfield, Massachusetts, be-
fore establishing himself in a wholesale fruit busi-
ness located directly across from the historic
Faneuil Hall. West was a gifted student and bene-
fited from her early tutoring. Her teachers included
Bessie Trotter, sister of the brilliant Boston
Guardian editor WILLIAM MONROE TROTTER.
West graduated from the Girls’ Latin High School
in 1923 and went on to attend BOSTONUNIVER-
SITY. She later pursued courses at the Columbia
School of Journalism.
West was part of a close extended family that
included her cousin and fellow aspiring writer HE-
LENEJOHNSON. The two relocated to NEWYORK
CITY together in 1926 and took rooms at the
YOUNGWOMEN’SCHRISTIANASSOCIATIONbranch
in HARLEM. They later became house sitters for
ZORANEALEHURSTONand shared an apartment
in the heart of Harlem. West participated fully in
the dynamic social networks that fueled the liter-
ary movement. She had the opportunity to work
and to socialize with PAULROBESON, and of her
memorable 1929 visit to his luxurious London
home, she recalled, “They had five white
servants... The Robesons were ‘gentility’ as much
as the whites these servants had worked for in the
past and we [the African-American guests] were
not. It was almost funny” (Boyle and Buni, 208).
She enjoyed a close relationship with Zora Neale
Hurston and was clearly inspired by her friend’s
ebullience, autonomy, and determination.
Hurston’s letters to West reveal her confidence in
West’s potential. Writing to West in the fall of
1928, Hurston assured her friend that she was
“near my heart and always will be. I trust you and
Helene more than anyone else in this world,” she
wrote before declaring, “You are the fine gold in
New York’s show and shine” (Kaplan, 130).
Like a number of Harlem Renaissance figures,
West had a variety of creative interests. She devel-558 West, Dorothy