Gordon, himself a writer, published articles
in Opportunity,the journal of the Urban League,
and in AMERICANMERCURY,the monthly maga-
zine founded by H. L. MENCKENand George Jean
Nathan.
Bibliography
Jubilee, Vincent. Philadelphia’s Afro-American Literary
Circle and the Harlem Renaissance. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: University Microfilms, 1982.
Gordon, (Emmanuel) Taylor(1893–1971)
The author of BORN TOBE(1929), an absorbing
autobiography that chronicled his colorful life ex-
periences in vaudeville, circus life, and his child-
hood home in the Montana mining town of White
Sulphur Springs. Gordon was a writer and singer
who, during the 1920s, worked closely in vaude-
ville and formal concerts with J. Rosamond John-
son, the brother of JAMESWELDONJOHNSON. The
son of a former slave and a cook in a Montana
mining camp, his was the only African-American
family living in the mining boomtown of White
Sulphur Springs.
Gordon, who left Montana when he was 17
years old, worked in a number of colorful profes-
sions. In addition to working as a waiter and
porter, he also did a stint as chauffeur to John Rin-
gling, the circus magnate. His vocal talents cata-
pulted him to fame. He was a member of “The
Inimitable Five,” a singing group established by J.
Rosamond Johnson. Gordon followed in the tradi-
tion of the Fisk Jubilee Singers when in the 1920s,
he traveled throughout England and FRANCEper-
forming spirituals. His audiences were primarily
aristocratic and upper class.
CARLVANVECHTENpenned the foreword to
Gordon’s autobiography. He and Gordon met first
in the early 1920s when Gordon, like many other
aspiring writers and artists of the day, auditioned
for the influential cultural broker in his NEWYORK
CITYapartment. Gordon’s performance led to his
1925 spirituals concert at the Theater Guild, the
program for which included a complimentary note
from Van Vechten. According to Leon Coleman, it
was Van Vechten, impressed by Gordon’s tales and
adventures, who encouraged Gordon to write his
life story. In his praising foreword, Van Vechten,
who described the writer as a “lanky six-feet” figure
with a “falsetto voice, molasses laugh... and an
eye that can see,” characterized the book as a
“‘human document’ of the first order.”
Professional struggles during the 1930s alien-
ated Gordon from his New York arts circles. His
major frustrations included an untidy end to his re-
lationship with J. Rosamond Johnson and the con-
viction that Doanda,his unpublished novel, was
being passed off by John Steinbeck as The Grapes
of Wrath.Gordon suffered a breakdown in 1947
and was admitted to several mental hospitals be-
fore returning to White Sulphur Springs under the
care of his sister. He died there in 1971.Bibliography
Coleman, Leon. “Carl Van Vechten Presents the New
Negro.” In Harlem Renaissance Re-examined,edited
by Victor Kramer and Robert Russ. Troy, N.Y.:
Whitson Publishing Company, 1997.
Gordon, Taylor. Born to Be.New York: Covici-Friede
Publishers, 1929. Reprint with a new introduction
by Robert Hemenway, 1975. Reprint with new in-
troduction by Thadious Davis, 1995.
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue.New
York: Knopf, 1981.Graham, Ottie Beatrice(1900–unknown)
A Virginia-born playwright and fiction writer who
became part of the Harlem Renaissance literary
circle in PHILADELPHIA. The daughter of Reverend
W. G. Graham, she attended both HOWARDUNI-
VERSITYand COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY. Her talent
for writing earned her several prizes while an un-
dergraduate. She published in both The Crisisand
Opportunitybut appears to have pursued more fi-
nancially stable careers than writing.
Like NELLALARSEN, JESSIEFAUSET, and oth-
ers, Graham focused on the legacies of slavery and
the complicated politics of mixed-race identity.Bibliography
Graham, Ottie. “Holiday.” The Crisis,May 1923, 12–17.
———. “Blue Aloes.” The CrisisJuly 1924, 156–162.
———. “Slackened Caprice.” Opportunity,November
1924, 332–335.
———. “To a Wild Rose.” Opportunity, June 1923,
59–63.Graham, Ottie Beatrice 191