Nearing, Scott (1883–1983)
A teacher, conservationist, and eloquent and com-
mitted pacifist who believed in the power of living
in accord with nature. Born in Morris Run, Pennsyl-
vania, he went on to attend the UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA. He returned to his alma mater to
teach economics. In 1915 the university fired him
for writing and speaking out about the commercial
interests that motivated American military ventures
and wars. He joined the faculty at Toledo University
but again was ousted because of his political views.
He later joined the faculty at the Rand School of
Social Science, a school in Manhattan established
by members of the American Socialist Society.
During the Harlem Renaissance, Nearing pub-
lished works on racism and society. His study, Black
America,published in 1924, was followed eight
years later by Free Born.
In the early 1930s the Nearings moved to Ver-
mont and then to Maine. They established Forest
Farm, a homestead on Penobscot Bay that was vis-
ited by thousands interested in the back-to-the-
land movement. The site still stands today and is
open to the public.
Nearing worked with individuals who had a
significant impact on the Harlem Renaissance and
on American society during the period. For exam-
ple, Nearing served with JAMESWELDONJOHN-
SONon the American Fund for Public Service. The
writer JEANTOOMER, newly arrived in New York
City in 1917, intent on immersing himself in intel-
lectual and literary circles, sought out lectures by
Nearing and several other noteworthy scholars and
public intellectuals. Poet LANGSTONHUGHESalso
benefited from Nearing’s ideas. Like Toomer,
Hughes sought out numerous lectures at the Rand
School when his classes and schoolmates at
COLUMBIAUNIVERSITYfailed to provide him with
stimulating intellectual opportunities.
Nearing is best known for Living the Good
Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled
World, a book that he cowrote with his wife
Helen Knothe Nearing and published in 1954.
Nearing died in Harborside, Maine, in 1983 at
the age of 100.
Bibliography
Nearing, Helen. Loving and Leaving the Good Life.Post
Mills, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub., 1992.
Nearing, Scott. Black America.New York: Vanguard
Press, 1929.
———. The Making of A Radical: A Political Autobiogra-
phy.New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
Saltmarsh, John. Scott Nearing: An Intellectual Biography.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991.Nebraska and His GrannyRose Leary Love
(1936)
A popular story for children by ROSELEARYLOVE,
a North Carolina writer and teacher. The book, il-
lustrated by Preston Haygood, was part of a vital
movement to produce satisfying and positive litera-
ture for and about children of color. It comple-
mented efforts by JESSIEFAUSET and W. E. B.
DUBOISthat resulted in the publication of THE
BROWNIES’BOOK, an invaluable and vivid re-
source for children of color.
Nebraska and His Grannywas published by the
press affiliated with TUSKEGEEINSTITUTE, the in-
dustrial education school established in Alabama
by BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. Love’s story re-
volved around a little brown-skinned boy named
Nebraska and his loving and industrious grand-
mother. The story was divided into days of the
week and was especially moving because of the
loving relationship between the two. The book
also included seven poems, each of which alluded
to the topic of the coming chapter.Bibliography
Love, Rose Leary. Nebraska and His Granny. 1936;
reprint, Tuskegee, Ala.: Tuskegee Institute Press,
1966.Negritude
A term coined by the French Martinican writer
Aimé Césaire and used to describe literary works
and cultural movements that address the collec-
tive and diverse experience of peoples of African
descent who are part of the African diaspora and
survivors of Western colonialism and oppression.
Negritude often is linked to the works of franco-
phone writers and intellectuals of color such as
Frantz Fanon, RENÉMARAN, and Léopold Sédar
Senghor. The movement values and privileges
blackness and African origin and critiques theNegritude 369