Renaissance–era uses of dialect in stories about the
social aspirations of African Americans. Its use of
dialect introduce a comedic aspect to a tragic tale.
By novel’s end, the Mouth daughters are in no way
positioned to realize their mother’s dream. Miami
takes the veil and commits to life with a commu-
nity of penitent women, and her sister Edna makes
an unfortunate choice to love a feckless man who
is bound to abandon her.
CARLVANVECHTEN, who worked to promote
Firbank’s work, provided an introduction for the
novel and it was he who retitled the work Prancing
Nigger. According to Firbank biographer Miriam
Benkovitz, Van Vechten assured his friend that the
new title would “‘beyond a doubt’ sell ‘at least a
thousand more copies’” (Benkovitz, 251). Firbank
was thrilled by the prospect of additional sales. He
had no qualms about using the controversial racial
epithet for his work, “declared himself speechless
with pleasure,” and insisted that the new title was
“delicious” (Benkovitz, 251).
Reviews of the book tended to applaud Fir-
bank’s “jewel-like insouciance” and his “elusive,
subtle, elliptical” nature. In a NEWYORKTIMESre-
view of new books, the unidentified commentator
relished the “glorious black-face minstrel show”
that the book presented. “The reader’s curiosity is
immediately aroused,” he asserted, “but he is also
thrown on guard against a heavy-footed, wooden
attempt to write down to a presumptive aboriginal
inferiority. Firbank, it proves, has written up to a
very high level of naiveté” (NYT,23 March 1924,
BR8). The reviewer concluded in glowing terms,
insisting that Firbank had concocted a story that
was “at once aged and ageless... obliquely visual,
as though it were witnessed in entirety from aloof
yet discerningly selective eyes” (NYT,23 March
1924, BR8). It appeared that Firbank was poised to
reap even greater rewards for his work when he en-
tered into discussions of a GEORGEGERSHWINmu-
sical version of the novel. Those plans did not
materialize, however.
Bibliography
Benkovitz, Miriam. Ronald Firbank: A Biography.Lon-
don: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1970.
Brophy, Brigid. Prancing Novelist: A Defence of Fiction in
the Form of a Critical Biography in Praise of Ronald
Firbank.New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1973.
Firbank, Ronald. Prancing Niggerin The Complete Ronald
Firbank.London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.,
1967.Pratt Institute
A college in Brooklyn, New York, that is known for
its rigorous art and design programs. During the
Harlem Renaissance era, the writers and artists
GWENDOLYN BENNETTand MAECOWDERY at-
tended Pratt Institute. The school was founded in
1887 by Charles Pratt, a successful industrialist
and philanthropist. The school, which began as a
non-degree-granting institution, awarded its first
degrees in 1938. Students had the opportunity to
enroll in graduate programs in 1950. The library at
Pratt Institute, established in 1896, was the first
free public library to open in Brooklyn. The insti-
tution currently offers degrees in four schools
that focus on art and design, architecture, infor-
mation and library science, and professional
studies.Price, Doris D.(unknown)
A still-obscure playwright whose contributions to
the Harlem Renaissance included four plays, only
three of which appear to have been published dur-
ing the period.
Price’s works THE BRIGHTMEDALLION and
THEEYES OF THEOLDwere included in the third
volume of University of Michigan Plays,a collection
edited by George Wahr. A third play, TWOGODS:
A MINARET,was published in the December 1932
issue of OPPORTUNITY.Princeton University
An Ivy League institution located in Princeton,
New Jersey, and the alma mater of several promi-
nent Harlem Renaissance figures.
Founded in 1746, the school originally was
known as the College of New Jersey and was lo-
cated in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The school relo-
cated to Princeton one decade later, in 1756. The
school became Princeton University in 1896, in the
year of its sesquicentennial. In 1947 the university
issued a diploma to an African-American student
for the first time. Women were admitted as formalPrinceton University 433