Blanche Taylor Dickinson (April 15, 1896 – January 7, 1972) was an American writer associated with the
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
arts movement.
In 2023, she was inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Blanche Taylor was born on a farm near
Franklin, Kentucky
Franklin is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Simpson County, Kentucky, United States. The county is located on the south central border of the state, and its population was 10,176 at the 2020 census.
Kentucky Downs, formerly ...
, the daughter of Thomas Taylor and Laura Taylor. She attended Bowling Green Academy and
Simmons College of Kentucky
Simmons College of Kentucky is a private historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1879, it is the nation's 107th HBCU and is accredited by the Association for Biblical Higher Education.
History Beginnings
In August 186 ...
.
Career
Taylor taught school as a young woman, and began a writing career, with works published in national periodicals such as ''
The Crisis
''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...
'' and ''
Opportunity
Opportunity may refer to:
Places
* Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States
* Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States
* Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States
* 3 ...
'', and major Black newspapers including ''
The Chicago Defender
''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...
'' and ''
Pittsburgh Courier
The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States.
It was acqu ...
''. Editor
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance.
Early life
Childhood
Countee LeRoy Porter ...
included her poetry in ''Caroling Dusk'' (1927).
also selected work by Taylor for his edited collection, ''Ebony and Topaz'' (1927).
"I do write a salable story once in a while," she said in an interview with ''Opportunity'' magazine at the time, "and an acceptable poem a little oftener."
Her journalism included newspaper columns "Smoky City's Streets" and "Valley Echoes" for the ''Pittsburgh Courier'', and an interview about race and ability with
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
for the ''
Baltimore Afro-American
The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...
'' in 1929.
Publications
Poetry
* "The Rising Tide" (1925)
* "The Farm Routine" (1925)
* "Existence" (1926)
* "That Hill" (1927)
* "Fragile Things" (1927)
* "A Sonnet and a Rondeau" (1927)
* "The Walls of Jericho" (1927)
* "The Four Great Walls" (1927)
* "Revelation" (1927)
* "To an Icicle" (1927)
* "Poem" (1927)
* "Things Said When He Was Gone" (1927)
* "A dark actress, somewhere"
* "Renunciation" (1927)
* "Mirrors" (1927)
* "Fortitude" (1927)
* "Garden of the Street" (1927)
* "To One Who Thinks of Suicide" (1928)
* "Fires" (1929)
* "Good Wife" (1929)
Fiction
* "Nellie Marie from Tennessee" (1927, serialized story)
* "Queenie" (1927)
* "Tools of Youth" (short story)
* "Lured by a Brown Siren" (1928, short story)
* "Nice Child" (1929, short story)
Journalism
* "Take a Walk in Toledo!" (1929, ''Pittsburgh Courier)''
* "Suburban Realtor Dies" (1929, ''Pittsburgh Courier'')
* "Amelia Earhart Discusses the Negro" (1929, ''Baltimore Afro American'')
Personal life and legacy
Taylor married Verdell Dickinson, a truck driver. They lived in
Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the United States Census 2010, 20 ...
in the 1920s; they separated and she lived in Pittsburgh in the 1930s. She moved back to Kentucky by 1937, and resumed teaching in school. In later years she used the name "Patty Blanche Taylor". She died in 1972, at the age of 75.
In recent years she has been included in anthologies of African American women's writing.
In 2021, she was one of the historical figures featured in the
DAR's "cemetery walk" in Franklin. In 2023, she was inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
References
External links
Letter from Blanche Taylor Dickinson to Editor of the ''Crisis''(November 22, 1924), W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, UMass Amherst
Letter from W. E. B. Du Bois to Blanche Taylor Dickinson(November 29, 1924), W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, UMass Amherst
A reading of Dickinson's "That Hill"by Kareem Badreddine, on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Blanche Taylor
1896 births
1972 deaths
20th-century American women writers
People from Franklin, Kentucky