Elsie Bernice Washington (December 28, 1942 – May 5, 2009) was an American author whose 1980 work ''Entwined Destinies'' has been considered the first
romance novel
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
written by an African-American author featuring
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
characters.
Early life and education
Washington was born in New York on December 28, 1942, to Samuel Washington and Kathleen Peterson Erby. She majored in English at the
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
, graduating with a bachelor's degree.
Career
After completing college, she worked as a writer, and later as an editor, for several publications, including ''
The New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', ''
Essence
Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
'', ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' and ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''.
Fox, Margalit
Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of ''The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituarie ...
"Elsie B. Washington, a Novelist, Dies at 66"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', May 16, 2009. Accessed May 18, 2009.
Her one and only novel, ''Entwined Destinies'', was published by
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
in 1980 under the pen name Rosalind Welles as the 575th in its "Candlelight Romance" series of books. The book, which tells the story of a female African-American magazine reporter who finds true love with an African-American oil executive, was described as "the first known romance featuring African-American characters written by an African-American author" in a 2002 issue of ''
Black Issues Book Review
''Black Issues Book Review'' was a bimonthly magazine published in New York City, U.S., in which books of interest to African-American readers were reviewed. It was published from 1999 until 2007.
History and profile
''Black Issues Book Review'' ...
''.
[ By the time of Washington's death, several imprints were devoted to black romance novels, featuring books by authors such as ]Rochelle Alers
Rochelle Alers (born August 7, 1943) is an American writer of romance novels. She has also written under the pen names Susan James and Rena McLeary.
Biography
Rochelle Alers was born on August 7, 1943 in Manhattan, New York, where she was also ...
, Beverly Jenkins
Beverly Jenkins (born 1951, Detroit) is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels with a particular focus on 19th century African-American life. Jenkins was a 2013 NAACP Image Award nominee and, in 1999, was voted one of ...
and Sandra Kitt.[
In 1996, the '']Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
'' called Washington the "mother of the African-American romance", setting the groundwork for a revolution in ethnic romance novels. Washington's book was the first "ethnic romance", a category conceived by Vivian Stephens
Vivian Lorraine Stephens (born September 23, 1932) is an American editor of romance novels, literary agent, and founder of Romance Writers of America (RWA). While at Dell Publishing, she created and was the editor of Candlelight Ecstasy, a roman ...
, an African-American editor at Dell, viewing the book as the first of other such books also aimed at Native Americans and Chinese American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
s. The company published 125,000 copies of Washington's novel, primarily distributed in cities on the East Coast
East Coast may refer to:
Entertainment
* East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop
* East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017
* East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004
* East Coast FM, a ra ...
with large African-American populations.[Walters, Ray]
"PAPERBACK TALK"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', July 13, 1980. Accessed May 18, 2009.
Washington also wrote two works of non-fiction, her 1974 book ''Sickle Cell Anemia'', co-written with Anthony Cerami
Anthony Cerami (born October 3, 1940) is an American entrepreneur and medical research scientist.
Biography
Anthony Cerami received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and received a Ph.D. in 1967 from Rockefeller University, New Y ...
, and the ''Uncivil War: The Struggle Between Black Men and Women'', published in 1996.[ A 1998 article she wrote for ''Essence'' magazine received notice after she criticized the trend of African Americans who comported to "white standards of beauty" through the use of tinted contact lenses and other techniques.][
]
Death
A resident of Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
, Washington died in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
at the age of 66 on May 5, 2009, due to multiple sclerosis
Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...
and cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. She was survived by her parents and a brother.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Elsie B.
1942 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American novelists
African-American novelists
American romantic fiction writers
American women novelists
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
City College of New York alumni
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from multiple sclerosis
People from Yonkers, New York
Writers from the Bronx
Women romantic fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
Novelists from New York (state)
20th-century African-American women writers
20th-century African-American writers
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women