Harlem Writers Guild (HWG) is the oldest organization of

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 ...

writers, originally established as the Harlem Writers Club in 1950 by

John Oliver Killens John Oliver Killens (January 14, 1916 – October 27, 1987) was an American fiction writer from Georgia. His novels featured elements of African-American life. In his first novel, ''Youngblood'' (1954) Killens first coined the phrase "kicking a ...

Rosa Guy Rosa Cuthbert Guy () (September 1, 1922Margalit Fox"Rosa Guy, 89, Author of Forthright Novels for Young People, Dies" ''The New York Times'', June 7, 2012. – June 3, 2012) was a Trinidad-born American writer who grew up in the New York metro ...

John Henrik Clarke John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark; January 1, 1915 - July 16, 1998) was an African-American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the ...

, Willard Moore and Walter Christmas. The Harlem Writers Guild seeks to give

writers a platform to present their art in its entirety without censoring their experience of being

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. In addition to publishing works, the Harlem Writers Guild also acts as an organization to promote social change and an entity that hosts events to celebrate and promote their members.

History

The Harlem Writers Guild was set up as a forum where African-American writers could develop their craft. After funding for an organization active in the late 1940s called "The Committee for the Negro in the Arts" ended, these writers felt excluded from the mainstream literary culture of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

."About"
Harlem Writers Guild. The HWG was also part of the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...

of the 1960s, and its rationale continues to be to develop and aid in the publication of works by writers of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. Other writers who have been associated with the HWG include

Lonne Elder III Lonne Elder III (December 26, 1927 – June 11, 1996) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Elder was one of the leading African American figures who informed the New York theater world with social and political consciousness ...

Douglas Turner Ward Douglas Turner Ward (May 5, 1930February 20, 2021) was an American playwright, actor, stage director, director, and theatrical producer. He was noted for being a founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). He was nominate ...

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

Paule Marshall Paule Marshall (April 9, 1929 – August 12, 2019) was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel '' Brown Girl, Brownstones''. In 1992, at the age of 63, Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship grant. Life and career Marshall wa ...

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," who ...

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

and Sarah E. Wright. In the 1950s,

had invited several aspiring African-American writers to meet at a shop in Harlem to hear and review one another's literature. The Harlem Writers Guild thus began expanding, with new authors writing and publishing work emphasizing topics such as racism, oppression, and welfare. The Harlem Writers Guild was a tool that was used by African-American authors of its presence to uniquely divide their literary work against mainstream literature that neglected

African-American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of slave narratives, African-A ...

. Emphasizing on expanding their literary works as well as creating a space for advantageous advertisement of their work, the Harlem Writers Guild used their social circles and their academic voices towards social change. During the 1960s, the group supported

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

, conflicts of independent rights in Angola and Mozambique and organized to dismantle racist policies established in South Africa. The group used their connections to communicate about marches,

Freedom Rides Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions '' Morgan v. Virginia ...

, and other progressive organizations. In 1977, the HWG was honored by the

United Nations Society of Writers The United Nations Society of Writers is a club for United Nations staff registered with the United Nations Staff Socio Cultural Commission in Geneva, and is known under the acronyms UNSW and SENU, corresponding to ''Societé des écrivains des Na ...

. In 1986, John O. Killens estimated that members of the Harlem Writers Guild had produced more than 300 published works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays. Several have received literary acclaim.

Harlem Writers Guild Press

In 2000, HWG announced a partnership with the digital publisher

iUniverse iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is an American self-publishing company based in Bloomington, Indiana.Kevin Abourezk"iUniverse to move to Indiana" incoln Journal Star, January 22, 2008 History iUniverse focuses on print-on-demand self-publi ...

to create its own imprint, Harlem Writers Guild Press. The anthology ''Beloved Harlem: A Literary Tribute to Black America's Most Famous Neighborhood'' (Random House, 2005), edited by William H. Banks Jr., former Executive Director of HWG, featured work by HWG members including Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Grace F. Edwards, Rosa Guy, Rachel DeAragon, John Oliver Killens,

Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers (born Walter Milton Myers; August 12, 1937 – July 1, 2014) was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem. A tough childho ...

Louise Meriwether Louise Meriwether (born May 8, 1923) is an American novelist, essayist, journalist and activist, as well as a writer of biographies of historically important African Americans for children. She is best known for her first novel, '' Daddy Was a Nu ...

, Funmi Osoba, Diane Richards, Karen Robinson, Dr. Olubansile Abbas Mimiko and Sarah E. Wright.

Harlem Renaissance

During the 1920s and 1930s, many southern African Americans traveled to Northern urban cities for greater opportunities. 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 ...

cultivated a boom of literary, music, art expressions as a channel for writers, musicians, and artists cumulatively in Harlem, New York. This boom was so prevalent it was regarded as the rebirth of African-American arts. The prevalence in the Harlem neighborhoods began as a root within African diaspora, somewhere many African Americans traveled to and combined feelings of culture and community. The growing prevalence of African-American art forms paved the way for a new era of African-American literature to enroll.

Members

Past and present members include: Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Grace F. Edwards,

, Rachel DeAragon,

, Karen Robinson, Dr. Olubansile Abbas Mimiko and Sarah E. Wright,

Julian Mayfield Julian Hudson Mayfield (June 6, 1928 – October 20, 1984) was an American actor, director, writer, lecturer and civil rights activist. Early life Julian Hudson Mayfield was born on June 6, 1928, in Greer, South Carolina, and was raised from ...

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

, Robert McNatt, Lofton Mitchell, Wilbert Oliver, Funmi Osoba,

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...

, Charles Russell, K. C. Washington, Minnette Coleman, Gammy Singer,

Wilbert Tatum Wilbert Arnold "Bill" Tatum (January 23, 1933 – February 26, 2009) was an American newspaper executive, who variously served as the editor, publisher, chairman and chief executive officer of the ''New York Amsterdam News'', a weekly newspa ...

, Brenda Wilkinson,

Valerie Wilson Wesley Valerie Wilson Wesley (born November 22, 1947) is an American author of Mystery fiction, mysteries, adult-theme novels, and children's books, and a former executive editor of ''Essence (magazine), Essence'' magazine. She is the author of the Tamar ...

, Sarah Elizabeth Wright, Sandra L. West, Doris Jean Austin, William H. Banks Jr., Wesley Brown, Rosemary Bray,

Irving Burgie Irving Louis Burgie (July 28, 1924 – November 29, 2019), sometimes known professionally as Lord Burgess, was an American musician and songwriter, regarded as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music.Godfrey Cambridge Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 – November 29, 1976) was an American stand-up comic and actor. Alongside Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, and Nipsey Russell, he was acclaimed by ''Time'' in 1965 as "one of the country's foremost celeb ...

, Andrea Broadwater,

Alice Childress Alice Childress (October 12, 1916 – August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as "the only African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic ...

, Ossie Davis,

Ruby Dee Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (19 ...

, James DeJongh, Lonne Elder III, Donis Ford, Bill William Forde,

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highlig ...

, Bob Desverney, Dr. Beryl Dorsett, Sheila Doyle, Lloyd Hairston, Robert Hooks, Rose James, Alfonso Nicks, and Betty Ann Jackson. Among writers more recently added to the HWG roster are: Angela Dews, Cordenia Paige, Eartha Watts Hicks, Sylvia White, and Miriam Kelly Ferguson.

John Henrik Clarke

is just one of the influential co-founders who helped develop th
Harlem Writers Guild
as a space specifically for African American literary creatives to preserve their experiences. He was an autodidact, never fully completing his education, rather learning from his mentor

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (January 24, 1874 – June 10, 1938), was a historian, writer, collector, and activist. Schomburg was a Puerto Rican of African and German descent. He moved to the United States in 1891, where he researched and raised awa ...

. Clarke had a strong emphasis on understanding the African American experience through the use of cultural relativism and not through the Eurocentric distortion seen in history books. His emphasis contributed to the idea that African-American lives have worth and value, thus further preserving the black experience.

John Oliver Killens

was the first guild member to have their work published. Killens is known for his politically-charged stories, which aim to invoke social change. Killens is notorious for his novel
Youngblood
', which was first published in 1954. This novel in particular is considered a landmark protest novel of the

American Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...

and revolves around the lives of an African-American family living in Georgia under Jim Crow laws.

Events

On March 12, 1972, the Harlem Writers Guild hosted a party in celebration of

Chester Himes Chester Bomar Himes (July 29, 1909 – November 12, 1984) was an American writer. His works, some of which have been filmed, include ''If He Hollers Let Him Go'', published in 1945, and the Harlem Detective series of novels for which he is best ...

' autobiography ''The Quality of Hurt'' (1971) at the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In March 2021, the spirits brand Rémy Martin teamed up with the Harlem Writers Guild to honor artists from Harlem in the "Voices of Harlem" campaign. This partnership was able to give younger generations the tools and confidence to appreciate and engage in their African American literary legacies.

Social movements

Members of the Harlem Writers Guild and the

Black nationalist Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race (human categorization), race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black natio ...

literary organization, On Guard for Freedom, are credited for the demonstration of protest in front of the United Nations following the assassination of the Congolese Prime Minister

Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba (; 2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June u ...

in 1961.

References

External links

Harlem Writers Guild official website.

HW Radio with Harlem Writers Guild members for HBF
July 23, 2011. {{Authority control 1950 establishments in the United States African-American arts organizations African-American culture African-American writers American writers American writers' organizations Arts organizations established in 1950 Black Arts Movement