An American artist, writer, and journalist. Gwendolyn Bennett made considerable accomplishments in poetry and prose. She's perhaps best known for her short story "Wedding Day". The daughter of teachers, she grew up on a Nevada Indian reservation, in Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, New York. She attended Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Later she studied art in Paris in 1925. Her close friendships with many fellow Harlem-based writers resulted in her becoming an Opportunity Magazine editor in 1926. She was a prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance, and heritage is a main theme in her poetry. Bennett's works reflected the shared themes and motifs of the Harlem Renaissance. Racial pride, rediscovery of Africa, recognition of African music and dance were common themes in her works. Between 1923 and 1931, she formed a support group for the young Harlem writers. Included in the group were later noteables such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Eric Walrond, Helene Johnson, Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Aaron Douglas, Alta Sawyer Douglas, Rudolph Fisher and Zora Neale Hurston. Bennett's goal was to motivate young writers to support and encourage each other and to aspire to the levels of more established scholars such as Charles S. Johnson, Alain Locke, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jessie Fauset, and James Weldon Johnson. She was suspended from directing the Harlem Community Art Center in 1941 because of suspected Communist associations. Most of Bennett's published work, including two short stories, were published from 1923 through 1928. Her ballads, odes, sonnets, and protest poetry are notable for their visual imagery; her best-known poem is the sensual “To a Dark Girl.”
An American artist, writer, and journalist. Gwendolyn Bennett made considerable accomplishments in poetry and prose. She's perhaps best known for her short story "Wedding Day". The daughter of teachers, she grew up on a Nevada Indian reservation, in Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, New York. She attended Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Later she studied art in Paris in 1925. Her close friendships with many fellow Harlem-based writers resulted in her becoming an Opportunity Magazine editor in 1926. She was a prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance, and heritage is a main theme in her poetry. Bennett's works reflected the shared themes and motifs of the Harlem Renaissance. Racial pride, rediscovery of Africa, recognition of African music and dance were common themes in her works. Between 1923 and 1931, she formed a support group for the young Harlem writers. Included in the group were later noteables such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Eric Walrond, Helene Johnson, Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Aaron Douglas, Alta Sawyer Douglas, Rudolph Fisher and Zora Neale Hurston. Bennett's goal was to motivate young writers to support and encourage each other and to aspire to the levels of more established scholars such as Charles S. Johnson, Alain Locke, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jessie Fauset, and James Weldon Johnson. She was suspended from directing the Harlem Community Art Center in 1941 because of suspected Communist associations. Most of Bennett's published work, including two short stories, were published from 1923 through 1928. Her ballads, odes, sonnets, and protest poetry are notable for their visual imagery; her best-known poem is the sensual “To a Dark Girl.”
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Records on Ancestry
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New York, New York, Index to Marriage Licenses, 1908-1910, 1938-1940
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U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
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New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018
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New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957
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