The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon
Fauset
Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882-1961) also viewed art as a means for
political or propagandist ends. In her personal life, as in her
art, Fauset strove to depict the middle class values of which
she saw as the way to freedom and equality for her race. In one
very revealing episode in which her personal inclination
conflicted with social propriety, Fauset chose to stay within
the boundaries of society set for her. On a trip to Africa,
Fauset had visited alone the section of Algiers named the
Kasbah. She returned the next day with two companions, only to
be warned by a Frenchwoman that the "quarters are too dangerous
to visit without an escort" (Wall 34). Notwithstanding the fact
that she had been there alone already and now had two
companions, Fauset adheres to the proper conduct the Frenchwoman
informs her of.
Fauset had earned degrees from Cornell University and the
University of Pennsylvania, and had worked as a high school
teacher for fourteen years before becoming involved in the
Renaissance (Wall 35). During the years she spent as literary
editor of The Crisis, from 1919 to 1926, she was also the
"most prominent black woman writer" (Wall 36). Fauset published
"poems, reportage, reviews, short stories, and translations" in
addition to her four novels (Wall 36).
Being strictly conservative, Fauset "adapted the conventions of
the sentimental novel to her own purposes," which were to
"explore the impact of racism and sexism on black Americans'
lives and represent the means by which black Americans overcame
these oppressions and got on with the business of living" (Wall
66). However, the black Americans Fauset fictionalizes are
middle-class, like herself, and firmly adhering to the values of
the dominant society. The novels she wrote, There is
Confusion (1924), Plum Bun (1929), The Chinaberry
Tree (1931), and Comedy: American Style (1933), are
social critiques of African American middle class life, and a
condemnation of the racism and sexism that constrains African
Americans. Wall asserts the basic theme of Fauset's novels is
"propriety for the New Negro woman was virtually a racial
obligation" (80).
Fauset, in her art as well as her demeanor, attempts to dispel
the stereotype of African American women as exotic, overtly
sexual beings. In creating the image of the proper middle class
African American woman, Fauset had to suppress her sexuality,
and to conduct herself within the boundaries of social
propriety. To Fauset, this was not a bad thing; she believed
that her behavior, and the like behavior of other African
Americans, would uplift her race from injustice and prejudice.
In her preface to her third novel Plum Bun, Fauset
describes her literary philosophy:
I have depicted something of the home life of the colored
American who is not being pressed too hard by the Furies of
Prejudices, Ignorance, and Economic Injustice.... And behold he
is not so vastly different from any other Americans (Sato 67).
Her novels depict that, given the freedom to educate their
minds without enduring prejudices or economic hindrances, all
African Americans can achieve just as well as any other
American. In other words, that African Americans do not possess
any inborn, or inherent characteristics that distinguish them
from whites; it is all a matter of social and economic
boundaries that differentiates the African American race.
Bibliography
Sato, Hiroko. "Under the Harlem Shadow: A Study of Jessie Fauset
and Nella Larsen." The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. Ed.
Arna Bontemps. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972. 63-89.
Wall, Cheryl A. Women of the Harlem Renaissance.
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995.