Hello, fellow Germs! Welcome to a new series called Belle Lettres, which spotlights female writers who might not be very well-known. The title is a play on the literary term belle-lettres, which is French for “beautiful letters.” Belle-lettres encompasses categories such as poetry, essays, and fiction that are valued for their originality of style and tone as well as for their aesthetic qualities. Belle Lettres is a chance to acknowledge female writers who have paved the way for us to be awesome. Think of this as a literary version of Priscilla Carmona’s Badass Ladies in History series.
Jessie Redmon Fauset kicks off our first edition of Belle Lettres. An editor, poet, essayist, and novelist, Fauset is known as the “Midwife of the Harlem Renaissance.” Born on April 27, 1882, in New Jersey, Fauset was something of a trailblazer during her school years. In 1900, she graduated with honors from the Philadelphia High School for Girls as the only African American in her class. Fauset received a scholarship to study at Cornell University, where she became one of the first African Americans to join Phi Beta Kappa and graduate with her bachelor’s in classical languages in 1905.
Fauset moved to Washington, D.C. when she was unable to find a teaching job in Philadelphia due to racism. During this time, Fauset began submitting poems and reviews to The Crisis, which was an original, monthly publication from the NAACP. After some persuasion from W.E.B. DuBois — the magazine’s co-founder and editor — Fauset relocated to New York to become the literary editor in 1919. Under her guidance, Fauset helped to push the careers of famous Harlem Renaissance writers, such as Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes. Fauset was also co-editor of The Brownie’s Book, which was a monthly magazine from 1920 to 1921 for children under the NAACP.
Growing tired of reading inaccurate portrayals of African American life, Fauset published her first novel, There Is Confusion, in 1924. Its focus on blacks in an upper-middle-class setting made it difficult for the novel to get published at first. Her second novel, Plum Bun, was published in 1929 and became known as her most critically acclaimed work. Once again exploring the themes of racial injustice and black life in America, Plum Bun is about a young woman named Angela who passes for white in order to be fully accepted into society.
Fauset released two more novels, The Chinaberry Tree and Comedy, American Style, in 1931 and 1933 respectively. Unfortunately, both novels didn’t receive as much attention as her previous works. While people praised her for writing about issues such as racism, sexism, and black and white relations, they also felt as though her upper-class characters were too bourgeois.
After leaving The Crisis in 1926, Fauset returned to teaching and continued to publish her work. When her husband, Herbert Harris — whom she married in 1929 — died in 1958, Fauset returned to Philadelphia. Fauset passed away at the age of 79 on April 30, 1961.
Fauset was called the Harlem Renaissance’s Midwife for a reason. As co-editor of The Brownie’s Book with DuBois, Fauset believed that it was important for young black children to learn about their heritage and have confidence in their future. Her poetry was featured in anthologies from her fellow Harlem writers, such as Countee Cullen. Through her work at The Crisis, Fauset highlighted the poetry and other literary works of black female writers. Although not as revered as her novels, Fauset’s poetry focused on issues in romantic relationships, like in her poem “La Vie C’est la Vie.”
While some critics considered her poetry sentimental and her novels genteel, Jessie Redmond Fauset expressed genuine concerns and interests that everyone can relate to at some point in their lives. Most importantly, Fauset and other Harlem Renaissance writers reminded their white counterparts that the lives and experiences of African Americans are no different from their own. At the same time, these stories are theirs to tell — and these stories are theirs to tell honestly and effectively.