MORE ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
HARLEM NOCTURNE:
âA definitive and arresting account of three women artists. Farah Griffin gathers an array of Harlem stories and incorporates them into a wonderfully written and well-grounded narrative describing the artistic experiences and everyday lives of these three unique women. Harlem Nocturne is both intimate and comprehensive in its exploration of black womenâs creativity during World War II. A rich history that investigates the imagination and originality of black womenâs expressive culture in mid-20th century America, this book is timely and important.â
âDeborah Willis, author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present
âFarah Jasmine Griffin has written, beautifully and powerfully, about the complex intersection of gender, race, and place in the lives of three extraordinary black women. In her delicate hands, Pearl Primus, Ann Petry, and Mary Lou Williams stand as ârepresentative women,â exemplars of imagination at work and of the daunting task of the art of living in trying political times. As we get to know them, their lives narrate a distinctive story that offers us advice about how to live with courage, power, and beauty.â
âEddie S. Glaude, Jr., Princeton University, author of In A Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America
âReaders who accept Farah Jasmine Griffinâs invitation to imagine Harlem in the 1940s through the eyes of three remarkable womenâPearl Primus, Ann Petry, and Mary Lou Williamsâwill be richly rewarded. Wearing her erudition lightly, Griffin brilliantly illuminates a place and time of enormous hope and achievement. Harlem Nocturne is an inspiring and inspired study of the artistic imagination in conversation with an American democracy tainted by injustice. It is, quite simply, a joy to read.â
âGayle Wald, author of Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
âAs elegant and dynamic as the figures that it chronicles, Harlem Nocturne is a groundbreaking cultural history of three black women artists at work in 1940s New York City. Farah Jasmine Griffin is a dazzling storyteller whose lyrical prose evokes the musical cadences of a Toni Morrison novel. Her study beckons us to soar with dancer-choreographer Pearl Primus, to walk with novelist Ann Petry as she chronicles the streets of Harlem, and to roll with pioneering jazz musician and composer Mary Lou Williams as each woman made art that laid down the blueprint for the modern Civil Rights Movement. By placing their lives in conversation with one another, Harlem Nocturne illuminates the myriad ways that Primus, Petry and Williams helped to shape the social, political, and cultural landscape of their city. As much a love letter to New York as it is to the heroism of these artists, Griffinâs study is a work of incandescent beauty.â
âDaphne A. Brooks, Princeton University, author of Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850â1910
âAn engaging biography of three remarkable women who taught art to reflect life.â
âKirkus Reviews
HARLEM
Nocturne
HARLEM
Nocturne
WOMEN ARTISTS &
PROGRESSIVE
POLITICS DURING
WORLD WAR II
Farah Jasmine Griffin
BASIC CIVITAS
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
New York
Copyright © 2013 by Farah Jasmine Griffin
Published by Basic Civitas Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, 15th floor, New York, NY 10107.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more
HARLEM NOCTURNE:
âA definitive and arresting account of three women artists. Farah Griffin gathers an array of Harlem stories and incorporates them into a wonderfully written and well-grounded narrative describing the artistic experiences and everyday lives of these three unique women. Harlem Nocturne is both intimate and comprehensive in its exploration of black womenâs creativity during World War II. A rich history that investigates the imagination and originality of black womenâs expressive culture in mid-20th century America, this book is timely and important.â
âDeborah Willis, author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present
âFarah Jasmine Griffin has written, beautifully and powerfully, about the complex intersection of gender, race, and place in the lives of three extraordinary black women. In her delicate hands, Pearl Primus, Ann Petry, and Mary Lou Williams stand as ârepresentative women,â exemplars of imagination at work and of the daunting task of the art of living in trying political times. As we get to know them, their lives narrate a distinctive story that offers us advice about how to live with courage, power, and beauty.â
âEddie S. Glaude, Jr., Princeton University, author of In A Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America
âReaders who accept Farah Jasmine Griffinâs invitation to imagine Harlem in the 1940s through the eyes of three remarkable womenâPearl Primus, Ann Petry, and Mary Lou Williamsâwill be richly rewarded. Wearing her erudition lightly, Griffin brilliantly illuminates a place and time of enormous hope and achievement. Harlem Nocturne is an inspiring and inspired study of the artistic imagination in conversation with an American democracy tainted by injustice. It is, quite simply, a joy to read.â
âGayle Wald, author of Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
âAs elegant and dynamic as the figures that it chronicles, Harlem Nocturne is a groundbreaking cultural history of three black women artists at work in 1940s New York City. Farah Jasmine Griffin is a dazzling storyteller whose lyrical prose evokes the musical cadences of a Toni Morrison novel. Her study beckons us to soar with dancer-choreographer Pearl Primus, to walk with novelist Ann Petry as she chronicles the streets of Harlem, and to roll with pioneering jazz musician and composer Mary Lou Williams as each woman made art that laid down the blueprint for the modern Civil Rights Movement. By placing their lives in conversation with one another, Harlem Nocturne illuminates the myriad ways that Primus, Petry and Williams helped to shape the social, political, and cultural landscape of their city. As much a love letter to New York as it is to the heroism of these artists, Griffinâs study is a work of incandescent beauty.â
âDaphne A. Brooks, Princeton University, author of Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850â1910
âAn engaging biography of three remarkable women who taught art to reflect life.â
âKirkus Reviews
HARLEM
Nocturne
HARLEM
Nocturne
WOMEN ARTISTS &
PROGRESSIVE
POLITICS DURING
WORLD WAR II
Farah Jasmine Griffin
BASIC CIVITAS
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
New York
Copyright © 2013 by Farah Jasmine Griffin
Published by Basic Civitas Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, 15th floor, New York, NY 10107.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more
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