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| Photo Courtesy: George Hutchinson |
Nella Larsen lived in an era when American society lacked the capacity to embrace the intricate need of mixed-raced individuals to be seen not as white or as black, but as people.
People who, through no choice of their own, bore a harmonious physical refinement which was both admired and rejected as a result of dissonant heritages.
She was born in 1893 to a white mother of Danish origin and a black West Indian father. Her father died when she was very young and her mother later married Peter Larsen, a white man.
She was exposed to a kaleidoscope of experiences because of her designation as a mixed-raced child in a white family. She understood the perspective of America through the eyes of a working class white family. In spite of her family's social status, her mother was determined to make sure Larsen got a good education.
Her perspective broadened when she studied at the historically black Fisk University. By then, she was experienced and educated enough to realize the social conventions being patterned at Fisk were limited in their scope. She continued learning at the University of Copenhagen and studied in New York to become a nurse in 1912.
While in New York, Larsen became a literary voice during the glorious period of the Harlem Renaissance. Through her writings, specifically Quicksand and Passings, Larsen was able to give insight into the private pain and somewhat transient existence women of mixed-race lived.
Her writing career was cut short when she was accused of plagiarizing the short story Sanctuary. She removed herself from the public eye and chose to live a simpler, quieter life as a nurse in Manhattan.
People who, through no choice of their own, bore a harmonious physical refinement which was both admired and rejected as a result of dissonant heritages.
She was born in 1893 to a white mother of Danish origin and a black West Indian father. Her father died when she was very young and her mother later married Peter Larsen, a white man.
She was exposed to a kaleidoscope of experiences because of her designation as a mixed-raced child in a white family. She understood the perspective of America through the eyes of a working class white family. In spite of her family's social status, her mother was determined to make sure Larsen got a good education.
Her perspective broadened when she studied at the historically black Fisk University. By then, she was experienced and educated enough to realize the social conventions being patterned at Fisk were limited in their scope. She continued learning at the University of Copenhagen and studied in New York to become a nurse in 1912.
While in New York, Larsen became a literary voice during the glorious period of the Harlem Renaissance. Through her writings, specifically Quicksand and Passings, Larsen was able to give insight into the private pain and somewhat transient existence women of mixed-race lived.
Her writing career was cut short when she was accused of plagiarizing the short story Sanctuary. She removed herself from the public eye and chose to live a simpler, quieter life as a nurse in Manhattan.
Sources:
Hutchinson, George. In Search of Nella Larsen: a biography of the color line, p. 51. The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2006.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Nella Larsen " PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL: http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/larsen.html, November 2011.
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