War Production Board, 151
War Worker, 172, 173
Washington, Booker T., 17, 19, 22, 50, 96, 138, 164
Washington, Kennie, 241
Washington, Leon, 156
Waters, Ethel, 62
Watkins, Mel, 488
WCBS radio, 239
Weaver, Robert, 118, 134, 181
Webb, Constance, 209–10, 349, 431
Weil Coffee and Tea Importers, 137
Welfare Island, New York, 148, 238
Welles, Orson, 356
West, Rebecca, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, 382
Weybright, Victor, 312–13, 321, 326, 329, 330, 370–71
White, Charles, 169
White, Francis, 257
White, Gladys, 184
White, Walter, 181, 183–84, 215
contacts of, 168, 182, 205, 357
and film industry, 155, 423–24
and Himes’s writing, 213, 217–18
and NAACP, 18, 155, 183, 202, 357
papers of, 220
A Rising Wind, 185
stereotypes fought by, 155, 172, 217–18, 423
White Plains YMCA, Himes’s job with, 272
Who Do You Kill? (TV), 474
Wiggins, Fannie Himes, 10, 16, 26, 49, 51–52, 63, 73, 111, 203, 506
Wiggins, Gerald, 232
Wiggins, Wade Hampton, 49–50, 51, 92, 111
Wilkerson, Doxey, 205
Wilkins, Ernest, 70
Wilkins, Roy, 163, 168, 170–71, 183, 205, 207
William Morrow and Company, 469, 477
Williams, Auber LaCarlton (nom de plume), 97
Williams, Bert, 173, 282
Williams, Billy Dee, 424
Williams, George, 87
Williams, John A., 424, 462–63, 479, 488
after Himes’s death, 493, 498
and Amistad I, 478, 482
The Angry Ones, 421
contacts of, 427–28, 446
disagreements with, 470–71, 478, 493
and Doubleday, 481–82
and Himes’s finances, 427, 435, 436
and Himes’s interviews, 478, 482, 493, 494
and Himes’s writing, 427–28, 476, 480, 481, 489, 493, 496, 498
The Man Who Cried I Am, 470–71
Night Song, 421
Sissie, 431
socializing, 431, 436
Williams, Reba, 142
Williams, Robert F., 423
Williams, Sidney, 124, 355
Williams, Rev. Sylvester, 122
Willkie, Wendell, 155, 172
Wilson, Earl, 205
Wilson, Juanita, 153
Wilson, Welford, 149–50, 153
Winsor, Kathleen, 346
WNBC radio, 239
Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Cariolina, 2
Wolfe, Thomas, 100
Wolfert, Vivian, 209
women’s liberation movement, 285
Woodard, Isaac, 356
Woodson, Carter G., The Negro in Our History, 42
Woodville Republican, 29
Work, Monroe N., 16–17
Works Progress Administration (WPA), 120, 122–24, 129, 131, 135, 210, 426
World Publishers:
and Black Boogie Woogie, 282, 325
and The Cord/Third Generation, 268–69, 278–79, 281, 285, 287, 301, 305, 306–7, 309, 311, 312, 313–14, 318, 320, 321, 323, 348
and End of a Primitive, 320, 323–24, 327
and Himes’s finances, 282, 287, 307, 311, 318, 321, 323, 326, 329, 429
and New World Writing, 311
and Putnam, 268–69
and Silver Altar, 311, 313, 314, 315, 320, 321–22
and Targ, 278, 285, 305, 306, 309, 310–11, 313, 320, 323, 325, 326, 458
and Zevin, 238, 301, 327, 329
World War I, veterans returning from, 38
World War II, 170, 172, 356, 451
black servicemen in, 171, 189, 201
and Communist Party, 177–78, 214
D-Day, 177
and double V, 153–54, 161, 171
end of, 191
and German-Soviet pact, 159
Himes’s experiences in, 42, 173, 191
Japanese citizens interned in, 157, 167, 172–73, 186
Liberty ships, 153
“Now Is the Time! Here Is the Place!,” 161–62
onset of, 129, 134, 153
postwar job opportunities, 243, 444–45
postwar literary tradition, 471
postwar population surge, 202
and racism, 165–66, 173, 177, 186–87
U.S. military segregation in, 168, 173, 178, 187
women working in, 197
Wright, Cleo, 153
Wright, Ellen, 293, 302–3, 307, 328, 361, 386, 404–5, 409–10, 447, 449
Wright, Rachel, 409
Wright, Richard Nathaniel (author), 94, 207–11, 218–20, 353, 364, 392, 393, 409, 443, 462, 493
and Africa, 304, 403
and Baldwin, 298–301, 303, 353, 405, 470, 478, 492
Black Boy, 191–92, 231, 300, 301, 307, 405, 479
and blues school, 210–11
and Communist Party, 133, 189, 214, 237, 246, 298
competing with, 218, 230, 365, 366, 391, 407
death of, 328, 403–6
and Ellison, 189, 209–10, 218, 231, 283, 284–85, 299, 365, 367, 479
and Himes’s writing, 207, 218, 222, 236–38, 239, 245, 279–80, 286, 289, 305, 310, 318, 365, 369–70, 386–87, 406, 428, 437
influence of, 397, 442, 454
“I Tried to Be a Communist,” 189
The Long Dream, 387
Native Son, 132–34, 136, 141, 192, 214, 228, 245, 246, 287, 299, 307, 324, 367, 470, 479
The Outsider, 289, 290, 293, 369
papers of, 220
in Paris, 219, 222, 223, 229, 233, 287–89, 292–93, 294–95, 297–305, 328, 332, 385
and race relations, xiv, 133, 224
Rite of Passage, 209
as role model, 133
socializing, 182, 190–91, 205, 209, 212, 219, 359, 365, 492
stylistic development of, 333
as supportive of other writers, 207, 362, 397
Uncle Tom’s Children, 126, 136
Wright, Richard R. (educator), 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 32
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York, 236, 248, 250–58, 281, 361
Yale University Library, 220, 407
Yerby, Frank, 396
Yorty, Samuel, 420
Yoruba religion, 447
Young, Al, 494–95
Young, Lester, 416
Zanuck, Darryl F., 155
Zevin, Ben, 238, 301, 327, 329
ALSO BY LAWRENCE P. JACKSON
My Father’s Name:
A Black Virginia Family after the Civil War
The Indignant Generation:
A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics,
1934–1960
Ralph Ellison:
Emergence of Genius
Copyright © 2017 by Lawrence P. Jackson
All rights reserved
First Edition
Materials from the literary archive of Chester Himes used with permission of Lesley Packard Himes.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact W. W. Norton Special Sales at [email protected] or 800-233-4830
Book design by Daniel Lagin
Production manager: Julia Druskin
JACKET DESIGN BY PATTI RATCHFORD
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH OF CHESTER HIMES BY CARL VAN VECHTEN. USED WITH PERMISSION OF THE VAN VECHTEN TRUST. PRINT: YALE COLLECTION OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY.
ISBN 978-0-393-06389-9
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
> 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS
Chester B. Himes Page 69