Bio jean toomer biography
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Of mixed race ancestry, Jean Toomer was born in and was seen as one of the most important proponents of modernism and a primer mover in the cultural movement the Harlem Renaissance of the time. Although his mother was white, his father’s history was steeped in the slave culture of 19th Century Georgia. In his early days, Toomer attended segregated schools in Washington before moving to New York where he attended an all-white school.
He went to a number of colleges in his teens, studying a broad range of subjects, but never gained a full degree. He was, however, interested in poetry and read widely during that time. When he left college he went back to Washington where he spent time working in a shipyard whilst writing in his spare time. In America it was a period of great uncertainty with World War I raging in Europe and growing tensions at home that often erupted into violence.
For a couple of months in , Toomer took a job in Georgia in an all-black college where he also began to
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Jean Toomer
Jean Toomer was born on December 26, , in Washington, D.C., the son of Nathan Toomer, a Georgian farmer, and Nina Pinchback. His grandfather, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, was the first African American governor in the United States, serving in Louisiana during Reconstruction from – Toomer began college at the University of Wisconsin in , but transferred to the College of the City of New York and studied there until
Toomer spent the next four years writing and publishing poetry and prose in Broom, The Liberator, The Little Review, and other journals. He actively participated in literary society and was acquainted with such prominent figures as the critic Kenneth Burke, the photographer Alfred Steiglitz, and the poet Hart Crane.
In , Toomer took a teaching job in Georgia and remained there for four months. The trip represented his journey back to his Southern roots. His experience inspired his book Cane (Boni & Liveright, ), which describes th
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Biography: Jean Toomer ()
Jean Toomer, often cited as the first poet of the Harlem Renaissance movement, was born in Washington, DC, in He attended the University of Wisconsin and the College of the City of New York. In he went to Sparta, Georgia, where he taught public school. A trip across the South with friend and future novelist Waldo Frank influenced Toomer's dual vision of the burden of color and the potential for celebration of blackness. During this period, Toomer's poems appeared in small magazines, including Dial, Broom and Double Dealer.
Toomer's most influential work, Cane, an experimental collection of stories, sketches, poetry and drama, was published in (Boni and Liveright). Met with widespread critical acclaim, the book traced themes of history and tragedy with innovative applications of symbolism and metaphor. Despite profound effects on later writers in the Harlem Renaissance, Cane sold barely copies. Arna Bontemps, poet, critic and editor (with Langsto