Richard Bruce Nugent
Richard Bruce Nugent was a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, born on July 2, 1906, in Washington, D.C. He emerged from a middle-class African American family and received a quality education, attending Dunbar High School. Nugent moved to New York City in the 1920s, where he became immersed in the vibrant artistic community of the Harlem Renaissance. His friendships with notable figures like poet Langston Hughes helped spark his literary career; his first poem, "Shadow," was published with Hughes's support. Nugent's work is significant for its early exploration of explicitly homosexual themes, particularly through his short story "Smoke, Lilies, and Jade." He also contributed to various periodicals, participated in theater productions, and was involved in the Federal Writers Project alongside other influential writers. Despite his personal challenges, including the complexities of his marriage to Grace Marr, Nugent remained active in the arts until his passing on May 27, 1987, leaving behind a legacy as one of the last surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance. His contributions continue to be recognized for their cultural and historical significance.
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Richard Bruce Nugent
Writer
- Born: July 2, 1906
- Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
- Died: May 27, 1987
- Place of death: Hoboken, New Jersey
Biography
Richard Bruce Nugent was born on July 2, 1906, in Washington, D.C., the son of Pauline (nee Bruce) and Richard Henry Nugent, Jr. Although the Nugents were not affluent, they were members of Washington’s elite African American society. Nugent attended public schools in the District of Columbia, including the prestigious Dunbar High School, where Angelina Weld Grimke, an African American poet and playwright, was his English teacher.
In 1920, at the onset of the Harlem Renaissance, Nugent moved to New York City with his mother and younger brother, Gary (who later gained fame as a tap dancer) after his father died. Nugent held various jobs and enrolled in art classes at the New York Evening School of Arts and Traphagen School of Fashion with the intent of becoming an artist. Nugent’s mother, convinced that he did not intend to hold a steady job, allowed him to return to Washington and live with his grandmother. At one of writer Georgia Douglas Johnson’s artistic soirees, Nugent met poet Langston Hughes, and they became friends. Nugent returned to New York when he was nineteen years old and became one of the younger members of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes spearheaded the publication of Nugent’s first poem, “Shadow,” by retrieving it from the trash can and sending it to Opportunity magazine, where it was first published. That same year Nugent’s first short story, “Sahdji,” appeared in Alain Locke’s book The New Negro (1925), the landmark anthology of the Harlem Renaissance. Locke then encouraged Nugent to adapt the story for the theater. Consequently, Nugent wrote Sahdji: An African Ballet, a one-act drama for which composer William Grant Still wrote the musical score.
Nugent’s short story “Smoke, Lilies, and Jade” was published in Fire!! A Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists, edited by Wallace Thurman, and appears to be the earliest, if not the first, published literary work by an African American with an explicitly homosexual theme. Fire!! also contained two of Nugent’s silhouette brush and ink drawings. He also created pen, ink, and pencil line drawings as well as works in oil and pastels. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Nugent contributed art and prose to periodicals such as Thurman’s Harlem: A Forum of Negro Life as well as Dorothy West’s Challenge and New Challenge. In the 1930’s, he also wrote for the Federal Writers Project, where his coworkers were authors Ralph Ellison and Claude McKay. Nugent had a role in the Broadway production of DuBose Heyward’s play, Porgy, in 1927 and was a member of the play’s touring company that performed in American and European theaters until 1930. He later was a dancer in Hall Johnson’s play Run, Little Chillun.
In 1952, Nugent married Grace Marr, a nursing administrator. Although she was aware that Nugent was gay, they remained husband and wife until her death in 1969. Also during the 1960’s, Nugent, artist Romare Bearden and others founded the Harlem Cultural Council. Forty-five years after the publication of Nugent’s first short story, the Crisis published his Christmas story, “Beyond Where the Star Stood Still.” At the time of his death on May 27, 1987, Nugent was one of the last surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance.