Harlem Rhapsody

Jessie arrives at the offices of the NAACP. She has been published many times in the magazine since 1912 and thinks that her late father would be proud of her achievement. She meets Pocahontas Foster, Will’s stenographer, and Augustus Granville Dill, the magazine’s business manager. Will has roses sent to her anonymously. Jessie meets more NAACP founders and staff, including Moorfield Storey, Joel Springarn, James Weldon Johnson, and Mary White Ovington. Mary is openly displeased that Jessie has been made editor. Augustus delivers a dozen boxes of submissions and correspondence for Jessie to read and organize. Will asks Jessie to join him for lunch.

Will takes Jessie to the Civic Club for lunch. Jessie says that she prefers New York over Paris, where she studied at the Sorbonne and vacationed with Will. He holds her hand until Dr. Imes and his wife, Nella Larsen Imes, come up to the table. The doctor tells them that Nella is a writer and was the second Black person to be hired at the 135th Street library. Will introduces Jessie to the waiter, Patrick, who is studying languages.

After Patrick takes their orders, Will talks about the importance of Black people getting degrees and believes that a Black man will be president someday. Jessie doesn’t agree but hopes that it will come to pass. Will also asks Jessie to edit a monthly magazine for Black children, called The Brownies’ Book. He hopes that the readers will become the new “talented tenth”—a term that he coined, referring to the brightest and most educated Black people whom the other 90% can look up to. As they eat, Patrick brings out a gift for Jessie from Will: a brown leather satchel and matching journal. Will says that he wants Jessie to make sure that she takes time to work on her novel.

When Jessie returns home, her sister, Mary-Helen, is there with Maman. While Jessie was at work, they went to the 135th Street library. Maman made friends with the branch librarian Ernestine Rose. Jessie shares that she met Nella, who also works at the library.

After Maman retires for the evening, Jessie tells Mary-Helen about her lunch with Will. Mary-Helen says that she knows about Will and Jessie’s affair and worries that Will’s wife lives so close to the apartment. Jessie claims that the affair is over and that her relationship with Will is only professional. Mary-Helen doesn’t believe her and doesn’t understand her attraction to someone so much older than her. Jessie is attracted to his power and his fatherly demeanor. Mary-Helen suggests that Jessie date other men, and Jessie asserts that she doesn’t want to get married, which makes dating difficult. She prefers to be Will’s mistress because he doesn’t want to marry her. Mary-Helen worries that their affair will end badly.

Jessie thinks about Mary-Helen’s warning that Will’s loyalty is to his wife before Jessie. Then, she recalls the day that her father, Reverend Redmon Fauset, told her about Will. She was 25 and a student at Sage College when Redmon gave her a copy of The Souls of Black Folk. They discussed Will’s theory of double consciousness before she started reading, and Redmon wanted them to discuss the whole book. However, Redmon died before she could finish reading it, joining five of Jessie’s siblings and her mother in death. Maman, Jessie’s stepmother, encouraged Jessie to finish reading the book.

When Jessie finished the book, she wrote a letter to Will, and he took a fatherly interest in her life. This was the beginning of their relationship. Will wrote letters of recommendation and helped Jessie with applications to jobs and the Sorbonne. He also gave her a column at The Crisis and talked with her about her novel. Jessie looks over what she has written so far: a story about a singer and dancer named Joanna who puts her career before marriage.

Jessie prepares for her proposal about The Brownies’ Book. Over a quick breakfast, Maman and Jessie discuss how Maman coming to live with Jessie has been a good thing, despite their initial arguments about it. Maman warns Jessie that she will be judged more harshly than white women and must maintain “proper decorum” (41). Privately, Jessie thinks that her white, Jewish stepmother broke with decorum by marrying her Black father, and Maman says that God has a plan for Jessie.

Jessie memorizes her proposal while taking the subway to work. When she gets to the NAACP’s offices, she checks in with Pocahontas about the timeline for The Brownies’ Book’s illustrations. Will and Augustus are Jessie’s audience in the meeting, and Will is impressed that Jessie has completed her proposal in 10 days. She discusses some of the people she’d like to feature, including a friend of Will’s, and how to teach skills that will help Black children prepare for college. One feature will be her “Judge and Jury” column, with the “Jury” section written by children. Augustus expresses his admiration, and the meeting ends.

When they are alone, Will effusively compliments Jessie. In the excitement, they kiss, and Miss Ovington walks in on them. Will informs Miss Ovington that Jessie will be handling The Crisis while Will travels to Detroit, which Miss Ovington begrudgingly accepts.

Jessie spends the day worrying about Miss Ovington seeing the kiss as she reads submissions. One poem that she especially likes is “Recruit” by the poet Georgia Douglas Johnson, whose first collection, The Heart of a Woman, had been published the previous year. “Recruit” becomes Jessie’s first definitive selection for The Brownies’ Book. Another submission is from Langston Hughes, an as-yet unpublished poet; he sent in his high school graduation photograph to inspire children. When Miss Ovington comes to Jessie’s office, Jessie compliments her on her work writing for children and asks if poetry is appropriate for their target age group. They discuss children’s concerns for about an hour. Jessie assures Miss Ovington that the kiss only happened in the moment of excitement about the new magazine, and she denies that she has done anything else with Will. Miss Ovington says that it better be a one-time thing.

Jessie and Maman walk to church, commenting on the Irving Berlin song that comes from a window as they pass. They discuss the fact that while the residents of Harlem are Black, the store owners are white. The Salem United Methodist Church is packed, and Jessie recalls her father walking into his church: Athens AME. In the Salem United Methodist Church, they sing familiar hymns, and Reverend Frederick Cullen takes the pulpit. He preaches against the lynching that occurred the previous day and speaks about an NAACP action of raising flags that say “a man was lynched yesterday” along 5th Street (55). Frederick continues by reading from Proverbs 6:16, a passage that, in his view, condemns lynching.

Jessie and Maman go through the long reception line to meet the reverend. He says that Will has told him about Jessie and introduces her to his son, Countee Cullen. Countee is a shy teenager, but Jesse encourages him to speak about his poetry and the poetry he loves. She also encourages Countee to send his poetry to the magazine. Will arrives in time to see this and praises Jessie for reaching out to members of the congregation. When Maman sees Will, she insists that it is time for her and Jessie to leave. Will offers them a ride, and Jessie accepts. Maman takes the front seat, and the ride is awkward. Will invites Jessie to meet about the magazine. Maman objects to Jessie working on a Sunday, but she goes with Will.

Will and Jessie get a room at the Hotel Olga. Jessie thinks back on the day in 1914 when her relationship with Will changed. She was speaking with one of her students, Sadie Tanner Mossell, about her career when Will arrived in person at her school. He said that he was in Washington, DC, to meet Alain Locke and asked her out to dinner at Gray & Costley’s. They talked for hours until the restaurant closed. When Will dropped her off at home, he kissed her hand. A month later, he returned to her door with a rose and asked her out again. They went to the Whiteclaw hotel’s restaurant and ended up having sex upstairs in a room.

In the present moment, Will calls Jessie his “Juliet,” and she reminds him that Juliet dies. Will wishes aloud that he had met Jessie before he was married, but Jessie assures him that she doesn’t want to be more than his mistress. They talk about Will’s book Darkwater, which Jessie helped edit. She admits that her middle name is Redmona instead of Redmon. Will talks about the pressure of his work and how white people, even those working at the NAACP, will never truly understand the struggles of Black people. He feels like everyone, including his family, wants something from him, except for Jessie. Then, Will asks Jessie to spend the night. She refuses to stay all night but stays late into the night.

Around midnight, Jessie returns to her brownstone, where Maman is up and waiting for her. Maman rails against Jessie being Will’s mistress, calling Jessie “evil” and implying that she got her job by sleeping with Will. Jessie tells Maman that she is not her mother and that she doesn’t need her advice on this. Maman insists that she is Jessie’s mother because she raised her and then storms off. Jessie cries.