Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

Synopsis

A vibrant, deeply researched biography of A&’Lelia Walker—daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and herself a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance—written by her great-granddaughter.Dubbed the &“joy goddess of Harlem&’s 1920s&” by poet Langston Hughes, A&’Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the author&’s great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. After inheriting her mother&’s hair care enterprise, A&’Lelia would become America&’s first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homes—a mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terre—where she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties. Now, based on extensive research and Walker&’s personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous mother&’s sphere. In Joy Goddess, A&’Lelia&’s radiant personality and impresario instincts—at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler—are brought to vivid and unforgettable life.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781501154133

Related ISBNs:

9781416544425

Publisher:

Scribner

Date of Addition:

06/10/25

Copyrighted By:

A’Lelia Bundles

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.