Nella Larsen’s Biography and Contributions to Literature

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Born Nellie Walker, Nella Larsen was born on April 13, 1891 in Chicago (Jarrett). She was biracial; her mother, Mary Hansen, was white Danish while her father, Peter Walker, was a black West Indian (Jarrett, Loeffelholz). After her father left, Nella’s mother married a white Danish man, Peter Larsen. They eventually had children together, and this made Nella the only “colored” girl in the home. Her family saw her as an embarrassment because she was the only “colored” girl in the family; she did not fit in. Her step dad found her presence strange (Loeffelholz). Nella and her siblings attended a private school in a white area, but Nella never  quite fit in because she was of mixed race, neither black nor white. Her family faced a lot of hatred and bitterness from others around them because of racism. Nella and her family didn’t stay long in this community, and moved back to a “mixed” vice district where Nella was originally from, and the girls went to a public school there. While growing up, Nella was perplexed by the dress restrictions on women (Jarrett). This issue is reflected in her story “Quicksand.” As an adult, she moved to Denmark, but eventually returned to the United States and attended nursing school. Eventually, Nella became head nurse at Tuskegee Institute hospital in Alabama, but didn’t like the things the school leaders stood for. She left, and met and married Dr. Elmer S. Imes.

            Nella Larsen lived through the Harlem Renaissance and made significant contributions to literature with her stories that carried the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. I have read her story “Quicksand,” and found it very captivating. Another literary contribution is "Passing," which discussed the life of a mixed lady who passed (hence the name) as a white woman due to her family. Through her stories, Larsen wanted to capture the heartache and struggle that many biracial and African American people felt in her time period.  As stated by T. S. Stribling (another writer during the Harlem Renaissance) and agreed by Nella Larsen, Stribling quoted, “Here is an audience waiting to hear the truth about us. Let us, who are better qualified to present that truth than any white writer, try to do so (Wall).” Her fiction “Quicksand” really offers insight into the lives of middle class African American women in western society at the time. They face a struggle to define themselves. They never truly fit in, being neither fully black nor fully white (Wall).

Works Cited

Jarrett, Gene A. African American Literature beyond Race. New York: New York University Press, n.d. Print.

Loeffelholz, . The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7thth ed. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. Print.

Wall, Cheryl A. Women of the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. Print. 

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