Born: 2 June 1907, United States
Died: 16 August 1998
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished with permission from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
Dorothy West (1907-1998), an American novelist, who was a part of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Boston. She lived in the South End and in the Fort Hill section of Roxbury in a communal matriarchal household with her mother, her aunt, and her cousins. The family attended St. Mark’s Congregational Church. Founded in 1895, St. Mark’s moved here from the South End in 1926. The church played an active role in the community, sponsoring Saint Mark’s Musical and Literacy Union which aimed to improve the intellectual life of the “colored” people of Boston. West attended Girls’ Latin School (now Boston Latin Academy), Brighton High School, Boston University and Columbia School of Journalism. In 1926 West moved to Harlem where she was friends with many of the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. She traveled to Russia in 1932 with Langston Hughes and co-founded the literary magazine New Challenge. In 1947 she moved permanently to Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard where she wrote a weekly column about local people, events, and nature for the Vineyard Gazette. In 1948, she wrote her best-known novel The Living is Easy which is set in 20th century Black Boston.