R. Nathaniel Dett & Langston Hughes Were First Black Artists at Yaddo Artist Colony

[The Collected Piano Works of R. Nathaniel Dett; Summy-Birchard (1973)]

The Canadian Press
Politics. War. Scandal. Art: Yaddo exhibit opens in New York City
October 22, 2008

“NEW YORK — Iron gates from the Yaddo artist colony, with the Yaddo logo and its muscular, musical 'Y' spelled out in script, have been installed inside the New York Public Library for a four-month exhibit, allowing you to imagine the same rustic grounds entered by James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein and so many others.  But you will soon take in what Yaddo's chosen artists discovered: The promised seclusion was ever broken by the shouts of current events. Poverty. Race. War. Politics. 'It seems well to remind our guests that Yaddo supports exclusively no social or artistic philosophy,' colony executive director Elizabeth Ames advised in the 1930s, a most argumentative time.”

“Well before the civil rights movement, Yaddo integrated blacks and whites. In 1942, over some dissent, the first black artists were admitted: Langston Hughes and composer R. Nathaniel Dett. The nearby community wasn't quite ready. 'I do not object to Langston Hughes, the coloured writer, coming to our bar as long as is in the company of someone else for Yaddo,' wrote restaurant owner Edward C. Sweeny. For years, Yaddo worried unduly about the drinking, sex life and financial status of its black residents.”  [Full Post] [R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]