Gwendolyn Bennett – (1902-1981) Poet, short-story writer, columnist, journalist, illustrator, graphic artist, arts educator, teacher and administrator on the New York City Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (1935-1941). Gwendolyn Bennett was one of the most versatile figures to participate actively in the 1920s Black Arts Movement. From 1923 to 1931, Gwendolyn Bennett started a support group that provided a warm, supportive place for the young writers of Harlem. Members included Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Eric Walrond, Helene Johnson, Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Aaron Douglas, Alta Douglass, Rudolph Fisher and Zora Neale Hurston.
With a passion for creative arts, Bennett became the first African-American member of her school’s theater and literature student organizations. She attended Columbia University’s Teacher College, though she transferred to Pratt Institute, graduating in 1924. She joined the faculty at Howard University for a time before receiving funding to travel to Paris, taking coursework at the Sorbonne and Julian Academy.