Fire!! was an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 literary magazine published in 1926 during the Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...

. The publication was started by Wallace Thurman

Wallace Thurman

Wallace Henry Thurman was an American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, which explores discrimination among black people based on skin color.-Early life:...

, Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...

, Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas was an African American painter and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.-Early life:...

, John P. Davis

John P. Davis

John Preston Davis was an American lawyer and activist intellectual became prominent for his work with the Joint Committee on National Recovery and the founding of the National Negro Congress in 1935. He went on to found Our World magazine in 1946, a full-size, nationally-distributed magazine...

, Richard Bruce Nugent

Richard Bruce Nugent

Richard Bruce Nugent , aka Richard Bruce and Bruce Nugent, was a writer and painter in the Harlem Renaissance.-Biography:...

, Gwendolyn Bennett, Lewis Grandison Alexander

Lewis Grandison Alexander

Lewis Grandison Alexander was an American poet, actor, playwright, and costume designer who lived in Washington, D.C. and had strong ties to the Harlem Renaissance period in New York...

, Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...

, and Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

.

History

Fire!! was conceived with the notion of expressing the Black experience during the Harlem Renaissance in a modern and realistic fashion, using literature as a vehicle of enlightenment. The authors of this magazine wanted an arena to express the changing attitudes of younger African Americans and used Fire!! to facilitate the exploration of issues in the Black community that were not in the forefront of mainstream African American society such as homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

, bisexuality

Bisexuality

Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...

, interracial relationships, promiscuity

Promiscuity

In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...

, prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

, and color prejudice

Colorism

Colorism is prejudice or discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social treatment based on skin color. The preference often gets translated into economic status because of opportunities for work. Colorism can be found across the world...

 within the Black community itself.

The publication was so named, according to Langston Hughes, "to burn up a lot of the old, dead conventional Negro-white ideas of the past ... into a realization of the existence of the younger Negro writers and artists, and provide us with an outlet for publication not available in the limited pages of the small Negro magazines then existing.".

Ironically, the magazine's headquarters burned to the ground shortly after releasing its first issue.

Public criticism

Fire!! was plagued by debt and encountered poor sales. It was not well received by the Black public because some felt that the journal did not exemplify the sophisticated self-image that Blacks of that era were trying to portray. The magazine was found offensive for many reasons and it was denounced by Black leaders such as the Talented Tenth

The Talented Tenth

The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African-Americans in the early twentieth century. The term was publicized by W. E. B. Du Bois in an influential essay of the same name, which he published in September 1903...

, "who viewed the effort as decadent and vulgar".

These groups felt that the content relating to prostitution and homosexuality was degrading. They thought it was a throw-back to old stereotypes in that it contained slang and language in the southern vernacular

African American Vernacular English

African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...

. They also felt its contents were undignified and reflected poorly on the Black race.

The magazine received many poor critical reviews. For example, the critic at the Baltimore Afro-American

Baltimore Afro-American

The Baltimore Afro-American, commonly known as The Afro, is a weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is the flagship newspaper of the Afro-American chain and the longest-running African-American family-owned newspaper in the United States.-History:The newspaper was founded in...

wrote that he "just tossed the first issue of Fire!! into the fire". Fire!! did receive a positive review from The Bookman

The Bookman (New York)

The Bookman was a literary journal established in 1895 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It drew its name from the phrase, "I am a Bookman," by James Russell Lowell; the phrase regularly appeared on the cover and title page of the bound edition. It was purchased in 1918 by the George H. Doran Company. In...

, which applauded the uniqueness and personality shown in the artistic content of the journal.,

Features

The magazine covered a variety of literary genres, and consists of a short novel, an essay, stories, plays, drawings and illustrations, and poetry:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Designs.................................................................................................Aaron Douglas Aaron Douglas Aaron Douglas was an African American painter and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.-Early life:...
Foreword
Drawing...........................................................................................................Richard Bruce Richard Bruce Nugent Richard Bruce Nugent , aka Richard Bruce and Bruce Nugent, was a writer and painter in the Harlem Renaissance.-Biography:...
Cordelia The Crude, A Harlem Sketch................................................................Wallace Thurman Wallace Thurman Wallace Henry Thurman was an American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, which explores discrimination among black people based on skin color.-Early life:...
Color Struck, A Play in Four Scenes..................................................................Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
Flame From The Dark Tower.............................................................................A Section of Poetry                                         Countee Cullen Countee Cullen Countee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...                  Helene Johnson Helene Johnson Helen Johnson, who was better known as Helene Johnson was an African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a cousin of author Dorothy West.She spent her early years at her grandfather’s house in Boston...                                         Edward Silvera                  Waring Cuney Waring Cuney William Waring Cuney was an African American poet who made considerable contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his poem "No Images", which won first prize in the 1926 Opportunity poetry contest....                                         Langston Hughes Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...               Arna Bontemps Arna Bontemps Arnaud "Arna" Wendell Bontemps was an American poet and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance.- Life and career :...                                                             Lewis Alexander
Drawing..........................................................................................................Richard Bruce
Wedding Day, A Story.....................................................................................Gwendolyn Bennett Gwendolyn B. Bennett Gwendolyn B. Bennett was an African American writer who contributed to Opportunity, which chronicled cultural advancements in Harlem. Though often overlooked, she herself made considerable accomplishments in poetry and prose...
Three Drawings...............................................................................................Aaron Douglas
Smoke, Lilies And Jade, A Novel, Part I...........................................................Richard Bruce
Sweat, A Story Sweat (short story) Sweat is a short story by the American writer Zora Neale Hurston, first published in 1926. The story revolves around a washerwoman and her unemployed, insecure husband.Robert E... ................................................................................................Zora Neale Hurston
Intelligentsia, An Essay...................................................................................Arthur Huff Fauset Arthur Fauset Arthur Huff Fauset was a noted civil rights activist, anthropologist, folklorist, and educator.-Family background:Fauset was born in 1899 in Flemington, New Jersey...
Fire Burns, Editorial Comment..........................................................................Wallace Thurman
Incidental Art Decorations................................................................................Aaron Douglas

Fire!! in the media

The story of the rise and fall of Fire!! is showcased in the 2004 movie Brother to Brother, which focuses on the life of a young gay African American college student named Perry Williams. Perry befriends an elderly gay African American named Bruce Nugent. Perry learns that Bruce Nugent was a writer and co-founder of Fire!!, and that he was associated with other notable writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Literary contribution

The only issue of Fire!! was published in 1926. Although this magazine had only one issue, “this single issue of Fire!! is considered an event of historical importance."

External links

• Fire Press: Publisher of reproductions of Fire!!