Carla Kaplan, author | Official website

Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance

Little could be more unusual in the 1920s than for white, upper-class women—"Miss Anne"—to seek to become, in effect, honorary blacks. This ground-breaking group biography uncovers, for the first time, the untold story of the white women of the black Harlem Renaissance.

Returning Miss Anne to her rightful place in the interracial history of the Harlem Renaissance, Kaplan's formidable work remaps the landscape of the 1920s, alters our perception of this historical moment, and brings Miss Anne to vivid life.

Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance, by Carla Kaplan

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Nancy Cunard with John Banting and Taylor Gordon.

Annie Nathan Meyer as a young woman. "Miss Anne in Harlem is a surprising, delightful book, that will soon be essential reading for anyone interested in the Harlem Renaissance and the brave, bold women of the Jazz Age." Debby Applegate, author of The Most Famous Man in America

Libby Holman with Gerald Cook.

Josephine Schuyler with her cook. "Carla Kaplan's brilliant Miss Anne in Harlem fills an aching void in our knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance [and] significantly deepens our understanding of American culture in the 1920s and American feminism in general." Arnold Rampersad, author of The Life of Langston Hughes

Josephine Schuyler on a Harlem rooftop.

Nancy Cunard holding up her 'Negro anthology.' "Lush, original, and vigorously argued, Miss Anne in Harlem does justice to the difficult richness not only of these exceptional women's lives but of life itself." Diane McWhorter, author of Carry Me Home

Fannie Hurst.

Nancy Cunard. "Endlessly fascinating, Miss Anne in Harlem reveals a whole new perspective on the Harlem Renaissance, and Carla Kaplan delivers an essential and absorbing portrait of race and sex in 20th century America." Gilbert King, author of Devil in the Grove

Nancy Cunard with a mask from Sierra Leone.

A page from Josephine Schuyler's scrapbook, dated October 10, 1931. "...utterly fascinating and deeply insightful... [T]his fine book takes the Misses Anne seriously and goes further, to reveal the workings of interracial networks in one of the most important cultural phenomena in American history." Nell Irvin Painter, author of The History of White People

A page from Josephine Cogdell Schuyler's scrapbook, dated August 3, 1931.

Studio portrait of Josephine Cogdell Schuyler. "An empathetic and skillful writer, Kaplan ... shares the previously untold story of a group of notable white women who embraced black culture—and life—in Harlem in the 1920s and '30s. ... Captivating." Publishers Weekly (Starred review)