The Making of a Black Communist: The Selected Writings of Eugene Gordon

Eugene Gordon (1891-1974) was a major writer involved in the development of the burgeoning Black literary scene in Boston in the 1920s, an active player in the Harlem Renaissance, and a longtime member of the Communist Party. Despite his credentials as a reporter, editor, fiction writer, and political activist, he is rarely mentioned in studies of the Harlem Renaissance or Marxist politics. Here, Louis J. Parascandola has pulled together Gordon’s journalism, autobiographical writing, and fiction. This new collection, featuring both previously published pieces from a wide variety of publications as well as material that has never before been published, demonstrates his range and his skill while establishing his importance as a critical voice of his time.

Gordon was born and raised in the South but made his way north at a young age. In Boston, he founded the Saturday Evening Quill Club, an African American literary group that included other notable writers such as Helene Johnson and Dorothy West. He later became editor of and contributor to two major publications coming out of the era: the Messenger and Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life. As he grew more political, he joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and became editor of and contributor to the New Masses. Scholars looking to research him have struggled to find disparate writings to get a fuller sense of his literary stylings as well as his political commitments. This welcome new volume establishes Gordon as a significant, understudied figure.

Louis J. Parascandola is professor of English at Long Island University. He has edited or coedited several collections, including:  Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Gwendolyn Bennett’s Selected Writings; Amy Jacques Garvey: Selected Writings from The Negro World, 1923-1928; A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion; and Eric Walrond: The Critical Heritage. His scholarship has appeared in Asian American Literature: Discourses and Pedagogies; Langston Hughes Review; Afro-Americans in New York Life and History; Comparative Literature Studies; and more.