Book
Joy goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance / A'Lelia Bundles.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781416544425
- ISBN: 1416544429
- Physical Description: xix, 363 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm
- Edition: First Scribner hardcover edition.
- Publisher: New York : Scribner, 2025.
- Copyright: ©2025
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary, etc.: | "Dubbed the 'joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s' by poet Langston Hughes, A'Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the author's great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. After inheriting her mother's hair care enterprise, A'Lelia would become America's first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homes -- a mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terre -- where she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties. Now, based on extensive research and Walker's personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous mother's sphere. In Joy Goddess, A'Lelia's radiant personality and impresario instincts -- at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler -- are brought to vivid and unforgettable life." -- Provided by publisher. |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Informational works. Biographies. |
Available copies
- 1 of 3 copies available at GRPL.
Holds
0 current holds with 3 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Square | Biography Robinson, A'Lelia Walker (Text) | 31307026364812 | New | In transit | - |
| Main | Biography Robinson, A'Lelia Walker (Text) | 31307026364820 | New | Reshelving | - |
| Seymour | Biography Robinson, A'Lelia Walker (Text) | 31307026364804 | New | In transit | - |
Publishers Weekly Review
Joy Goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
In this scintillating account, biographer Bundles (On Her Own Ground) revisits the pioneering glamour and cultural patronage of her own great-grandmother, the hair-care heiress and Harlem Renaissance socialite A'Lelia Walker. Born in 1885, A'Lelia spent her early years in poverty until her mother, washerwoman Sarah Breedlove, refashioned herself as Madam C.J. Walker, purveyor of the Wonderful Hair Grower and first self-made woman millionaire. Bringing A'Lelia out from under her mother's shadow (during her lifetime she faced down unfavorable comparisons to her mother's business acumen, and the two had a contentious "fire and ice" relationship), Bundles argues that the heiress had a "gift" for "creating distinctive events" that "surprised even blasé New York." She hosted landmark soirées at her inherited Westchester County mansion and founded both the Walker Salon, "one of Harlem's most popular venues for private parties," and the Dark Tower, a cultural salon named after a Countee Cullen poem "where her downtown friends joined her uptown friends." Bundles shows how A'Lelia's wide range of guests, from cutting-edge musicians, artists, and poets to high-ranking African Americans in the federal government, created a potent and unprecedented cultural mix. Along the way, she depicts A'Lelia with admiration for her "diva-worthy flamboyance" and, thanks to the familial connection, unmatched intimacy. This brings vibrant life to a luminary described by Langston Hughes as the "joy goddess of Harlem." (June)
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BookList Review
Joy Goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
In her latest work of biography, Bundles (On Her Own Ground) turns her attention to A'Lelia Walker, Bundles' great-grandmother and heiress to Madam C.J. Walker's fortune. Born into poverty during the Reconstruction era, A'Lelia Walker ascended to the upper echelon of Black life via her mother's unparalleled business acumen. Together, the two women built a beauty empire during a period of profound social change and racial oppression. With 1920s Harlem as a backdrop, the mother-daughter duo navigated the pains and successes of a family business, becoming community leaders in the process. Bundles' voice is brisk and curious, nimbly leading readers through the relationships and historical currents that created the Harlem Renaissance. Her personal connection to the Walkers pays off via an expansive number of primary sources. In addition to being useful for scholars of the time period, it makes for an engrossing history as readers are invited to luxuriate in the details of Walker's life.
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