Arthur Fauset

Arthur Huff Fauset, noted as a civil rights activist, folklorist, and educator, was born in 1899 in Flemington, New Jersey. He was the middle of three children of Redmon Fauset, a black Presbyterian minister, and Bella Huff, a white woman with three children from a previous marriage. Fauset grew up in Philadelphia, and went to Central High School, graduating in 1917, after which he went to the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy. Shortly after, he taught at Philadelphia elementary schools in the Philadelphia school system right after graduation. Receiving a loan in 1921, he took classes and taught at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1923, Fauset went to Nova Scotia for six weeks; after the trip he decided for on the profession of anthropologist. In 1926 became principal of Douglass Singerly School and stayed for 20 years. He joined the Army during World War II, and was honorably discharged in 1943.

As an anthropologist, Alain Locke became his mentor and Fauset became one of the first fully qualified anthropologists. Later in his career, he wanted to prove prejudice in military, but was too old. Arthur Fauset died in 1983 at the age of 84 years old.

Accomplishments

Fauset was an active figure in the Harlem Renaissance, though he was overshadowed by his half-sister Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882-1961), a well-known editor, poet, essayist and novelist. [Wintz, Cary D., and Paul Finkelman, ed. [http://books.google.com/books?id=z6Cs0Y1pvRAC "Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance", Vol. 1] (2004), p. 362.]

His 1931 findings were published as volume 24 of Memoirs of the American Folklore Society. He belonged to the Philadelphia Anthropology Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Folklore Society. In 1944, he published the book "Black Gods of the Metropolis". Together with another Philadelphia principal, he wrote and published "America: Red, White, Black and Yellow." In 1932-1933 he participated in the of the reorganization of the teacher’s union in Philadelphia as vice president of the union. He also joined the National Negro Congress.

External references

*http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/fghij/fauset_arthur.html
*http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/rediscov.html#CHIV
*http://www.africanamericans.com/HarlemRenaissance.htm

References