Arthur Huff Fauset (January 20, 1899 – September 2, 1983)[1] was a noted civil rights activist, anthropologist, folklorist, and educator.
Contents |
Fauset was born in 1899 in Flemington, New Jersey.[2] He was the middle of three children of Redmon Fauset, a black Presbyterian minister, and Bella Fauset, a white woman from a Jewish family who converted to Christianity with three children from a previous marriage. He was born to a Black man and a White woman but never identified fully with either group though he was legally considered Negro or Black.
Arthur's father Redmond Fauset was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and known for being outspoken about his views of society. Coupled with his dedication to educating oneself and belief in that writing was a vital discipline undoubtedly influenced his family and his son Arthur.
Bella Fauset, Arthur's mother, a white woman of a Jewish family who was a devout integrationist. She wanted to create interracial peace within her home that she wished to see in the outside world. She also emphasized the importance of education as did Arthur's father and carried on with the disciplined upbringing after Arthur's father died. Arthur Fauset took on the same dedication to educating himself that his father had though he only knew him or four years prior to his death. In his adult life, contrasting his father, Fauset broke away from religion and proclaimed himself a "free thinker." He also continued to not identify in either racial classification of Black or Negro or White.
Fauset attended Central High School in Philadelphia then went on to the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy for Men where he received his Teaching Credential he took his first teaching position in 1918. After taking Principal exams he Became principal of John Singerly School until 1946. As he began practicing anthropology, Alain Locke became his mentor and friend, emphasizing scholarship to guide his activism.
Fauset pursued education in order to feed and develop his intellect rather than simply to graduate as many students still do to this day. In addition to apathy towards degrees for the sake of earning them, Fauset was discouraged from teaching at the university level because of his race. Black people were banned from teaching in most places at this time, however Fauset did teach at an elementary school where he was Principal for 20 yrs.
Central High School Philadelphia
Philadelphia School of Pedagogy for Men Teachers Credential
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.[3]
Frank G. Speck interested him in anthropology and Fauset went to Nova Scotia in the summer of 1923 to collect some folklore. He belonged to the Philadelphia Anthropology Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Folklore Society, which published his Nova Scotian findings in their Memoirs in 1931. Elsie Clews Parsons supported him throughout his career in anthropology and with her support Fauset published his Ph. D. on Negro cults of Philadelphia, New York and Chicago, Black Gods of the Metropolis in 1944.
In 1932-1933 he participated in the reorganization of the teachers' union in Philadelphia as vice president of the union. He also joined the National Negro Congress.