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Fire!! was an African American literary magazine published in 1926 during the Harlem Renaissance. The publication was started by Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, John P. Davis, Richard Bruce Nugent, Gwendolyn Bennett, Lewis Grandison Alexander, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes.
Fire!! was conceived with the notion of expressing the Black experience during the Harlem Renaissance in a modern and realistic fashion, using literature as a vehicle of enlightenment. The authors of this magazine wanted an arena to express the changing attitudes of younger African Americans and used Fire!! to facilitate the exploration of issues in the Black community that were not in the forefront of mainstream African American society such as homosexuality, bisexuality, interracial relationships, promiscuity, prostitution, and color prejudice within the Black community itself.[1]
The publication was so named, according to Langston Hughes, "to burn up a lot of the old, dead conventional Negro-white ideas of the past ... into a realization of the existence of the younger Negro writers and artists, and provide us with an outlet for publication not available in the limited pages of the small Negro magazines then existing.".[2]
Ironically, the magazine's headquarters burned to the ground shortly after releasing its first issue.[3]
Fire!! was plagued by debt and encountered poor sales. It was not well received by the Black public because some felt that the journal did not exemplify the sophisticated self-image that Blacks of that era were trying to portray. The magazine was found offensive for many reasons and it was denounced by Black leaders such as the Talented Tenth, "who viewed the effort as decadent and vulgar".[4]
These groups felt that the content relating to prostitution and homosexuality was degrading. They thought it was a throw-back to old stereotypes in that it contained slang and language in the southern vernacular. They also felt its contents were undignified and reflected poorly on the Black race.
The magazine received many poor critical reviews. For example, the critic at the Baltimore Afro-American wrote that he "just tossed the first issue of Fire!! into the fire".[5] Fire!! did receive a positive review from The Bookman, which applauded the uniqueness and personality shown in the artistic content of the journal.,[6]
The magazine covered a variety of literary genres, and consists of a short novel, an essay, stories, plays, drawings and illustrations, and poetry:[7]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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| Cover Designs.................................................................................................Aaron Douglas |
| Foreword |
| Drawing...........................................................................................................Richard Bruce |
| Cordelia The Crude, A Harlem Sketch................................................................Wallace Thurman |
| Color Struck, A Play in Four Scenes..................................................................Zora Neale Hurston |
| Flame From The Dark Tower.............................................................................A Section of Poetry
Edward Silvera Waring Cuney Lewis Alexander |
| Drawing..........................................................................................................Richard Bruce |
| Wedding Day, A Story.....................................................................................Gwendolyn Bennett |
| Three Drawings...............................................................................................Aaron Douglas |
| Smoke, Lilies And Jade, A Novel, Part I...........................................................Richard Bruce |
| Sweat, A Story................................................................................................Zora Neale Hurston |
| Intelligentsia, An Essay...................................................................................Arthur Huff Fauset |
| Fire Burns, Editorial Comment..........................................................................Wallace Thurman |
| Incidental Art Decorations................................................................................Aaron Douglas |
The story of the rise and fall of Fire!! is showcased in the 2004 movie Brother to Brother,[8] which focuses on the life of a young gay African American college student named Perry Williams. Perry befriends an elderly gay African American named Bruce Nugent. Perry learns that Bruce Nugent was a writer and co-founder of Fire!!, and that he was associated with other notable writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
The only issue of Fire!! was published in 1926. Although this magazine had only one issue, “this single issue of Fire!! is considered an event of historical importance."[9]