Re: New Biographies

There are several new biographies about African Americans who are loosely connected with Regina Andrews: Literary Sisters: Dorothy West and Her Circle, A Biography of the Harlem Renaissance by Verner Mitchell & Cynthia Davis (Rutgers University Press, 2011), Eugene Kinckle Jones, The National Urban League Black Social Work, 1910 - 1940 by Felix L. Armfield (University of Illinois Press, 2012), & Dorothy West's Paradise: A Biography of Class and Color by Cherene Sherrard-Johnson (Rutgers University Press, 2012).

Although I have not come across anything to suggest that Regina knew writer Dorothy West or her cousin poet Helene Johnson, they moved in the same circles. The cousins were friends of Zora Neale Hurston (who stayed on Regina's couch when she first moved to New York City), actress Edna Lewis (who starred in a play with Regina) and actress Rose McClendon who was the executive director of the Harlem Experimental Theatre group that Regina co-founded.

Regina cited Eugene Kinckle Jones as an influence on her career and he advocated on her behalf along with W.E.B. DuBois in her fight against the New York Public Library. Regina was also an active member of the National Urban League under Jones, Lester Granger, and Whitney Young.

I've read the first two biographies and have pre-ordered Sherrard-Johnson's. I look forward to reading another biography about African Americans living extraordinary lives during the last century.

Regina's Granddaughters

Since I began this project in late 2005 I had always hoped to find Regina's only child, her daughter Regina Ann (pictured here). I have not been successful and her relatives in Los Angeles had lost touched with her as well. I was quite surprised to hear from not one but two of Regina's granddaughters in September 2011. Regina has four grandchildren: Kimberly, Robyn, Erica and Louis. Robyn remembered that after their grandfather died that the family moved to Mahopac, New York to take care of Regina. Kimberly called Regina "an incredible woman." So true.

The Book Manuscript

Today I finished revising the book manuscript, tentatively titled: Harlem Renaissance Librarian: The Biography of Regina Anderson Andrews. Last year I sent book proposals to several publishers, one publisher sent the entire manuscript to two readers who provided the excellent feedback that I used for the revisions. The manuscript will go out for another round of reviews and we'll see what happens after that.

Re: Regina's Wedding Location

While recently reading a fashion magazine I came across an image that looked strangely familiar. It was a picture of the front door of the building where Regina got married in 1926. Her maid of honor Jessie Fauset lived in an apartment in the building and hosted Regina's wedding. The newlyweds ended up living in this building on Seventh Avenue for the first few years of their union. I took a picture of the front door a few years ago in preparation for my documentary about Regina. The paint trim is now a different color but the columns and stone carvings are the same. (Photo: Essence magazine September 2011 issue).

Re: Regina had an admirer

This summer a student of Russian literature who is studying in Venice, Italy contacted me. She wanted information about Regina. The subject of her research, author Boris Pil'njak, apparently was infatuated with Regina. Pil'njak wrote a letter on October 3, 1931 to his American interpreter, Joseph Freeman, which contained the following quote: "Phone Ella Winter and get her to track down the black Regina. And when will Regina come to the USSR? Bring her with you! tell her if she comes, I'll marry her, seriously, I mean it, I love Regina very much...Come! Bring Regina!" Tragically, Pil'njak was executed in Russia in 1938 after being accused of being a counter-revolutionary.

Re: "Checking Out Regina"

I just completed a second digital story related to this project. "Checking Out Regina" briefly describes the journey to create a biography about Regina Andrews. I intend to create a full-length documentary about Andrew's life with the skills acquired from the various filmmaking classes that I've attended. This story was created at the Digital Storylab, http://blog.digitalstorylab.com/, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fv3oO5QBgc

Old and New Harlem

I am in Harlem to do additional research on my biography about Regina Andrews at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Stephen Schwartzman Building (formerly known as the 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue Branch currently celebrating their 100th anniversary). I am staying at Harlem's first new hotel in nearly 45 years, Aloft. When various African American intellectuals and artists came to Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance they often found housing in Harlem's YMCA/YWCA for "colored" people which until Aloft, was one of few hotel options still in existence in Harlem. Regina actually resided at the mid-town YWCA when she applied for a job at the 42nd Street Branch Library. Did she know about racial customs? Maybe the proprietors of the mid-town YWCA didn't know she was "colored." However, her New York Public Library interviewer declared that she was colored and sent her to Harlem to work at the 135th Street Branch. Regina hadn't been to Harlem at that point and decided to room with a friend who was moving to New York City.