Johnson, Helene (1906–1995)
Johnson, Helene (1906–1995)
African-American writer. Name variations: Helen Johnson Hubbell. Born Helen Johnson, July 7, 1906, in Boston, Massachusetts; died July 6, 1995, in New York, NY; only child of Ella (Benson) Johnson and William Johnson; cousin of Dorothy West (1907–1998); attended Boston University and Columbia University Extension School; m. William Warner Hubbell (motorman), 1930s; children: Abigail Calachaly Hubbell (b. 1940).
Poet, part of the younger generation of writers of the Harlem Renaissance, whose literary career, though brief, had an important impact on American poetry; while still living in Boston, was a member of the literary group, the Saturday Evening Quill Club; also won 1st prize for short-story contest in Boston Chronicle; moved to NYC with cousin Dorothy West (1920s); published poems in numerous periodicals, including Opportunity, Vanity Fair and Fire!; became active in A'Lelia Walker's literary salon, the Dark Tower, and in Fellowship for Reconciliation, an international organization; won literary awards for poems "My Race" and "Metamorphism" (1926); published one of her best poems, "Bottled," in Vanity Fair (1927); probably returned to Boston (c. 1929); disappeared from Harlem literary scene (1929).
See also Women in World History.