Ebony Rising is the first comprehensive, gender-balanced collection of short fiction from the greater Harlem Renaissance era (1912--1940). This was a time marked by writing of extraordinary breadth and depth by some of the most famous authors in African American literary history. Among them were Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Dorothy West, and Claude McKay. Not surprisingly, these authors have received an unprecedented amount of critical attention, and their work remains popular to this day.

For this anthology, Craig Gable has selected 52 short stories by 37 writers (20 women and 17 men) representing a wide range of style, form, subject matter, and social awareness. To underscore the movement's growth and change, the stories are arranged chronologically by year of publication. Some will be familiar to readers; many more will not, for this is not the greatest hits of the Harlem Renaissance. Instead, readers will find a remarkable collection of fiction by authors famous and obscure — some who lived in New York City and others who never resided there. There are stories set in Harlem, but they are just as likely to take place elsewhere in the United States. Alongside traditional stories, there are examples of detective fiction, political satire, even science fiction, with a few experiments in narrative structure and form for good measure. The stories take up issues of race, marriage, parenthood, crime, politics, religion, work, abuse, old age, and death — in short, the stuff of life, and of compelling and lasting fiction.

A selected bibliography documents some 300 books and articles on the Harlem Renaissance. There is a separate list of sources for other short stories by the authors appearing in this anthology; a list of award-winning short fiction from two black literary contests of the day; timelines of important historical, literary, and cultural events; and other aids for teachers, students, and reading groups.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 511-524) and index.

A treasury of short fiction from the Harlem Renaissance era.

Hope deferred / Alice Dunbar-Nelson — The closing door / Angelina Weld Grimkâe — Mary Elizabeth / Jessie Redmon Fauset — The comet / W.E.B. Du Bois — The foolish and the wise: Sallie Runner is introduced to Socrates ; The Foolish and the wise: Sanctum 777 N.S.D.C.O.U. meets Cleopatra / Leila Amos Pendleton — Becky ; Esther / Jean Toomer — Vignettes of the dusk / Eric Walrond — Blue aloes ; Slackened caprice / Ottie B. Graham — The city of refuge / Rudolph Fisher — The golden penknife / S. Miller Johnson — Mademoiselle 'Tasie / Eloise Bib Thompson — Grist in the mill / Wallace Thurman — Hannan Byde / Dorothy West — Muttsy ; The Eatonville anthology / Zora Neale Hurston — Cordelia the crude / Wallace Thurman — Smoke, lilies and jade / Richard Bruce Nugent — Wedding day / Gwendolyn B. Bennett — City love / Eric Walrond — Lynching for profit / George S. Schuyler — Highball / Claude McKay — Game / Eugene Gordon — Masks / Eloise Bibb Thompson — Bathesda of Sinners Run / Maude Irwin Owens — He must think it out / Florida Ruffin Ridley — Anthropoi / John F. Matheus — Prologue to a life / Dorothy West — Sanctuary / Nella Larsen — Door-stops / May Miller — Cross crossings cautiously / Anita Scott Coleman — Why Adam ate the apple / Mercedes Gilbert — The needle's point / J. Saunders Redding — Crazy Mary / Claude McKay — His last day / Chester Himes — A summer tragedy ; Barrel staves / Arna Bontemps — Why, you reckon ; Spanish blood / Langston Hughes — John Archer's nose / Rudolph Fisher — Mob madness / Marion Vera Cuthbert — Gesture / Georgia Douglas Johnson — Pope Pius the only / Richard Bruce Nugent — Silt / Richard Wright — The return of a modern prodigal / Octavia B. Wynbush — Hate is nothing ; The whipping / Marita Bonner — A modern fable / Chester Himes — A matter of record / Ted Posten — Girl, colored / Marian Minus.