Rudolph Fisher
Encyclopedia
Rudolph Fisher was an African-American physician
, radiologist
, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician
, and orator. Fisher's parents were John Wesley Fisher, a clergyman, and Glendora Williamson. Fisher had three children.
His first published work, "City of Refuge", appeared in the Atlantic Monthly of February 1925. He went on in 1932 to write The Conjure-Man Dies, the first novel with a black detective as well as the first detective novel
with only black characters. Fisher was also a physician, dramatist, musician and orator. Fisher was an active participant in the Harlem Renaissance
, primarily as a novelist, but also as a musician.
graduating from Classical High School
and attending Brown University
. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Brown in 1919, where he delivered the valedictory address, and received a Master of Arts a year later. He went on to attend Howard University
Medical School and graduated in 1924. He came to New York City in 1925 to take up a fellowship at College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, during which time he published two scientific articles of his research on treating bacteriophage viruses with ultraviolet light. Fisher married Jane Ryder in 1925, and they had one son, Hugh, who was born in 1926. After his fellowship ended, he had a private practice on Long Island. In 1930, Fisher became superintendent of International Hospital, a black-owned private hospital on Seventh Avenue in Harlem, but the hospital went bankrupt in October 1931. Fisher died after unsuccessful abdominal surgery in 1934 at the age of 37.
City of Refuge and another short story, Vestiges, were included in Alain Locke's anthology, The New Negro.
In 1991, an anthology of Fisher's short fiction, City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher, was published by the University of Missouri Press.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, radiologist
Radiology
Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...
, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and orator. Fisher's parents were John Wesley Fisher, a clergyman, and Glendora Williamson. Fisher had three children.
His first published work, "City of Refuge", appeared in the Atlantic Monthly of February 1925. He went on in 1932 to write The Conjure-Man Dies, the first novel with a black detective as well as the first detective novel
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
with only black characters. Fisher was also a physician, dramatist, musician and orator. Fisher was an active participant in the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
, primarily as a novelist, but also as a musician.
Biography
Born in Washington, DC in the late nineteenth century, Fisher grew up in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
graduating from Classical High School
Classical High School
Classical High School, founded in 1843, is a public exam school in the Providence School District, in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It was originally an all-male school, but has since become co-ed...
and attending Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Brown in 1919, where he delivered the valedictory address, and received a Master of Arts a year later. He went on to attend Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
Medical School and graduated in 1924. He came to New York City in 1925 to take up a fellowship at College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, during which time he published two scientific articles of his research on treating bacteriophage viruses with ultraviolet light. Fisher married Jane Ryder in 1925, and they had one son, Hugh, who was born in 1926. After his fellowship ended, he had a private practice on Long Island. In 1930, Fisher became superintendent of International Hospital, a black-owned private hospital on Seventh Avenue in Harlem, but the hospital went bankrupt in October 1931. Fisher died after unsuccessful abdominal surgery in 1934 at the age of 37.
Principal Works
- City of Refuge (1925)
- High Yaller (1925)
- The Walls of Jericho (1928), about black life in Harlem
- The Conjure-Man Dies (1932)
City of Refuge and another short story, Vestiges, were included in Alain Locke's anthology, The New Negro.
In 1991, an anthology of Fisher's short fiction, City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher, was published by the University of Missouri Press.
Quotations
"The rhythm persisted, the unfaltering common meter of blues, but the blueness itself, the sorrow, the despair, began to give way to hope."
See also
- Countee CullenCountee CullenCountee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...
- Langston HughesLangston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
- Zora Neale HurstonZora Neale HurstonZora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
- Wallace ThurmanWallace ThurmanWallace Henry Thurman was an American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, which explores discrimination among black people based on skin color.-Early life:...
External links
- Fisher's biography at the D.C. Library website via The Internet Archive
- Rudolph Fisher Newsletter — includes helpful research resources on the Harlem Renaissance as well as Fisher himself.
- Rudolph Fisher at Find-A-Grave