A vibrant, deeply researched biography of AâLelia Walkerâdaughter of Madam C.J. Walker and herself a central figure of the Harlem Renaissanceâwritten by her great-granddaughter.
Dubbed the âjoy goddess of Harlemâs 1920sâ by poet Langston Hughes, AâLelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the authorâs great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance.
After inheriting her motherâs hair care enterprise, AâLelia would become Americaâs first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homesâa mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terreâwhere she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties.
Now, based on extensive research and Walkerâs personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous motherâs sphere. In Joy Goddess, AâLeliaâs radiant personality and impresario instinctsâat the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international travelerâare brought to vivid and unforgettable life.