Marita Bonner

(1898-1971):


A Brief Biography
A Student Project by Rebecca Snow
(from http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/bonner.html - Perspectives in American
Literature - A Research and Reference Guide)
Marita Bonner, also referred to as Marita Odette Bonner Occomy (Odette being her middle name
and Occomy her married name) was one of the many female writers who emerged during the time
of the Harlem Renaissance, and according to some critics, Bonner deserves to be placed in the
company of such Harlem Renaissance figures as Nella Larsen, Jessie Fauset, and Nora Zeale
Hurston (Roses 166).
According to the article Marita Bonner: In Search of Other Mothers Gardens, authors Lorraine
Elena Roses and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph assert that Bonners father did not finish high school and
so pushed Bonner and her siblings to become educated (166). Bonner was the third of four children
(the fourth passed away in early childhood), was highly educated (she graduated from Radcliffe in
1922), was an accomplished pianist, and could speak German fluently (167). Bonner commuted to
Radcliffe because black students were not allowed to live on campus at the time. At Radcliffe,
Bonner studied English and comparative literature, was a member of a number of musical clubs,
and twice won the Radcliffe song competition. [Bonner] founded the Radcliffe chapter of Delta
Sigma Theta, a black sorority (167). Bonner, deciding that she would like to become a writer, was
accepted into a writing class that was limited on a competitive basis to only sixteen students
where she was instructed to writebut not be bittera clich to colored people who write
(167). Bonners parents both died suddenly, her mother in 1924 from a brain hemorrhage and her
father in 1926. She described herself as being left alone and struggling but her parents deaths
also brought about recognition of her own strength and adversity (167).
After graduating from Radcliffe, Bonner published her first essay, On Being Young, a Woman,
and Colored in The Crisis in 1925. She also taught at Bluefield Colored Institute in Virginia from
1922-1924 and at Armstrong High School in Washington D.C. from 1924-1930. Soon after moving
to D.C., Bonner met and married William Almy Occomy, a bright young man who held an M.B.A
from Boston University. They moved to Chicago where Bonners writing career took off and she
published many short stories in The Crisis and Opportunity, the last being published in 1941 (168).
That same year, Bonner and her husband joined the First Church of Christ Scientists. Roses writes
that the reason that Maritas joining the Church coincides with the cessation of her literary activity
as a published author is unclear, since there is no conflict between writing and Church tenets (168).
Bonner began teaching again in the 1940s and finally retired in 1963. She died in 1971 from smoke
inhalation complications at a hospital after her apartment caught fire. Roses writes, Marita Bonner
was seventy-three at the time of her death. She had lived to see the flowering of the Civil Rights
Movement and the airing of the issues of racism and sexism that she had explored decades earlier in
her work (168).
Bonner contributed much to the merit of African-American female authors. Not only did she
publish essays, drama, and short stories relevant to the condition of black women of her time, but
transcend periods of time. At her death, six new short stories were found that add even more to the
breadth of her work. Bonners earlier stories dealt with passing, but her more memorable
pieces [. . .] explored the dislocation southern blacks experienced in northern cities and the
consequent disruption in family life (Wall 5). Cheryl A. Wall writes in her book, Women of the
Harlem Renaissance that Bonner was virtually unknown until 1987 when her collected works were
published in Frye Street and Environs. The introduction is written by her daughter who had kept
Bonners previously unwritten pieces (5).
Perhaps Bonners greatest contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was her emphasis on claiming
not only a racial identity, but a gendered one as well (7). Wall Compares Bonners search for
identity with Langston Hughes discussion on racial identity. But, Wall states, unlike Hughes,
Bonner is never referring to herself as an artist, but more and more often toward the end of her
essay referring to women (8). Wall claims that Bonners writing anticipates themes and
metaphors that inform much of the fiction written by women during the [Harlem] Renaissance (9).
Evidently Bonner was ahead of her time and sadly unrecognized for her contributions to African-
American literature.
The latest critical exploration of Marita Bonner is dated 2000. Criticism of Bonners work was at
its peak in the late 1980s and seems to have slowed in the past few years. Modern critics may be
putting Bonner on the back burner because she has been dealt with fairly thoroughly in the last
decade. This seems regrettable because though critics may have exhausted explorations into
Bonner, readership has not grown significantly.
Works Cited:
Reuben, Paul P. Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance:Marita Bonner. PAL:Perspectives in American
Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL:
www.csustan.edu/English/reuben/pal/chap9/bonner.html.
Roses, Lorraine Elena. Marita Bonner: In Search of Other Mothers Gardens. Black
American Literature Forum 21 (1987): 165-183.
Wall, Cheryl A. Women of the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995.
Marita Bonner Occomy died in 1971 of complications of injuries sustained in a fire in her home.


"On Being Young--a Woman--and Colored"
Contributed by Monica White
(from http://www.uah.edu/womensstudies/aaww/bonner.htm - The University of Alabama in
Huntsville, African American Women Writers Project)
Marita Bonners essay On Being Young--a Woman--and Colored examines what it is to be a
race woman in the1920s. Her concern is for the race woman and the obstacles a race woman must
overcome, as well as her advice on how to fight against the oppression of being a race woman.
Marita Bonner writes about the weight of oppression on the black female. She argues against racism
and sexism and counsels her fellow black female to remain silent in order to gain knowledge,
understanding, and truth to fight against the double oppressions of race and gender. She concludes
with her insight that a woman of the 1920s, especially a black woman ,has no voice but must use
the tools of knowledge, writing, and teaching to conquer this double inequality. She resolves that
she may never see true freedom until she joins God in Heaven. This essay was published in 1925 in
The Crisis, the journal of the NAACP, and won first place in the magazine's literary contest.

Bonner, Marita. On Being Younga Womanand Colored. The Norton Anthology of Literature
by Women. 2nd. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: Norton, 1996.1577-81.

Links about Marita Bonner:

http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~der2849/aa4.html
"African American Woman and Education: Marita Bonners Response to the Talented Tenth."
This is an essay written by Judith Musser describing the uniqueness of Marita Bonners short
stories, her attempt to set realistic images of African American women of the 1920s, and the
struggles they face (as in "On Being Young--a Woman--and Colored"). The essay compares and
contrasts the characters she creates to the realities of the oppression of African Americans during
the Harlem Renaissance. Also Bonner is compared to other writers of her time, showing her talent
for individuality and how she felt about education and educating her fellow African Americans
through short stories.

http://www.scribblingwomen.org/mbbio.htm
Features Bonner's play Hate is Nothing with a synopsis, literary interpretation, and historical and
literary concepts. There is a brief biography of her life as well as a bibliography for further reading.
For teachers, there are also lesson plans. This page is part of the Scribbling Women website,
published by The Public Media Foundation, Valerie Henderson, Executive Producer. It features
plays and stories by American women writers for national radio. The Marita Bonner page was
created by James A. Miller, a professor of English and American Studies and director of the
Africana Studies Program at George Washington University, Washington D.C.