Richard Bruce Nugent (1906 1987) was a writer, painter, illustrator, and popular bohemian personality who lived at the center of the Harlem Renaissance. Protege of Alain Locke, roommate of Wallace Thurman, and friend of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, the precocious Nugent stood for many years as the only African-American writer willing to clearly pronounce his homosexuality in print. His contribution to the landmark publication FIRE , Smoke, Lilies and Jade, was unprecedented in its celebration of same-sex desire. A resident of the notorious Niggeratti Manor, Nugent also...

Richard Bruce Nugent (1906 1987) was a writer, painter, illustrator, and popular bohemian personality who lived at the center of the Harlem Renaissance. Protege of Alain Locke, roommate of Wallace Thurman, and friend of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, the precocious Nugent stood for many years as the only African-American writer willing to clearly pronounce his homosexuality in print. His contribution to the landmark publication FIRE , Smoke, Lilies and Jade, was unprecedented in its celebration of same-sex desire. A resident of the notorious Niggeratti Manor, Nugent also...