Rudolph Fisher: Renaissance Man

Rudolph Fisher (1897-1934) is considered one of the most admired intellects and beloved figures of the Harlem Renaissance. A 'renaissance man' in the fullest sense of the term, Fisher's complex and varied talents enabled him to excel as a writer, musician, and medical doctor. Born in Washington, D.C., Fisher grew up in Providence, Rhode Island where he attended Classical High School. From there he attended Brown University, where he majored in both English and Biology. In his address to his graduating class at Brown, Fisher's words conveyed the young man's ability to integrate matters belonging to both the spiritual world and the world of science. Brown University's website quotes its alumnus as having deftly observed the twin purposes and development of science and faith. He noted that "As thinking Christians, we strive not to bring men to heaven, but to bring heaven to men, and with that the aim of science is identical. It is this oneness of purpose that brings science and religion into harmony — a harmony which permits science to devote its energies not to self-protection, but to the making of life worth living" (1).

After graduating from Brown with numerous honors (including a Phi Beta Kappa key among them) Fisher continued onward to medical school at Howard University Medical School, where Fisher studied roentgenology (known today as radiology), which later became his specialty, before coming to Harlem to open his medical practice (Gates). 

Brown University's website features a rich and informative article on Rudolph Fisher, who reveled in the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of Harlem. "Fisher reveled in the explosion of African-American culture and expression," the Brown website begins, "from critically acknowledged art housed in gritty galleries to raucous cabaret performed in bawdy nightclubs. He fell in with rising black literary talents such as Langston Hughes, who described Fisher as the 'wittiest of these New Negroes of Harlem. [He] always frightened me a little, because he could think of the most incisively clever things to say, and I could never think of anything to answer'” (2). So enamored of Harlem was he that before long he had published fifteen short stories and two novels--one of which, The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem (1932) is considered the first detective novel penned by an African American with all African American characters. Fisher's contribution to the genre would later inspire other novelists such as Chester Himes (If He Hollers, Let Him Go) and Ishmael Reed (Mumbo Jumbo).

(From left to right: Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier, Rudolph Fisher, and Hubert Delaney).

Photos featured at the Brown University website.

Some themes of Fisher's work include:
Drug Trafficking
Complexity and diversity of modern African American labor forces
Miscegenation, racial passing
Great Migration
Black Southern folkways
Black urban experiences
Intraracial oppression and exploitation

Some characteristics of Fisher's work include:
Traditional conventions of mystery and detective fiction, subverted
Satire, humor, irony
African American urban slang
Black vernacular conventions, especially from jazz and blues traditions