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Fannie Hurst, 1885-1968
Born Hamilton, Ohio
Fannie Hurst's name and striking face are little remembered today, but in the early twentieth century she was one of America's most prominent female celebrities. She owed her fame (as well as her fortune) to novels and short stories that spun heartrending tales of immigrant life and the struggles of working women. Phenomenally popular, her fiction was dramatized in more than thirty Hollywood films. Hurst's passion for social justice led to friendships with Eleanor Roosevelt and several leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance. She campaigned for a married woman's right to retain her maiden name, fought racial discrimination alongside the Urban League, and raised money for refugees of Nazi Germany. A talk show she hosted in the late 1950s broke new ground by featuring forthright discussions of homosexuality, and Hurst was among the first public figures to champion gay rights.
Joseph Margulies, 1929 |