Remembering the Jazz-Age romance that challenged a nation

Eighty-three years after Nancy Cunard and Henry Crowder’s affair, interracial couples are still the victims of racism and disapproval

Nancy Cunard is regarded as one of Paris and London’s queens of the Jazz Age. She was a poet, editor and journalist; a fierce political activist; a model and muse for artists like Cecil Beaton and Man Ray; and an avid collector of non-Western art.

In 1928, she became passionately involved with the African-American jazz pianist Henry Crowder. He introduced Cunard to the complex and agonising situation of African Americans in the United States and opened her eyes to racial injustice.

In 1931, Cunard devoted herself to what would later become “Negro Anthology”, a 900-page documentary on black history and culture, designed to condemn racial discrimination and appreciate the accomplishments of a long-oppressed group. She dedicated it to Crowder. Despite the anthology’s important message, the press responded with indifference and disdain.

Society became even more judgmental about her romantic ties to a black man when she travelled to America in 1932. The media maliciously attacked Cunard and she was the target of a bombardment of hate mail.

Her booklet “Black Man and White Ladyship, An Anniversary”, published in 1931 was an attack on racism and her mother, who had disinherited her due to her relationship with Crowder. It included a quote from her mother, who asked: “Is it true that my daughter knows a negro?”

Despite the disapproval of the romance, their transgressive relationship was a source of profound enrichment for both of their careers and exposed the segregation in the United States to Cunard.

After the relationship ended in 1935, Cunard continued to fight against racism and colonialism. The end of her life was devastated by ill health and she died penniless in London in 1965. Her incredible contribution to Modernism and political causes has been largely forgotten.

Nearly four decades after Cunard’s efforts, The US supreme court legalised interracial marriage in 1967. Since then, the instance of interracial and interethnic marriages in America increased to 17% in 2015.

American photographer, Donna Pinckley, runs a project that lets couples who have been victims of racism and verbal abuse turn their condemnation into art.

She began her ongoing series “Sticks and Stones” in 2014. The project pairs interracial couples with a caption of a negative comment they’ve received.

Comments from the project include: “They are disgusting”, “You’re going to hell for liking niggers”, “You’ll never be able to give what a white man could”, “White men have taken everything, including our women” and “Bitches like that are the reason we can’t get a good black man”.

Pinckley has had people from the US and internationally, from the UK and Canada, write to her, asking to participate in her project. People want to tell their stories and it’s a move in the right direction. The racial discrimination transformed into art illustrates the struggles of interracial partnerships and like Cunard, these couples are directing a message to society, urging for change and acceptance.

Nancy Cunard’s work is currently displayed in the “Modern Couples: Art, Intimacy and the Avant-garde” exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, until 27 January 2019

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