orig. Nathan Eugene Toomer
born Dec. 26, 1894, Washington, D.C., U.S.
died March 30, 1967, Doylestown, Pa.
U.S. poet and novelist of the Harlem Renaissance .
He taught briefly before turning to writing. Cane (1923), considered his best work, is an experimental novel that depicts the experience of being black in the U.S.; it had a strong influence on younger black writers. He also wrote for The Dial and other small magazines. He visited the Gurdjieff Institute in France in 1926 and led Gurdjieff groups in Harlem and Chicago. He became a Quaker in 1940. Ambivalent about his mixed racial background and preoccupied with spiritual matters, he avoided race issues in subsequent works.