Regina Anderson was a librarian, writer, activist, and interdisciplinary theatre artist. Remembered today as the “Librarian at the Nexus of the Harlem Renaissance,” Anderson’s life and work served as a catalyst for much of the cultural movement. Influenced by Ida B. Wells and the lack of Black history teachings in school, Regina became a key member of the Harlem Renaissance. She was the first Black woman to head her own branch of the New York Public. Regina was born in the Hyde Park section of Chicago, Illinois on May 21, 1901.
She graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1919. Anderson attended several colleges, including Wilberforce University in Ohio and the University of Chicago. At Wilberforce University she cultivated a love for literature, and worked as an assistant librarian in the university’s Carnegie Library. She received a Master of Library Science degree from Columbia University. Anderson traveled to New York City in 1923 on vacation, but decided to stay after falling in love with the city.
Once settled in New York she took a job at the Womrath Rental Library. She applied to be a librarian at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. Regina started her position as a full-time clerk under the leadership of Ernestine Rose. Rose who was White wanted to make sure that the community was served by librarians that reflected their diversity. Rose’s mandate was to create an inter-racial staff and serve the growing Black community. During this time, the library hosted meetings by groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Anti-Lynching Crusaders.
Anderson also organized lectures by individuals like Hubert Harrison and Margaret Sanger. She shared an apartment in the Sugar Hill district of Harlem with Ethel Ray and Louella Tucker. Her spacious apartment with a beautiful view, was a frequent gathering place for hosting salons, events, and gatherings for artists and intellectuals of the period. The apartment became known as the “580” and the “Harlem West Side Literary Salon”. Anderson helped to organize the Civic Club dinner of 1924 for Black New York intellectuals and writers.
Anderson also played a key role in the Harlem Renaissance, supporting writers and intellectuals with dedicated workspace at her 135th Street Branch Library. After hours she co-hosted a legendary salon that drew the likes of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Her work as an actress and playwright helped establish the Harlem Experimental Theater, where she wrote plays about lynching, passing, and the Underground Railroad. Anderson quickly immersed herself in Harlem’s burgeoning community of artists. On April 10, 1926, Anderson married the Howard University and Columbia Law School grad William T. Andrews, from Sumter, South Carolina. Andrews was an NAACP lawyer and New York assemblyman.
She would soon form close bonds with writers Zora Neal Hurston, Jessie Redmond Fauset, and James Weldon Johnson; poets Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes and W.E.B DuBois. Sharing W.E.B. Du Bois' hope for serious Black theater, Anderson became involved with the fledgling Krigwa Players, under the direction of Du Bois and housed in the 135th Street library basement. The Krigawa Players were a new kind of theatre company devoted to advancing the careers of Black playwrights and actors.
When the Krigwa players disbanded around 1928, Anderson and other members of the Harlem community decided to organize the Harlem Experimental Theatre. The group began producing in 1928 at the basement black-box theatre of the 135th Street Library. Eventually the company started staging Anderson’s plays. In 1931 they produced Anderson’s one-act play "Climbing Jacob’s Ladder", about a lynching that happened while people prayed in church. Anderson also wrote a play called "Underground" (about the Underground Railroad).
They found success with acclaimed productions of "Plumes" by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan" by Robert Dorsey. The group continued to operate until the mid 1930s, when the Federal Theatre Project came to New York City and Harlem and many of their members defected. After the demise of her own company, Anderson continued to encourage and advise other little theater group by Black artists. These included the Harlem Suitcase Theatre and the American Negro Theatre.
It was also an inspiration to theater groups across the country, and Anderson and Du Bois were credited with paving the way for future Black playwrights such as Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry. Among the ten Black women recognized by the 1939 World's Fair in New York City, Anderson viewed her efforts as only a beginning. "It gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction," she said, "to have lived to see much of what we and other pioneers worked to achieve becoming a reality. However, we need more and more opportunities for our actors, writers, and directors."
Anderson was a well-known, and highly respected figure in the Black Community during the Little Theatre Movement. As a cultural ambassador of the Harlem Renaissance, she assembled and inspired the group of artists and intellectuals who encouraged the next generation of Black theatre artists and educators. In 1938, Anderson was named the head of a New York Public Library branch on 115th Street, the first ever Black person to hold this distinguished title. She would later lead the Washington Heights branch, where she continued to welcome speakers, encourage community use of the library, and host theatrical groups. Regina Andrews was one of ten Black women whose contributions were recognized at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York.
She was the first minority to climb the ranks and become a supervising librarian at the New York Public Library, at the 115th Street ranch in 1938. While working at the Washington Heights branch library, Anderson served on the boards and committees of several organizations. She was a Vice President of the National Council of Women of the United States and represented the National Urban League as a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO. She retired from the New York Public Library in 1966. In 1968, Anderson was a consultant for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit Harlem on My Mind. Her struggle to break the color barrier has earned her numerous accolades.