On Saturday, September 26 at 2:00 pm there will be a public dedication of the Historic Marker that memorializes the life of Anita Scott Coleman. The marker is located at the Silver City Visitor Center on the corner of Hudson and Broadway. Following the dedication there will be a reception at Little Toad Creek, located at 200 N. Bullard Street. Family members from as far away as North Carolina are planning on attending the dedication. The family members are very honored that their relative has been chosen to be recognized in such a significant manner.
The dedication ceremony is being coordinated by Silver City MainStreet, Western New Mexico University, Silver City Museum and Silver City Arts and Culture District. In addition to the ceremony and reception, the Miller Library at Western New Mexico University will have an informational display on Coleman's life. On Saturday, September 26, the Miller Library is open from 1:00 to 5:00 pm.
You may have noticed that there are many historic markers throughout New Mexico. Before 2007, none of the markers were dedicated to women. The lack of recognition for the contributions that women have made to New Mexico prompted three determined women, Patricia French, Alexis Gerrad and Beverly French to remedy the situation. By working with the New Mexico Department of Transportation, New Mexico Women's Forum and the New Mexico Legislature, 64 historic markers have been created that celebrate the accomplishments of New Mexico women.
Coleman was a relatively unknown but important western contributor to the "Harlem Renaissance", a literary movement with roots in Harlem that gained national prominence in the 1920's. Coleman was born in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico in 1890. Coleman's mother, Mary Ann had met her husband, William Henry Scott, near Fort Elliott, Texas where he served in the U.S. Army. He retired from the Army and the family moved to a cattle ranch just outside of Silver City, New Mexico. Coleman grew up on the ranch. She graduated from New Mexico Teachers College, currently Western New Mexico University and taught school. Her teaching career ended in 1916 when she married James Harold Coleman, a printer and photographer born in Virginia.
Coleman was a published author who produced more than thirty short stories as the "Harlem Renaissance" emerged. Though never a resident of Harlem, she epitomized the goals of its writers. She published her earliest work, thirteen short stories, in New Mexico between 1919 and 1925. The most famous of these, "The Little Grey House," appeared in 1922. She later moved to Los Angeles, California in 1926 to join her husband who moved looking for work two years earlier. There she raised four children, ran a boarding house, and published her most sophisticated stories over an eight year period between 1926 and 1933. Among her best stories are "The Brat" and "Three Dogs and a Rabbit." She took a seven year hiatus from writing, but in the early forties published at least five more stories and then in 1948 she published a volume of poetry, Reason for Singing. A children's book, The Singing Bells, was published posthumously in 1961.
Coleman published stories, essays, and poems which appeared in national magazines such as The Half-Century Magazine, The Competitor, The Crisis, The Messenger, and Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life during the 1920s and 1930s. The last three periodicals were major outlets for Harlem Renaissance writers. Her publications emphasize racial pride and issues important to black women. Her poetry appeared in anthologies such as Beatrice Murphy's Negro Voices (1938) and Ebony Rhythm (1948). Much of Coleman's writing focused on the Southwest. In "The Little Grey House," Coleman describes the availability of home ownership for southwestern African Americans. The story "El Tisico" suggests Coleman's Afro-Latino cultural heritage and her knowledge of the Southwest and of Mexico. Anita Scott Coleman died in relative obscurity in Los Angeles in 1960.
For additional information, contact Silver City MainStreet at 575-534-1700