Harlem & Moscow

In this true story of the Harlem Renaissance in the Soviet Union, we are introduced to the young writer and actress Dorothy West and her mother, Rachel West, who wants to hear all about her daughter’s year in Moscow making a film.    Rachel is especially curious about the famous poet Langston Hughes.   Dorothy promises to tell all that and more, starting with the invitation for the trip that she received from her sweetheart and loc...

Dorothy West anxiously awaits the arrival of Langston Hughes on their voyage from Harlem to  Moscow to make a movie.  Dorothy gets to know some of the other  Harlem Renaissance artists and activists, including Louise Thompson, the organizer, and Mildred Jones, an artist she will be rooming with. On the train, Dorothy and Henry Lee Moon get into a spat about sexual expectations abroad. Could their romantic getaway be over before it ...

In this episode of Harlem and Moscow: Red Flags, host Panama Jackson is talking to experts about the people of the Harlem Renaissance who went on this trip to Moscow back in 1932. We learn more about Dorothy West, Langston Hughes, Henry Lee Moon, Louise Thompson, and others who journeyed to the Soviet Union. We also talk about other Black artists in the “Harlem and Moscow” circle like Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Paul Robeso...

Dorothy West and the Harlem  Renaissance artists and activists get settled into the Grand Hotel and enjoy the lavish luxuries the Soviets have to offer.  Caviar anyone? 

While exploring Moscow, Mildred  Jones and Langston Hughes push the prim and proper  Dorothy out of her comfort zone.  While partying,   the group finally meets the director of the film, Carl Jungans but the all-Black cast sees red flags as the filmmaker reveals hi...

The production of the film “Black And White”  gets underway IN Moscow with a less than stellar first rehearsal that is only saved by the star of the Harlem Renaissance performers, Sylvia Garner.    Langston  Hughes reveals his doubts on the script. Dorothy West receives devastating news from home and then struggles to understand the comfort she finds in Mildred Jones. As the group becomes more comfortable in Moscow,  they are surpr...

In this episode of Harlem and Moscow: Red Flags, host Michael Harriot is talking to experts about the conditions in America circa the 1930s that made the Soviet Union and Communism very appealing to Black folks in the states. We learn more about the African Blood Brotherhood, the CPUSA, and other communist movements led by Black Americans. The experts dispel myths about Black Americans’ relationship to communism and dive into the h...

The group of Harlem Renaissance actors and artists return to Moscow moving from the Grand Hotel to a small hostel.    Henry Lee Moon tells Langston Hughes that he thinks the film has been sabotaged by Americans. In a heartfelt moment, Louise Thompson speaks to Dorothy West and Mildred Jones about another woman on the trip who is heartbroken over a breakup and attempts to take her own life. The three women discuss the freedoms, or l...

In a desperate attempt to get to Langston Hughes, Dorothy West decides to propose marriage. Louise Thompson tries to talk her out of it and shares the reality of what it means to be in love with a man like Langston.  Louise also reveals a secret behind her own failed marriage.  As plans for life after Moscow remain unclear, Mildred Jones offers to stay with Dorothy in the Soviet Union for another season. But what type of relationsh...

In this episode of Harlem and Moscow: Red Flags we get hot, heavy and a little messy. Host Sam Riddell talks to experts about the hook-ups and heartbreaks of the 1932 trip to the Soviet Union. We learn about what the dating landscape was like during the Harlem Renaissance, the culture around marriage, views towards interracial sex, polyamorous and open relationships within the New Negro Movement, lavender marriages, and respectabil...

In the final episode of Harlem and Moscow: Red Flags we’re taking the conversation to the present day with the daughter of the 1932 trip organizer Louise Thompson Patterson. Playwright Alle Mims sits down for an enlightening and heartwarming conversation with MaryLouise Patterson. The pair discuss MaryLouise’s childhood as a “red-diaper baby” with parents in the Communist Party USA, famous family friends like Harry Belafonte, Beah ...