Rudolph Fisher was a true renaissance man. Writer, orator, musician, physician, and radiologist. He did it all…
And he was the first known black author of detective fiction.
But there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of him. And that’s because his story is as tragic as it is hopeful…
Rudolph Fisher Was Always Destined for Greatness
Photo Credit:
Wikipedia, Samir B Amin, MBBS, Graduate Student, Baylor College of Medicine
Born in 1897 in a hospital in Washington, DC, Rudolph Fisher was always destined for greatness, and it is interesting to ponder whether his parents knew from when he was a child…
If not, they certainly knew once he entered school.
Fisher would study English, then Biology, become a successful orator that won many a competition, graduate with his B.A. in 1919 and his M.A. a year later, then enter Harvard’s School of Medicine and graduate in 1924.
He’d then go on to make a choice that would arguably be both a blessing and a curse – he’d specialize in biology and roentgenology (the use of X rays to treat disease), a decision that would come back to haunt him later in life.
He was one of only 30 or so black physicians who specialized in radiology and would soon become a pioneer in the field.
But it wasn’t long before the incredibly talented Rudolph Fisher would discover Harlem – and the incredible artistic phenomenon that was The Harlem Renaissance.
And that was where the young writer would come into his own.
Rudolph Fisher and The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a truly amazing thing. It turned Harlem into a black cultural mecca, and resulted in an explosion of art, culture, and artists that all still endure to this day.
Langston Hughes… Louis Armstrong… Josephine Baker… Paul Robeson… all made an impact in a Golden Age of African American culture, producing music, plays, books, art, and stage performances that have remained relevant for over 70 years.
Into this bubbling atmosphere of creativity stepped Rudolph Fisher, a man who was not only an inventive and brilliant scientist, but a dedicated artist at heart.
He would work on music with Paul Robeson, composing several songs for his concerts, but it was writing that Fisher was most drawn to…
It wasn’t long before he fell in with the literary crowd, including the poet, columnist, novelist, and social activist Langston Hughes, impressing him with his lightning-quick wit.
“[Fisher is the] wittiest of these New Negroes of Harlem. [He] always frightened me a little, because he could think of the most incisively clever things to say, and I could never think of anything to answer.”
– Langston Hughes on Rudolph Fisher
In the short span of ten years, Rudolph Fisher would publish fifteen short stories and two novels, one of which would cement his legacy as one of the greatest writers of his generation…
A Seminal Work that Showcased True Potential – The Conjure Man Dies
Rudolph Fisher’s greatest and most enduring novel is undoubtably The Conjure Man Dies, the first known work of detective fiction by a black author.
(Paving the way for groundbreaking black writers like Chester Himes and Donald Goines…)
Combining a twisty plot with keen observations on black life in the 1930s, The Conjure Man Dies is a book that was far ahead of its time in many ways…
In its pages, one finds a story that subverts genre cliches to produce something that can feel surprisingly modern at times, with Fisher’s Detective Perry Dart investigating the murder (or perhaps not?) of N’Gana Frimbo, the titular Conjure Man.
(Although a few of Fisher’s observations and sentences are so “of their time” that modern audiences may cringe…)
What truly stands out all these years later, however, is the window into 1930s Harlem. You can taste the air, feel the streets beneath your shoes, and experience the tingle of the electrifying atmosphere of Rudolph Fisher’s Harlem… Something that gets further away from us with each passing year.
To have been there must have been a truly transcendent experience, but with The Conjure Man Dies, we can experience a fraction of what it was like at the time.
The novel speaks of Rudolph Fisher’s immense talent, and presents the reader with an excitement of what is to come that very few works provide…
However, we would never see what kind of a writer Fisher could have been.
The True Tragedy of Rudolph Fisher
Being a pioneer in radiology at a time when no one truly understood how radiation affected the human body took its toll on Rudolph Fisher…
He would pass away in 1934 of cancer at the age of only 37, leaving us with a feeling of promise unfulfilled…
Of greatness cut tragically short, before it had a chance to truly shine.
We can only imagine what could have been had Rudolph Fisher lived longer…
But his legacy endures.
His work is still celebrated and talked about to this day. And we are left with a host of stories to keep his memory alive.
Rudolph Fisher will be remembered as one of the greats. Given a place next to Chester Himes and other black authors who made enduring works of fiction that will be talked about long into the future.
He deserves it.
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