Olivia Ward Bush Bank, born in 1869, was of African-American and Montaukett Native American descent.
Olivia married Frank Bush in 1889; they had two daughters. As a working mother, Olivia still managed to find time to write. She published her first book of poetry, Original Poems, in 1899. It was met with a great review by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Olivia published her second poetry book, Driftwood, in 1916.
Olivia's career spanned many decades and professions: she worked as a tribal historian for many years and also as a journalist writing for the Colored American magazine. In the 1920s, she created a salon for artists in Chicago called the Bush-Banks School of Expression. In the 1930s, she returned to live in New York and counted among her friends central figures of the Harlem Renaissance including W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes.
Olivia was proud of her mixed heritage and celebrated her mixed-race background in her writing. Much of her work was unpublished in her lifetime because of the interracial themes. She died in 1944.
More information: Original Poems by Olivia Ward Bush Banks.
