Mission

NOTE: This page contains what was to be our guiding mission statement. We leave it here because we think what is in it still stands as an expression of the general principles that guided us — though, obviously, we had to change our individual approaches when the pandemic prevented access to the physical archives with which we hoped to work. Please see our homepage for our opening statement. That statement does not supersede the mission expressed here, but it is more of the moment.

The mission behind FIRE!! 2026 is a conviction that the Harlem Renaissance, as a vibrant and pivotal historical event, still has the ability to speak to us today. With this in mind, FIRE!! 2026 seeks to serve as a bridge between the past and the present in publishing works that are directly inspired by the work of the Harlem Renaissance, and then looks to extend that work by creating new pieces that are in direct conversation with the past while grounded in present conversations reflected in poetry, the visual arts, personal expression, and intellectual and academic life in, and inspired by, Harlem as a specific geographic space.

Regardless of whether these geographical  spaces remain, or not, in Harlem, they echo the history one way or another. The Harlem Renaissance was a turning point of black cultural history coming out of the village. Whether we are speaking of Harlem as a whole, or looking at more personal spaces of people’s lives, their homes, their educational outlets [such as the Schomburg center], all these spaces inform the movement. In examining photographs of these spaces from back then to now we can begin to uncover how these spaces informed this movement and how it affects the neighborhood today.

It is also a type of home to many great [woman] creatives such as Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Hull, Nella Larsen, Jessie Fauset and many more. The stereotypes that surrounded women during this time made them exotic sexual beings who did not seem to offer intellectual and creative insight to this new movement. In portions of this magazine we will closely examine Zora Neale Hurston and her [behind the scenes] struggles of this time through the lens of poetry.

– Yaz and Jonathan