Born in 1891, Nella Larsen came of age in a time of radical change in the realms of both world culture and American race relations. Larsen's childhood featured multiple trips to Denmark; Larson would later filter her experience of being an African-American into her novel Quicksand (1928). However, Larsen did not confine her career activities to writing and literature by any means. She obtained a nursing degree in her early 20s, and found employment with the New York Department of Health in 1918.
In 1919, Larsen married Elmer S. Imes; in that same year, some of her earliest published writings appeared in The Brownies' Book. The 1920s found Larsen working as a librarian in New York City,...
