Boston, Massachusetts (June 2, 1907 -August 16, 1998) 91 yrs

Dorothy West was an American novelist, short-story writer, journalist and magazine editor linked with the Harlem Renaissance. West is best known for her 1948 novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family and their attempts to climb the social ladder. She also explored the complexities of the black experience in the United States in short stories and essays that challenged stereotypes and explored themes, including race, class, and gender. West began her writing career as a teenager, publishing stories in The Boston Post and the Boston Chronicle. West reportedly wrote her first story at the age of seven, a short story entitled “Promise and Fulfillment” appeared in The Boston Post when she was 14 years old. West died on August 16, 1998, aged 91. When asked what she wanted her legacy to be, she responded: “That I hung in there. That I didn’t say I can’t.”