Dubose Heyward House

Dubose Heyward was born on August 31, 1885 in Charleston. Although he was born to an aristocratic family, the Heywards were poor. When Heyward was two, his father died in an accident and at age nine he got a job selling newspapers. When he was 14 he got a job working as a clerk in a hardware store when he was 14 but a few years later contracted polio. While he did recover, his hands were permanently damaged. He then found work on the city's waterfront as a cotton warehouse checker and it was there that he came into contact with African American workers who would serve as the inspiration for his writing subjects.

Heyward began to write poetry around this time and, with two others, established the South Carolina Poetry Society. To help gain more insight into Charleston's African American culture, Heyward also became a member of the Charleston Society for the Preservation of Spirituals. One of the members was playwright Dorothy Kahns (1890-1961; her last name is also spelled as "Kuhns"). She and Heyward hit it off and eventually got married in 1923.

After trying his hand as an insurance broker, Heyward and Dorothy moved to the mountains of North Carolina, where he wrote Porgy in 1925. His knowledge and experience about Charleston's African American culture and vernacular gave the novel a level of authenticity. Porgy became an immediate success and allowed Heyward to become a full-time writer and lecturer on Southern literature. In 1927, the Heywards adapted Porgy into a very popular folk play acted by African American performers on Broadway.

In 1932 (or perhaps earlier), George Gershwin approached Heyward to adapt the play into a folk opera. Gershwin came to Charleston to learn about the local African American culture and music. His wife, Ira, collaborated with Heyward to write the lyrics, which incorporated the vernacular dialect, while he focused on writing the music based on local folk music. Gershwin didn't write all of the songs, however. Heyward wrote and received credit for the famous songs "Summertime," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," and "My Man's Gone Now." He co-wrote other songs as well. Unfortunately, Porgy and Bess was not initially a big hit on Broadway and the Heywards moved back to Charleston.

Heyward continued to write, penning a number of other novels. While these did not achieve the same notoriety as Porgy, he did write Hollywood screenplays for TV shows and movies. He also served as resident dramatist at the Dock Theatre here in Charleston. He died in 1940 in North Carolina. Porgy and Bess was finally performed in Charleston in 1970 but by then it had become a worldwide success. The Dubose Heyward papers collection is housed in the South Carolina Historical Society; Dorothy's is as well.

"Dubose Heyward." Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/DuBose-Heyward.

Getman, Jessica. "Spotlight on Dubose Heyward." January 26, 2016. https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/?p=602.

"Heyward, Dubose, House." National Historic Landmarks Program. Retrieved from the Web Archive on April 12, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125529/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1144&ResourceType=Building.

Jensen, Faye. "August: This Month in S.C. History." South Carolina Historical Society. August 6, 2018. https://schistory.org/august.

McDermott, John. "Dubose Heyward House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. November 11, 1971. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/71000749_text.