Fern Gillespie
Quincy Troupe and Margaret Porter Troupe have been referred to as the Harlem Renaissance couple. Quincy is a renowned poet, professor and author, who has penned landmark books like Miles Davis’ memoir Miles: The Autobiography and The Pursuit of Happyness (later a movie starring Will Smith). Margaret is the founder of The Gloster Project in Mississippi and she is a fine art dealer and cultural producer. They have been together for 47 years. Living for decades in the legendary grand Graham Court apartments in Harlem, they have hosted cultural programs to the public and private soirees for their friends like icons James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Miles Davis.
In recognition of Jazz Month and Poetry Month, Our Time Press had the opportunity to talk with this creative couple.
OTP: Margaret, why is your Harlem Arts Salon famous in Black literary and cultural circles?
MPT: “I’ve been doing my Harlem Arts Salon for 20 years. I started hosting these book signings and talks in the apartment here in Graham Court. We’ve had people like Toni Morrison, Ron Carter, Randy Weston, Earl Monroe, and my husband Quincy. All kinds of distinguished people, dignitaries, literati, critical thinkers, creative minds and people of note. It grew out of all the work that Quincy did in the in the 60s and 70s when they created all these platforms for writers of color to be able to share their work with their audience.”
OTP: Quincy, does this generation of poets discuss your poetry with you?
QT: “I meet a lot of young people who really know about me. And I’m always shocked when I run across young people and young writers who know about me and my work and what I did. It’s not so much about the Miles books, it’s about my own poetry and my writings. As an athlete I had a huge ego, because I was a basketball player and we were state champions. My father was a famous baseball player Athletes have another kind of headset than poets. When I started writing poetry, it was something that I started to do because I liked literature and I liked poetry. I read Pablo Neruda and other poets like Amiri Baraka, I knew him personally. I then got into that literary world, which is something I never thought of doing when I was growing up. And all of a sudden it was all laid out in front of me. I just loved to write poems.”
OTP: Quincy, you are Miles Davis’ official biographer and you had an interesting connection. You both were from St. Louis and the first band where Miles played was with your cousin Eddie Randall.
QT: “Miles and I stayed friends till he died. We just stayed really tight. A lot of people were scared of him, but he and I were just close. I remember one day he said something to me. I said something back to him that he didn’t like. He said ‘m***, I’ll hit you upside your head.’ I said, ‘Miles have you looked at yourself recently? You are about 5 feet 8 at the most. You weigh 150 pounds. I’m 6 feet 2. I weigh 215. I’ll hurt you, man. I hurt you and I’ll break your jaw. You’ll never play again,’ Then Miles used to tell everybody. ‘You know, he threatened me.’ I would say, well, tell them the whole story. Miles would say ‘They didn’t know that. They don’t need to know the whole story.’ He was funny. We had that kind of relationship. I really miss Miles.”
OTP: Quincy, you conducted James Baldwin’s last interview in his home in France. What was your friendship like with Baldwin?
QT: “Jimmy was a good friend. I did the last interview with him. He was a good friend. He lived down the street. I knew his brother and his sisters. Jimmy was just a wonderful person. He was not only a brilliant writer. He was a great raconteur. He could talk. He was just a great person. Jimmy and Toni Morrison were good friends of mine.
Toni had been my book editor. We would love to get together. We had these parties and dinners. It would be funny. It’d be great. All this brilliance in the room. It was remarkable. I think about it now and I think about how brilliant they were. Jimmy would give a party. I would give a party. It was a wonderful atmosphere at that time. All these great genius people and all they had to offer. Everybody liked each other. Everybody respected everybody.”
OTP: Margaret, you were inspired to create the youth arts program for Black children, The Gloster Project, because you grew up in that rural Mississippi community. What type of impact is it having?
MPT: “I’m using Harlem Arts Salon fundraising for my youth program The Gloster Project in Mississippi. It’s a 2 to 3 week free daytime summer camp. We’re celebrating our 12th year and we are in the midst of preparing for this summer right now. It’s such a fantastic project. In the end of the program, they get to put on a show that their parents and all their families.
Everybody that comes to town and watches them read their poetry, exhibit their artwork and play their musical instruments and show their films they made. The program comes out of this whole idea about the necessity of having the arts in our lives and having children who are so isolated by living in rural communities far from cultural institutions to provide them at opportunity.
The kids see creative artists who are accomplished in their area of discipline, who resonate with these kids. Wow, they think, I could be musician and a scientist. They’re so brilliant, you know, and they’re so starved for intellectual food. These kids are just super, super, super bright and they’re kind of locked in time living in these rural communities where they’re isolated socially and every other kind of way. They’re really powerful individuals. You know how many people are making billions of dollars off these kids? The way they dress, the way they talk, the way they are, and they’re not even aware. You know that they have this power, and so we try to introduce them to that whole idea that you come from a great tradition, you have a fabulous aesthetic, can be proud of.”
OTP: Margaret, this presidential administration has been banning federal money to any diversity program. Has it affected your organization?
MPT: “I’m waiting to be told whether the money will now be there, but I haven’t heard that. Not had any kind of letter or anything like that. But you know, growing up in Mississippi during Jim Crow, this is not new. It’s disappointing that so many people chose to vote the way that they did. But the United States, if you really think about the history of this country, it has always been a nation built on white supremacy. And so I think we kind of forgot about that until recently. We had a brutal reminder of where we are here. But we have struggled in this space for centuries and we have ended up being one of the most creative, influential, group of people ever to exist. So we take solace in our heritage. We are proud of our accomplishments in the United States and it’s our country just as much as anybody else.”
OTP: Quincy, when you reflect on your life in Black culture, what resonates?
QT: “Our friends were writers, poets, musicians, painters – it was unbelievable. Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman — it was amazing. We would go to parties. Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Hugh Masekela would be there. There would be painters and actors. Danny Glover would be there. We are still friends with Danny Glover to this day. We would have parties here. People would have parties on the Upper West Side and all these people would be there. Like Vertamae Grosvenor, Louise Merriweather, Maya Angelou, Paule Marshall and Rosa Guy. Now we look around and we’re the only ones left. I was thinking about writing a poem about it. “Where did y’all go? How come ya’ll left us here by ourselves. Just my wife and myself? Margaret has been a wonderful companion for all these years. It’s a wonderful thing to be with somebody that lives the whole life with you.”
Quincy Troupe’s recent book is DUENDE: Poems 1966 to Now, a collection of all of his poems. He is currently writing his memoir called “The Accordion Years.” For more information on Margaret Porter Troupe’s The Gloster Arts Project, visit theglosterartsproject.org
