Anne Spencer House - Lynchburg

The Anne Spencer House is located on Pierce Street in Lynchburg, Virginia.  The Queen Anne style home was constructed in 1903 for Edward Spencer, a local entrepreneur, and his wife, noted Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer.  Spencer was born in Henrico County in 1882, of black, white and Seminole ancestry.  She attended the Virginia Theological Seminary and College, where she met her future husband, Edward Spencer.  She graduated in 1899 and in 1901 the couple were married.  They moved into this home in 1903 and Anne would live here until her death in 1975.  In 1918 Spencer became actively involved in founding the local chapter of the NAACP, who sent their field secretary, James Weldon Johnson, to Lynchburg to assist with the start up.  While staying with the Spencers Johnson came across one of Anne's poems and encouraged her to publish it.  In February 1920 her first poem, "Before the Feast at Shushan," was published in the NAACP journal The Crisis.  Most of her 30 plus poems would be published in the journal over the next 10 years.  Long considered an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement, her career was capped off with her inclusion in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry in 1973.  In addition to her writing, Spencer was also a local librarian and an avid gardener.  The Anne Spencer House and Gardens was registered as a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1966.

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