Waters Edward Turpin

Waters Edward Turpin (April 9, 1910 – November 19, 1968) was an American novelist, professor, playwright, and textbook author. He gained prominence during the later half of the Harlem Renaissance, and was known for his work in African-American literary history. Turpin published three novels.

Early life and education Waters Edward Turpin was born on April 9, 1910, in Oxford, Maryland. He was an only child to African American parents Simon and Mary Rebecca (née Waters) Turpin. In 1950, he joined the English department at his alma mater Morgan State College, where his wife Jean also taught. Author Richard Wright wrote a book review on These Low Grounds (1937) published in the New Masses magazine (dated October 5, 1937), in which he believed the book to be the first of its kind, an African American fictional saga encompassing slavery and its impact. The Waters Edward Turpin Collection (1949–1968) is located at Morgan State University in Baltimore. West Virginia University's Storer College Digital Collection contains photographs of Turpin while he was teaching at Storer. In 1983, Morgan State University initiated the Nick Aaron Ford and Waters Edward Turpin Symposium on African-American Literature.

Publications Novels

O Canaan! (1939) The Rootless (1957)

Textbooks Basic Skills for Better Writing (1959), co-author Extending Horizons: Selected Readings for Cultural Enrichment (1969), co-editor