Rosa Guy was an internationally acclaimed, award-winning author. With more than 20 published works, Guy was a respected literary voice of the Black experience and an active member of the Harlem community. Guy's success enabled her to support herself and her family financially, exclusively, as an author and lecturer, a privilege not afforded many Black female authors of her time.
Guy was born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, on September 1, 1922. Although there is some debate about the actual year she was born, most documents support 1922. Her parents, Henry and Audrey Cuthbert, emigrated from Trinidad to Harlem, New York, in 1927. Guy and her sister, Ameze, left Trinidad in 1932 and joined their parents in Harlem. Shortly after Guy's arrival in Harlem, her mother fell ill and sent Guy and her sister to live in Brooklyn with a cousin. In Brooklyn, Guy was exposed to Garveyism and Black Nationalism, which help shape her worldview at a young age. After the death of her mother in 1934, Rosa and her sister lived in Harlem with their father until he passed in 1937, leaving the sisters orphaned. At the age of 14, Guy dropped out of Wadleigh High School and started working in a factory in the garment district to support her and her ailing sister, while they lived in foster homes and orphanages. In Guy's own words she "had the good fortune of dropping--or of being dropped--out of the New York City school system at a very young age and so escaped its paralyzing effects."
In 1941, Rosa married Warner Guy and gave birth to Warner Guy, Jr., a year later. While her husband was serving in World War II, she continued to work in factories and sweatshops in the garment district of New York City. During that time, one of her co-workers introduced her to the American Negro Theatre, where she studied acting. After the end of World War II, Guy moved to Connecticut with her husband and son. Her marriage ended in 1950 and she returned to New York City with her son.
The same year, Guy founded the Harlem Writers Guild with John O. Killens, John Henrik Clarke, Willard Moore, and Walter Christmas. The Guild provided an informal setting for aspiring black writers to critique one another's work. As its membership grew and its reputation spread, it became one of the most influential Black literary organizations of its time. Its membership included Killens, Clarke, Moore, Christmas, Maya Angelou, Paule Marshall, Audre Lorde, Alice Childress, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Douglass Turner Ward.
After years of sharpening her craft and briefly returning to school at New York University, Guy's first book, Bird at My Window, was published by J.P. Lippincott. Guy is well-known for her award winning triology about three Black girls coming of age in Harlem, which includes The Friends, Ruby, and Edith Jackson. Her novel My Love, My Love: or The Peaseant Girl, has been made into the award-winning musical Once on This Island.
Guy loved to travel and often found inspiration for her writings during her travels to Africa, the West Indies, and Europe. No matter where her travels took her, she always considered New York City home. On June 3, 2012, Guy lost her battle with cancer and passed away in New York City.