In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful is joined by author Tiffany L. Warren to talk about A Harlem Wedding—her richly researched historical novel inspired by the real life of Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois, and the most talked‑about wedding of 1928.

Drawing on scrapbooks, letters, and archival research, Tiffany walks us through Yolande’s world as the “princess of the Talented Tenth”: a young woman raised at the center of her father’s civil rights vision, expected to marry brilliantly and help uplift the race. Colin and Tiffany explore W.E.B. Du Bois’s philosophy of the Talented Tenth, his hopes for “Talented Tenth grandchildren,” and why he was so determined to arrange his daughter’s marriage to celebrated poet Countee Cullen.

From there, the conversation opens up to ...