Aubrey Bowser

Aubrey Howard Bowser was an American writer, literary critic, and educator. He reviewed books for the New York Amsterdam News. His works included a serialized novel, The Man Who Would Be White. He founded a literary magazine, The Rainbow, in 1919. One of his pen names was Jane La Mott.

Early life and education

Bowser was born in La Mott, Pennsylvania, a historically black community. He came from a family of Pennsylvanians born in Montgomery County going back five generations.
At age 12, he earned money as a newsie selling the The Philadelphia Tribune. As a teenager, he published his poems in the literary column of Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
In 1903, he graduated from Cheltenham High School as class orator and poet. Bowser graduated from Harvard College in 1907.

Career

After college, Bowser wrote for the Boston Guardian edited by William Monroe Trotter, and for The [New York Age] edited by T. Thomas Fortune. He also worked as a railway mail clerk.
In 1919, Bowser started his magazine, The Rainbow: A Weekly Magazine of Song and Story.