Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia Johnson spent much of her adult life at 1461 S Street NW in Washington, D.C., which she turned into one of the most famous literary salons of the 1920s. She moved to Washington with her husband after graduating from Atlanta University, but he died in 1925, after which she struggled to earn enough to support herself and her children. She became the most celebrated female poet of the Harlem Renaissance, publishing stories, writing plays, issuing a newspaper column, and publishing four books of poetry. In the midst of the Great Depression, this prolific writer lost her job at the Labor Department, and then had to survive on temporary positions. Her time to write was thus cut back still further. A number of her unpublished stories and plays have never been recovered.