"The Genius Behind 'The Blacker the Berry'—Dead at 32" Wallace Thurman died at 32, nearly forgotten by history. But his words live on every time Kendrick Lamar or Tupac reference "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice." This is the story of the Harlem Renaissance's most brilliant—and most tragic—critic. In 1925, Wallace Thurman arrived in Harlem from Salt Lake City during the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes, who became his roommate, called him "a strangely brilliant Blac