# Congo Rose — Home to Harlem character guide

> Congo Rose in Home to Harlem by Claude McKay.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Rose, Rosalind, the Congo

**First appearance:** 0006-iv-congo-rose

## Snapshot

A flamboyant cabaret performer who dresses in vermilion and rose-tinted stockings, Rose is Jake's woman in Harlem, fierce, possessive, and quick to fight for what she calls hers.

## Who they are

Rose shops on Fifth Avenue as if she were a dark foreign lady of title, then takes a taxicab uptown to the house where she keeps Jake's address and her claim on him. When Madame Laura arrives asking after him, Rose pops her head from the window, descends, and turns the doorstep into a battle, insisting he's her man and threatening to spit in the woman's eye. Her jealousy and theatrical pride make her a force in Jake's Harlem, and the story she spreads afterward shows how thoroughly the Belt runs on gossip, rivalry, and the performance of possession.

## Relationships

### [Jerco](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/jerco)

_romantic_

Congo Rose and Jerco are involved in a passionate but unstable affair, often overlapping with her relationship with Jake.

### [Ma Lawton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/ma_lawton)

_social_

Congo Rose and Ma Lawton are acquaintances who interact through the boarding house, with Ma Lawton often disapproving of Rose's lifestyle.

### [Jerco](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/jerco)

_romantic_

Congo Rose and Jerco are involved in a passionate but unstable affair, often overlapping with her relationship with Jake.

### [Jerco](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/jerco)

_romantic_

Congo Rose and Jerco are involved in a passionate but unstable affair, often overlapping with her relationship with Jake.

### [Ma Lawton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/ma_lawton)

_social_

Congo Rose and Ma Lawton are acquaintances who interact through the boarding house, with Ma Lawton often disapproving of Rose's lifestyle.

### [Ma Lawton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/ma_lawton)

_social_

Congo Rose and Ma Lawton are acquaintances who interact through the boarding house, with Ma Lawton often disapproving of Rose's lifestyle.

## In the story

### [First Part](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/first-part)

A woman Jake becomes involved with, representing a passionate but unstable relationship.

### [IV: Congo Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/iv-congo-rose)

Rose is the entertainer at the Congo who sings to Jake and invites him to live with her, offering to support him.

### [On the Job Again](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/v-on-the-job-again)

Jake stays in her room, but he feels she lacks the spirit of the brown girl from the Baltimore.

### [VII: Zeddy's Rise and Fall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/vii-zeddy-s-rise-and-fall)

Rose is at the Congo, sobering up from a champagne party. She sits with Zeddy's table and identifies the 'doll baby' at Billy's table as her dancing partner.

### [VIII: The Raid of the Baltimore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/viii-the-raid-of-the-baltimore)

Jake's living with Rose has projected him into a more elegant atmosphere of worldliness, and through her and her associates he gained access to buffet flats like Madame Suarez's.

### [Jake Makes a Move](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/ix-jake-makes-a-move)

Rose lies about her visitor, provokes Jake into violence, and later tries to reconcile with him.

### [Second Part](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/second-part)

A woman Jake moves in with after meeting her.

### [Interlude](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/xiv-interlude)

Mentioned as heartbroken after Jake left her, crying in a cabaret.

### [XVI: A Practical Prank](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/xvi-a-practical-prank)

Confronts Madame Laura at her door, claiming Jake as her man.

### [He Also Loved](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/chapters/xvii-he-also-loved)

Rosalind Whicher, Jerco's partner, falls seriously ill and is cared for by Ma Lawton.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters/congo_rose
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/home_to_harlem_se/characters