Day 2

The Harlem Renaissance

By the 20th century, everyone understood that “Jim Crow” meant laws that separated the races. Minstrel shows included white performers wearing black painted faces to imitate African Americans and falsely claimed to represent “authentic “ blackness. To survive in a Jim Crow world, African Americans had to obey the written and unwritten ones—they had to appear ignorant, poor, and servile. Jim Crow was a minstrel show character—a bumbling fool played by a white performer in “blackface” makeup. What message does this send to the general public regard African American identity?

What change in attitude regarding identity is reflected in these lines? I am the Smoke King I am black! I will be black as blackness can— The blacker the mantle, the mightier the man! My purpl’ing midnights no day dawn may ban. W.E.B. DuBois, from “The Song of Smoke”

Definition The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, cultural, and intellectual movement that began in Harlem, New York after World War I and ended during the Great Depression. (1918-1935). Renaissance: A rebirth or revival

Today’s Essential Question What factors led to the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance?

The Rise of Radical African-American Intellectuals 1st Cause The Rise of Radical African-American Intellectuals The Talented Tenth The Niagara Movement Ten percent of the African American population were educated and affluent. W.E.B. DuBois wrote a letter to many of these individuals asking to implement a plan of action. The Talented Tenth, as they were called, developed a political agenda to demand equal rights and came together in court to fight Jim Crow Laws and for African American rights. From 1905-1909, the group rallied for school integration, voting rights, and election of black officers to office. The Niagara Movement, as the endeavors of the Talented Tenth was called, won the support of African Americans all over the country.

2nd Cause Literary Recognition The Crisis Literary Recognition The NAACP published The Crisis, a journal used to share the literary works of African Americans. Charles Johnson, a sociologist, invited influential editors, publishers, and writers to what he thought would be a literary “party” where black writers could gain recognition. The Civic Club dinner, as it came to be called was successful and led to support for black writers and new publications celebrating black literature.

3rd Cause The Great Migration The South was a place of racial tension and unequal rights for African Africans. The promise of a better life led thousands to migrate from the rural South to suburban areas in the North.

Why was Harlem the center of the African American Literary Movement and increasing population?

Answer! With the promise of a new subway, developers built a beautiful urban area in Harlem for white, upper class tenants. Overbuilt before the subway was finished, Harlem buildings were empty and developers were facing financial ruin. Middle class African Americas soon occupied the Harlem area. Many literary pioneers migrated there including W.E.B. DuBois. Harlem became the center of middle class attraction with musical & theatrical performances and literary gatherings.

1930 1920 1911

Some Harlem Renaissance Authors Countee Cullen Richard Wright Zora Hurston Langston Hughes W.E.B. Dubois

Lynching took place most frequently in the South from 1890 to the 1920s In 1937 Abe Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from New York, saw a photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. He later recalled how the photograph "haunted me for days" and inspired the writing of the poem, Strange Fruit.

“Strange Fruit” What is the tone of the last four lines? "Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, And the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop. What is the tone of the last four lines? For what purpose was this song written?

Harlem Renaissance Writer T: “Yet Do I Marvel” A: Countee Cullen N: American G: Sonnet

“yet do I Marvel” Quibble- find fault or criticize for petty reasons I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind, And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind,    Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die, Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus To struggle up a never-ending stair.    Inscrutable His ways are, and immune    To catechism by a mind too strewn    With petty cares to slightly understand    What awful brain compels His awful hand.    Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:    To make a poet black, and bid him sing! Quibble- find fault or criticize for petty reasons Caprice- sudden change Inscrutable - not easily understood Immune – exempt, not responsive Catechism - a series of formal questions “yet Do I Marvel” Write this down!!

Tantalus Tormented by an unquenchable hunger and thirst, He was made to stand chin-deep in water with all kind of sweet-smelling and delicious fruit dangling just over his head, but whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water would magically recede or the fruit would miraculously be lifted just out of his reach. It's this torment, through which something seems to be offered only to be withdrawn again. What does “TANTALIZE“ – mean?

Sisyphus Sisyphus is best known for being punished in the Underworld by rolling a stone with his hands and head in an effort to heave it over the top of a hill; but regardless of how much he pushes, the stone rebounds backwards again and again.

  Thinking Critically What is Cullen's attitude toward God in the beginning? What two questions are pondered in lines 3-4? In the poem "Yet Do I Marvel," Cullen makes an implicit comparison between black poets and the mythical figures of Tantalus and Sisyphus. Explain how this comparison functions within the world of the poem. In your opinion, why does Cullen ask rhetorical questions? In your opinion, what answer would God give to such questions? Why should he marvel that God would make a poet black and bid him sing? Why does he imply between poetry and being black in the 1940’s and 50’s? What does the speaker mean by “…a mind too strewn with petty cares?”  

Poetic Response Respond to Cullen’s questions in a 14-line poem. You may take on the persona of anyone such as Martin Luther King, or God. Does not have to rhyme Include color and neatness!

Images taken from… Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection Wikimedia Commons