Harlem Renaissance
“flowering of Negro literature” Between 1924 when Opportunity magazine hosted a party for black writers where many white publishers were in attendance and 1929, the year of the stock market crash and the resulting economic Great Depression.
Most of the participants in this African American literary movement were descendants from a generation whose parents or grandparents had witnessed the injustices of slavery and the gains and losses that would come with Reconstruction after the American Civil War as the nation moved forward into the gradual entrenchment of Jim Crow in the Southern states.
Attempted to change the racist and stereotypes that were prevalent.
The Harlem Renaissance was one of primarily African American involvement and an interpersonal support system of black patrons, black owned businesses and publications, and so on. But, on the periphery it was supported by a number of white Americans who through genuine altruistic generosity, paternalism, and perhaps a degree of liberal guilt provided various forms of assistance to these black artists and opened doors for them which otherwise would have remained closed to the publicizing of their work to a larger audience outside of the black American community.
Claude McKay Enslaved Oh when I think of my long-suffering race, For weary centuries despised, oppressed, Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place In the great life line of the Christian West; And in the Black Land disinherited, Robbed in the ancient country of its birth, My heart grows sick with hate, becomes as lead, For this my race that has no home on earth. Then from the dark depths of my soul I cry To the avenging angel to consume The white man's world of wonders utterly: Let it be swallowed up in earth's vast womb, Or upward roll as sacrificial smoke To liberate my people from its yoke!
Langston Hughes Poet Playwright Writer of both fiction & Non-fiction books Examples…
CHILDREN'S RHYMES By what sends the white kids I ain't sent: I know I can't be President. What don't bug them white kids sure bugs me: We know everybody ain't free. Lies written down for white folks ain't for us a-tall: Liberty And Justice — Huh! For All?
CROSS My old man's a white old man And my old mother's black. If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I'm sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack. I wonder were I'm going to die, Being neither white nor black?
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891– January 28, 1960) was an American folklorit, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
ART of the Harlem Renaissance
Music of the Harlem Renaissance Jazz gained popularity during this time…
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were two of the most popular jazz musicians
EXAMPLES…
Your Assignment.. Create art, music, or poetry that expresses your culture and heritage. You may create music but it must be presented Wednesday. (10pts with opportunity for bonus) This should express hurdles’ that your people have gone through or what life is like as a… This art will tell an audience “what it’s like to be YOU” Post on edmodo when finished