1. 7.9
Harlem Renaissance
Early 1920s, after WWI, huge migration to the north and the NYC neighborhood, Harlem (733)
“A vibrant mecca of cultural affirmation and inspiration”

2. Harlem Renaissance 7.9 Voices of the African American Experience
Two approaches:
Conventional forms-widely accepted (Dunbar)
Focused on contributions of African American culture to America (Johnson, Cullen, and Hughes) (p. 535)

3. 7.9
Harlem Renaissance
Affirming the role of black talent in American culture
Focused on different aspects of black life
No issue off limits: race, class, religion, gender
Writers, poets in particular, used:
ghetto speech – black dialects
rhythms from jazz and blues
Great Depression depleted financial support of artists, but lead the way . . .

4. Harlem Renaissance Paul Laurence Dunbar We Wear the Mask
WE wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!
What is the rhyme scheme?
What is the concrete subject?
What is the tone?
How is this a “conventional” poem?
Conventional poems were accepted by white readers. Their traditional style made even desperate concerns seem less urgent.

5. Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes I, Too, Sing America I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.
What is the rhyme scheme?
What is the concrete subject?
What is the tone?
How is this poem unique to African American culture?
“The poets of the Harlem Renaissance revolutionized the African American contribution to American literature by introducing ghetto speech and the rhythms of jazz and blues into their verse” (535).

6. Voices of the Harlem Renaissance
7.9
Voices of the Harlem Renaissance
Claude McKay
America (744)
Sonnet
America the Beautiful?
James Weldon Johnson
Go Down Death (737)
Dialect
Personification

7. 7.9
Langston Hughes
“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”

8. 7.9 Weary Blues Harlem A Dream Deferred

9. Homework
Harlem Renaissance poetry packet DUE next class