The Harlem Renaissance

How does the

artist use

symbolism to

describe the

Renaissance?

Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City, was the

center of the African American political, cultural,

and artistic movement in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Mets

Lose

Here!!

Yankees Buy

Pennant

Here!!

Can you see any evidence from this map that

this is an African American community?

Giants

Stink

Here!

1930

1911

1920

Harlem in

the early

1930sBased on these pictures, describe what

life was like in Harlem in the early 1930s.

CausesWhat events and movements do you think may have helped lead

to the Renaissance?

Great Migration:

the movement of

hundreds of

thousands of

African

Americans from

rural areas in the

South to urban

areas in both he

North and South.

What push factors led to the migration? What pull factors led to the migration?

Every family has that

one member that they

don’t want to admit to!Don’t let it be you!!!

CausesGrowing African American Middle Class: developed

as a result of improved educational and employment

opportunities for African Americans.

The Harlem section of New York became the center of this

new African American class.

CausesPolitical Agenda For Civil Rights by African Americans:

leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey and the

NAACP helped to inspire racial pride in the middle and

working class.

Marcus Garvey

pushed for the Back

to Africa movement

Du Bois, author of The Souls of

Black Folks, was instrumental in

the foundation of the NAACP.

The NAACP

published The

Crisis, a journal

used to share the

literary works of

African

Americans.

Du Bois believed that artistic and literary

work could be used as a form of

propaganda to help combat racial

stereotypes and gain new respect for

the race.

What

message does

this song,

written by an

African

American,

send to the

general

public?

How do images like this hinder the efforts

of African Americans like Du Bois?

Du Bois also believed in the “talented tenth.” This was the

idea that a small percentage of the African American

population who were exceptionally skilled should be

designated and educated as artistic and cultural leaders. He

proposed absolute equality for the "talented tenth" and

technical training for the black masses.

In what ways

does Du Bois’

“talented tenth”

idea combine

Washington’s

ideas with his

own?

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Langston Hughes

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and

older than the

flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were

young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled

me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the

pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when

Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've

seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Dubois’ Influence on LiteratureIncident

Countee Cullen

Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a Baltimorean

Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,

And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore

From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That's all that I remember.

How can these poems (and others we will

examine) be seen as propaganda?

The 369th “Hell

Fighters” were

rewarded the Croix

de Guerre for

gallantry in battle

and returned to the

U.S. as heroes to

African Americans.

Although the French recognized the courage and skill of the

regiment, the U.S. government downplayed their role and

even tried to convince the French to do the same.“…We must not eat with them…shake hands or seek to talk

or meet with them outside of the requirements of military

duty…We must not commend too highly the [black] troops…”

excerpts from a memorandum entitled “Secret Information

Concerning the Black American Troops.”How do you think the American public will treat African American soldiers

upon their return?

CausesRed Summer of 1919

There were 25 major

race riots and at least

83 African Americans

were lynched.

The Ku Klux Klan

held over 200

meeting to increase

enrollment.

In response

to the gains

by African

Americans,

many

whites

fought back

during the

summer of

1919.

What are the psychological effects of lynching and cross

burning on aspiring African Americans?

African American Poet, Claude McKay

memorialized the bloody summer of 1919 with

the poem, “If We Must Die,” which was

published in the magazine Liberator.

If We Must Die

If we must die--let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursed lot.

If we must die--oh, let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe;

Though far outnumbered, let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

What is the imagery

used in the poem?

What message is

the author sending

to African

Americans?

Do you agree or

disagree with the

author? Why?

ImpactThe Harlem section of New York City was transformed from a

deteriorating area into a thriving middle class community.

Before After

Modernism & the Harlem Renaissance• Blacks view surge in art, music and literature as the

creation of a new cultural identity.

• Whites see it as another new, exotic, and trendy form of entertainment.

As Modern Artists look to “make it

new” they turn to the “New Negro”

arts movement.

How does the modernist trend towards

“primitivism” impact this?

Jazz Shapes American CultureHow did the following artists impact American

popular music?

Can you identify their music and differentiate it

from Early Jazz?

Differences in Artistic Vision

What do you believe was more important: fighting

racial prejudice and stereotyping, or true personal

expression? (Read: “The Negro Artist and the

Racial Mountain” by Langston Hughes for HW)

Dubois & Locke

• “Thus all art is propaganda

and ever must be despite the

wailing of the purists.”

• “The great social gain in this is

the releasing of our talented

group from the arid fields of

controversy and debate to the

productive fields of creative

expression.”

Hughes & Hurston

•“We younger Negro artists

who create now intend to

express our individual dark-

skinned selves without fear or

shame. If white people are

pleased we are glad. If they

are not, it doesn’t matter. We

know we are beautiful. And

ugly too.”