Transcript the harlem renaissance

THE HARLEM
RENAISSANCE
The Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance is the name given to
the period from the end of World War I
and through the middle of the 1930s
Depression, during which a group of
talented African-American writers,
thinkers and artists produced a sizable
contribution to American culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90PTxd
sqfsA
Where is Harlem?
The island of Manhattan
New York City is on Manhattan island
Neighborhoods
SOUTHERN BLACKS AND THE LURE OF THE NORTH
BEFORE AND AFTER 1914

Most African Americans remained in the South nearly fifty years after
the Civil War.

There were plenty of reasons for blacks to leave the south, but little
economic advantage to moving northward.

With outbreak of World War I, this dynamic changes because:
 1) war generates new opportunities for industry
 2) much of existing labor supply leaves work force
 3) immigrant labor pool evaporates.
End result: The Great Migration, which congregated black populations
in northern cities like Chicago and New York in unprecedented
numbers. The concentration, in New York city, occurred on the upper
west side, in Harlem.
How does the Harlem Renaissance connect to
the Great Migration?
The economic opportunities of the era triggered
a widespread migration of black Americans from
the rural south to the industrial centers of the
north - and especially to New York City.
 In New York and other cities, black Americans
explored new opportunities for intellectual and
social freedom.
 Black American artists, writers, and musicians
began to use their talents to work for civil rights
and obtain equality.

Causes
What 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 the
North and South.
What push factors led to the migration? What pull factors led to the migration?
The Great Migration
•
Push Factors
•
•
Racial Violence
•
Rise of the KKK
•
Lynching
Economic Repression
•
Share cropping
•
Tenant Farming
•
KKK: Boycotts and Intimidation
•
Political Repression
•
•
Jim Crow Laws
•
Sundown Towns
Environmental Devastation
•
Volatile Weather of 1915-16 (drought and flood)
•
Boll Weevil
The Great Migration
•
Pull Factors
•
Economic Opportunity
•
Political Rights
•
Unity and Solidarity
•
Hope
•
Mystery, Adventure and Myths
The Great Migration
Where African-Americans Migrated To & Why
Primarily Chicago, Detroit and NY
•
•
Also: St. Louis, Indianapolis, Philadelphia
•
Industrial Towns with Booming Industries
•
Towns With Supportive Networks
Music of the HR

Bessie Smith

Duke Ellington

Louis Armstrong

Cab Calloway
Duke Ellington




Ellington was a jazz composer,
conductor, and performer
during the Harlem Renaissance.
During the formative Cotton
Club years, he experimented
with and developed the style
that would quickly bring him
worldwide success. Ellington
would be among the first to
focus on musical form and
composition in jazz.
Ellington wrote over 2000
pieces in his lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY
Louis “Satchmo”Armstrong
Louis Armstrong was a jazz
composer and trumpet player
during the Harlem
Renaissance.
 He is widely recognized as a
founding father of jazz.
 He appeared in 30 films and
averaged 300 concerts per
year, performing for both kids
on the street and heads of
state.
 https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=oGmRKWJdwBc

Literature of the time…
 W.E.B.
Dubois
 Langston
 Zora
Hughes
Neale Hurston
 Richard
Wright
 Sterling
Brown
W.E.B. Dubois

Among the important intellectuals writing and thinking
during the Harlem Renaissance were W.E.B. Du Bois,
Marcus Garvey, and Alain Locke.

The notion of "twoness," a divided awareness of one's
identity, was introduced by W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the
founders of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). and the
author of the influential book The Souls of Black Folks
(1903): "One ever feels his two-ness - an American, a
Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled
stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose
dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."
Langston Hughes
Hughes is known for his insightful,
colorful, realistic portrayals of
black life in America.
 He wrote poetry, short stories,
novels, and plays, and is known for
his involvement with the world of
jazz and the influence it had on his
writing.
 His life and work were enormously
important in shaping the artistic
contributions of the Harlem
Renaissance in the 1920s.
 He wanted to tell the stories of his
people in ways that reflected their
actual culture, including both their
suffering and their love of music,
laughter, and language itself.

Zora Neale Hurston

Born in Alabama on January 7, 1891, Zora Neale
Hurston spent her early adulthood studying at
various universities and collecting folklore from
the South, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Hurston was a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance,
rubbing shoulders with many of its famous
writers.

Zora Neale Hurston was an American novelist,
short story writer, folklorist, and anthropologist.
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.

Hurston died in Florida in 1960.
http://www.biography.com/people/zora-nealehurston-9347659
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teUi8N5ZaNs
Art of the Harlem Renaissance

Visual artists played a key role in creating depictions of
the New Negro. Alongside their counterparts in literature,
music, and theater, art work of the time period exhibited:

bold, stylized portraits of African Americans during this
period
 scenes
of black life from a variety of perspectives.
 Connections
to their homeland/history (Africa/slavery)
 Overcoming
adversity
Study the picture for 2 minutes. Form an
overall impression of the painting, then
start to focus on individual details.
Questions to think about:
1. What do you see?
2. What people do you see?
3. What objects do you see?
4. What colors do you see?
5. What actions/activities do you see?
6. What questions does this painting
raise in your mind?
“Ascent from Ethiopia”, Louis Mailou Jones. 1932
Hayden, The Tunnel
Palmer Hayden
Hale Woodruff, 1934
Hale Woodruff
Hale Woodruff
Edward Burra, 1934
Edward Burra
Jacob Lawrence
Poetry Activity: The number your group has been
assigned corresponds to the poem you are responsible
for below.
1.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes page 902
2.
“I, Too” by Langston Hughes page 904
3.
“Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes page 906
4.
“Refugee in America” by Langston Hughes page 907
5.
“The Tropics in New York” by Claude McKay page 923
6.
“A Black Man Talks of Reaping” by Arna Bontempes page 925
7.
“Study the Masters” by Lucille Clifton page 915
8.
“For My Children” by Colleen McElroy page 917
In your groups:
1.
Read and fill out the SOAPSTone chart for your poem (formative
assignment)
2.
On the poster, incorporate the following information on your
assigned poem in a creative, neat, organized manner (25 point
Reading/Literature summative grade):
1.
Title and author of the poem
2.
Interpretation of the poem
3.
Connections to Harlem Renaissance/Spirituals
4.
Poetic devices evident
5.
Visual of the poem in the style of the Harlem Renaissance
artists (bright, colorful, may be abstract)
***You will present these to the class Monday/Tuesday.
Dance
Dance-the Nicholas Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKRm6H-qOU