The world of Harlem Renaissance
About Harlem Renaissanse Harlem Renaissance (the New Negro Movement) is the name given to the period from the end of World War I and through the middle of the 1930 s Depression. Harlem Renaissancerefers to the flowering of African American cultural and intellectual life. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to reconceptualize “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other.
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 was at the center of what was first called the New Negro Movement”, named after the 1925 anthology The New
In 1917 Hubert Harrison, “The Father of Harlem Radicalism, ” founded the Liberty League and The Voice, the first organization and the first newspaper of the “New Negro Movement”. Harrison’s organization and newspaper were political, but also emphasized the arts (his newspaper had “Poetry for the People” and book review sections).
Many critics point out that the Harlem Renaissance could not escape its history and culture in its attempt to create a new one, or sufficiently separate itself from the foundational elements of White, European culture. Often Harlem intellectuals, while proclaiming a new racial consciousness, resorted to mimicry of their White counterparts by adopting their clothing, sophisticated manners and etiquette. But many whites see it as another
Outstanding characteristics Genres: • Novels • Plays • Poetry • Short stories • Autobiogr aphies Style • Allusions to African. American spirituals • Uses structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition) • Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters
Writers of Harlem Renaissanse • • Sterling Brown Claude Mc. Kay Langston Hughes Zora Neal Hurston James Weldon Johnson Countee Cullen Nella Larson Richard Wright
Claude Mc. Kay September 15, 1889– May 22, 1948 Jamaican-American writer and poet Novels: Home to Harlem (1928) Banjo (1929), Banana Bottom (1933) Autobiographical books: A Long Way from Home (1937) Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940) His book of poetry, Harlem Shadows (1922) was among the first books published during the Harlem Renaissance.
Zora Neale Hurston January 7, 1891– January 28, 1960 American folklorist, anthropo logist • 4 novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays and essays • Best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (It was adapted for a 2005 film of the same title by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo
"Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me. " - Zora Neale Hurston
Langston Hughes February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967 American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of then-new literary art form jazz poetry. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem
Langston Hughes wrote 11 plays and countless works of prose, including the wellknown “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Stakes a Claim, Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple's Uncle Sam. He edited the anthologies The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography (The Big Sea) and co-wrote the play Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston. In his Commission, memory, his and East residence at 127 th Street 20 East 127 th has been Street in renamed Harlem, New "Langston York City, Hughes has been Place. " given landmark status by the New York City Preservation
An expression from the poem "My People": The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.
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