Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

(1918-1930s)

Open Ended

Do Now: What can we learn about a community by studying their art and culture?

Week in Review!

• The Great Migration was the movement of Black Americans out of the rural south and into cities in the north and west.

• Black Americans were looking escape violence and discrimination and also looking for better educational, economic, and cultural opportunities.

• Great Migration led to many changes for the United States. Black communities were created throughout the country, but also faced a racist backlash.

Great Migration Letters

"this is somewhat a letter of information I am a colored Boy aged 15 years old and I am talented for an artist and I am in search of some one will Cultivate my talent I have studied Cartooning therefore I am a Cartoonist and I intend to visit Chicago this summer and I want to keep in touch with your association and too from you knowledge can a Colored boy be an artist and make a white man's salary up there I will tell you more and also send a flew samples of my work when I rec an answer from you." - (Texas 1917)

Why Harlem?

• Happened during the "New Negro Movement," a time when Black Americans felt empowered to speak up against racism and celebrate Black culture in new ways.

• The neighborhood was overbuilt with too many apartments and so Black businessmen bought them cheaply and leased them to the influx of Black tenants from the Great Migration.

• As Black Americans moved in, White Americans moved out.

Multiple Choice

Checking for Understanding: In the 1920s, Harlem became an important neighborhood for Black Americans because . . .

• Black Americans were legally forced to move to Harlem when they arrived in New York City.

• Black Businessmen bought up real estate here and leased to Black tenants.

• Many migrants from the north moved to this neighborhood.

Examples of Harlem Renaissance Artists

• Claude McKay - novelist and poet who urged Black Americans to resist racism and prejudice

• Langston Hughes - novelist, poet, artist who depicted the daily struggles of working class life

• Zora Neale Hurston - author, poet, novelist who depicted poor, southern life and celebrated the lives and culture of "everyday people."

Primary Sources - Poetry of Langston Hughes

• I do: "Harlem"

• We do: "I, Too"

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred? 

      Does it dry up 

      like a raisin in the sun? 

      Or fester like a sore— 

      And then run? 

      Does it stink like rotten meat? 

      Or crust and sugar over— 

      like a syrupy sweet? 

      Maybe it just sags 

      like a heavy load. 

      Or does it explode?

I, Too

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. 

I, Too

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.

Open Ended

How does the narrator describe his present? How is this different than his future? What is Langston Hughes saying about the position of Black Americans in U.S. society in this poem?

"The narrator describes his present situation as . . . however, in the future, . . . Langston Hughes is saying that . . . "

Open Ended

Exit Ticket: Revisit the letter from the teenager in Texas. What rights were he searching for in this letter? How did Harlem represent these rights?

"this is somewhat a letter of information I am a colored Boy aged 15 years old and I am talented for an artist and I am in search of some one will Cultivate my talent I have studied Cartooning therefore I am a Cartoonist and I intend to visit Chicago this summer and I want to keep in touch with your association and too from you knowledge can a Colored boy be an artist and make a white man's salary up there I will tell you more and also send a flew samples of my work when I rec an answer from you." - (Texas 1917)

"The author of this letter was searching for . . . Harlem represents these rights because . . . "