Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance By: Nikki Escobar, Sarah Santos, Daniel Dayawon, & Darryl Agliam AP Literature; Ms. Banuelos; Period 01

What is the movement? • The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement from 1920-1930s where African Americans wereproud of their race and celebrated their culture. It’s also known as The Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties for the new emerging writers, poets, musicians and artists expressing themselves through their works and the new music emergence of Jazz. It spread from the Harlem neighborhood in New York City to throughout the world where both whites and blacks enjoyed the movement.

General Poetic Techniques + Themes • Themes • Racial pride • Discrimination • Power • Appreciation • Acceptance • Struggle • Hope Techniques symbolism descriptive imagery Emphasis Tone reference to the past Metaphors Personification

Poets Countee Cullen Langston Hughes Gwendolyn B. Bennett Claude McKay

Art of the Harlem Renaissance

Langston Hughes • Biography • Born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri • Published his first poem in 1921, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” • Was a distinguished writer in high school and attended Columbia University for one year and left to travel to African, Paris and Rome working as a freighter and other odd jobs. • Vachel Linday promoted his poetry and soon after he attended Lincoln University and from there he launched and established his career as a poet and a writer.

Notable Works • “the Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921) • “The Weary Blues” (1926) • “Fine Clothes to the Jew” (1927) • “Dear Lovely Death” (1931) • “Let America be America Again” (1938) • Most important thing about him is that he was one of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance

Dreams Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold Fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow

Analysis and how it fits in the Harlem Renaissance • Hold fast to dreams – personification • Life is a Broken winged bird that cannot fly – personification • Life is a barren field, frozen with snow - metaphor • Hughes utilizes the figurative languages above to encourage and uplift their spirits to keep their dreams alive and hold onto the no matter what because there would be no purpose in life if they did not have any.

Claude McKay Biography • Festus Claudius McKay aka Claude McKay was one of the essential figures during the Harlem Renaissance. • Born in Jamaica in 1889, he was raised as the son of a peasant farmer but had strong pride in African culture. • He showcases in his work a variety of styles ranging from celebrating his peasant life in Jamaica to presenting negative views of American’s white dominant society. • Notable Works • “America”, “A Prayer”, “If We Must Die”, “Home to Harlem”, “Harlem Shadows” and “The Harlem Dancer”

America Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,Stealing my breath of life, I will confessI love this cultured hell that tests my youth!Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,Giving me strength erect against her hate. Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,I stand within her walls with not a shredOf terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,And see her might and granite wonders there,Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Analysis and how it fits into the Harlem Renaissance • In this poem, it expresses both McKay’s positive and negative views on America during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. He showcases both good and bad sides to America. • Metaphor: "Although she feeds me bread of bitterness” • -comparing America to a mother • Personification: “and sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth" "stealing my breath of life" • –Explains how America gives him disgust (bitter bread) and pain (sinking tiger's tooth in throat) and he finds it hard to live there (stealing breath) • "I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!" • -Even though he faces many struggles and challenges in America, he loves it there. He sees the many challenges and struggles as things that make him stronger.

Cont. • Simile: “Her vigor flows like tides into my blood” • -Vigor = power, energy, force. Comparing America’s force/ power to his blood flows; there’s strength within himself. • Diction: "I stand within her walls with not a shred of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.“ • -He face the challenges he encounters head on, with no fear. He doesn’t conform to the ways society does conflicting pain to others (malice) and discriminate by mocking and speaking out (jeer) that the white society does to African Americans. • Foreshadowing: "Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, and see her might and granite wonders there, beneath the touch of time's unerring hand, like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.“ • -I interpreted it as he tells how the great things America holds, is going to fade away like treasures sinking in the sand, if the racism, bitterness, and inequalities don’t stop.

Gwendolyn B. Bennett • Biography • Born on July 8, 1902 in Giddings, Texas • Took classes at Columbia University and Pratt Institute in New York. • Wrote pieces for Opportunity, a local magazine where she had her own column, The Ebony Flute which allowed her to connect with the Harlem lifestyle. It began as a support group for young writers (Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston were among the members)

Notable Works • To A Dark Girl • Song • Hatred • Secret • These works reflected racial pride and appreciation for African Music and dance.

To A Dark Girl I love you for your brownness, And the rounded darkness of your breast, I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice And shadows where your wayward eyelids rest. Something of old forgotten queens Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk And something of the shackled slave Sobs in the rhythm of your talk. Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow's mate, Keep all you have of queenliness, Forgetting that you once were slave, And let your full lips laugh at Fate!

Analysis Stanza 1 - Descriptive imagery - appreciative tone - racial pride (embracing the girl's true self) - girl is symbolic of every black female can be loved for her skin, even in sadness Stanza 2 - reflects on the past - metaphor- blacks were once great; royal - Uses symbolism to portray the sadness that emanates from her voice - confidence of a slave, destined to be a queen Stanza 3 - forget that you were a slave - live life with happiness

Countee Cullen • Biography • Won major literary prizes like the Witter Bynner poetry contest in 1925. • Adopted in 1918 by Reverend Frederick A. and Carolyn Belle (Mitchell) Cullen • An outstanding student at DeWitt Clinton High School • Edited school newspapers and literary magazines.

Notable Works • Color (1925) • Copper Sun (1927) • The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927) • A brown girl dead (1925)

A Brown Girl Dead With two white roses on her breasts, White candles at head and feet, Dark Madonna of the grave she rests; Lord Death has found her sweet. Her mother pawned her wedding ring To lay her out in white; She’d be so proud she’d dance and sing To see herself tonight.

Analysis and how it fits in the Harlem Renaissance • In the poem Cullen uses the word white twice which is important because in the title its clear that Cullen is talking about a black person. in the first and second stanza, the word White is being used many times which is helping show that the author is trying to say that this black girl is living a life proud with white people. It seems like its a contrast of black and whites. "she'd be so proud she'd dance and sing to see herself tonight." • In the first stanza, the words "Dark" and "Death" are both capitalized. To me, this is implying that she’s referring dark to death because she capitalizes these words specifically other than the rest. The dark may refer to skin because the title has the color Brown in it. The rhyme scheme in this poem is (A-B-A-B)

AP Style Prompts Your Turn! Try out one of these: • 1. In the Harlem Renaissance, there were many occurrences of suppression, discrimination and sacrifice in the struggle to attain freedom. Choose a work of literary merit where the author effectively portrays the difficulty that is experienced in the journey to freedom. • 2. The Harlem Renaissance contains both positive and negative aspects to it. Choose 2 works of literature where it expresses both positive and negative sides of Harlem Renaissance then write a compare and contrast paper discussing about it. • 3. The Harlem Renaissance brought change as new and celebratory cultural movement. In a well-organized essay, explain how the Harlem Renaissance had impacted the period of 1920s using different examples from different works of literature.

Quiz • 1. What time period did the Harlem Renaissance begin? • A) 1900-1910 B) 1910-1928 C) 1920-1930 D) 1930-1940 • 2. Which of the following poets were not presented in the presentation? • A) Langston Hughes B) Claude McKay C) Zora Neale-Hurston D) Gwen Bennett • 3. What was the Harlem Renaissance? • A) A great artistic, intellectual and cultural movement for African-Americans • B) A time where African Americans celebrated their culture where many new writers and artists emerged • C) B only • D) A & B

Quiz • 4. What literary techniques were NOT mentioned in this presentation? A) Metaphor B) Personification C) Irony D) Tone • 5. What was the new sensation that formed from the Harlem Renaissance? • A) Fashion styles • B) Jazz music • C) Political reforms • D) all of the above

Resources • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bennett/life.htm • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm • http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmharlem1.html • http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Bennett__Gwendolyn.html • http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/ • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/claude-mckay • http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

Harlem Renaissance