Harlem Renaissance Poetry

1. Harlem Renaissance Poetry Keyana, Brianna, and Mari Period 1

2. The Harlem Renaissance Movement • Also known as the New Negro Movement • During the early 1920’s and 1930’s • Expressed themselves through music, art, and literature • Black artists and intellectuals celebrated their Black dignity and creativity • They explored their identities as Black-Americans, celebrating the Black culture that had emerged out of slavery and acknowledged their cultural ties to Africa • Jazz and blues music emerged in this era because it could be personalized with the musicians emotions • Swing dancing also became a staple to this time period • This movement strongly influenced the white community • Influenced places all over the world and was a peak of excellence for all African-Americans

3. Notable Works from the Harlem Renaissance • Archibald John Motley, Jr; artist “A Picnic” (1936) “Self Portrait” (1933) “The Blues” (1929)

4. Notable Works from the Harlem Renaissance • Duke Ellington; songwriter, conductor, played various instruments • “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If You Ain’t Got That Swing)” (1943) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg “Take the A Train” (1943) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnurVNkg62Q

5. Langston Hughes • He was a poet, playwright, and novelist. • He was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, MO. • He excelled at predominantly white schools in Topeka and Lowerence, where he faced prejudice from certain officials. Between 1910 and 1915 he lived in Lincoln, Illonios, with his mother who have remarried after divorcing his father. • At Central School he wrote his first poem and was elected class poet in the eight grade. • Handsome and personable, a leading runner and high-jumper, and the author of verse and short stories published in the school magazine, he was popular and respected. • Hughes entered Columbia University. By this point, he had absorbed his early influences in poetry-notably the black poet Paul Haurence Dunbar, Walt Whitman, and above all Carl Sandburg, whom Hughes referred to as “My Guiding Star.” • In 1921-1922 he published free-verse poems such as “ The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Mother to Son” • In May 1925, his first book “The Weary Blues,” won first prize in poetry in a major literary contest ran by Opportunity, the magazine of the Urban League. • He then met Carl Van Vechter, white writer who encouraged Alfred A. Knopf to publish Hughes first book of poems, The Weary Blues. • From 1927 to 1930 he enjoyed the patronage of Mrs. Rufus Osgood Mason, a deathly aged widow with faith in parapsychology. Under her audience, Hughes wrote his first novel, Not Without Laughter • Continued school and wrote poetry in the United States until his death on May 22, 1967

6. Notable Works • “I, too” • “As I Grew Older” • “The Ballad of the Landlord”

7. Mother to Son: Analysis • Title: the speaker of this poem will probably be a mother speaking to her son • Paraphrase: This poem is about an African-American mother who is warning her son about the hardships of life • Speaker: an African-American woman who is the mother of a young son • Figurative language: “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” meaning that life for his mother has not been easy, nor perfect. Crystal symbolizing something that is beautiful, something with little flaw, or something that was valued. • Attitude: Positive and uplifting • Shift(s): line 8 • Theme: What’s the theme of this poem class?

8. Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) • Born in Atlanta, Georgia • Johnson graduated from Atlanta university's Normal School in 1896 • 1902 to 1903 she attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music • On September 28, 1903, Johnson married Henry Lincoln Johnson, an Atlanta lawyer and Republican party member. They had two sons, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Jr. and Peter Douglas Johnson • Johnson's husband accepted an appointment as the Recorder of Deeds from the president William Howard Taft, and the family moved to Washington D.C. in 1910. It was during this period that Johnson began to write poems and stories. • Johnson began to host what became forty years of weekly "Saturday Salons", for friends and authors, including Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Alain Locke, Jessie RedmonFauset, Angelina Weld Grimke and Eulalie Spence; all major contributors to the Harlem Renaissance. • In September 2009, it was announced that Johnson would be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, 43 years after her death.

9. Notable Works • “The Heart of a Woman” (1918) • “Bronze” (1922) • “An Autumn Love Cycle” (1928)

10. Black Woman: Analysis • We can predict that it was going to be about struggle because she was an African American woman and African Americans were already having to deal with racism and at this time women were not treated as equals, therefore she endured twice the struggle. • Georgia Douglas is talking about being a black woman who does not want to bring a child into the harsh racist world. She herself knows "the cruelty and pain" of the world and does not want her child to deal with the same thing. When she says "wait in the still eternity" it is as though she never feels the world will be safe enough to bring a child into it. • The tone is fear. • She uses diction to describe the cruelty of the world. She also uses metaphors as well. For example, she says "don't knock at my door, little child" meaning she does not want to get pregnant. Johnson also refers to white racist men as "monster men inhabiting the earth". • Theme: What’s the theme of this poem class?

11. Claude McKay (1878–1972) • Australian journalist • Writer/Poet • A seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance • Wrote four novels: Home to Harlem, Banjo, & Banana bottom • Attracted to communism • Born in Nairne Castle, Clarendon, Jamaica • Started basic school at the church that he attended • Became an avid reader of classical and British literature • Studied at Kansas State • Segregation inspired him to become a writer • Became a part of the black radicals • Fought for black self-determination

12. Notable Works • "America” • "Harlem Shadows” • "If We Must Die” • "On Broadway”

13. Harlem Shadows: Analysis • Imagery: The imagery shown is from light to dark or black to white, the main problem McKay focused on was prostitution in Harlem and he explained that it was dark and dirty where the prostitution would occur. (McKay 3, 2). He also explains how there are problems because the prostitutes are the “wrong color” he also explained how they belong to the night, it is the condition of their “fallen race”. (McKay 16). When he talks about the girl’s feet is because he considers them travelers. “Slippered feet” refers to their innocence (McKay 5). “Gray”, “tired” and “timid”, “sacred” and “brown” (McKay 8, 11, 15, 16) this all represents their defenselessness. • Syntax; the problem of prostitution was shown in the first couple of sentences in the other sentences are explaining why they prostitute and the rest explain the sadness it brings to his heart to witness this going on around him. • Figurative Language: “last snow-flake has dropped from heaven upon the earth’s white breast” (McKay 9-10) he uses personification to explain how the white world forced them to become prostitutes. • Diction: McKay shows how bad the struggle was by being simple and to the point by explaining how racism led the females to becoming prostitutes because they became desperate and vulnerable. • Theme: What’s the theme of this poem class?

14. Interactive Poetry Lesson *Directions: Volunteers come up to the board and identify at least one piece of figurative language you found in this poem. *Explain how it relates to the Harlem Renaissance.

15. “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay If we must die, let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursèd lot.If we must die, O let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!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!

16. Quiz • What did Harlem Renaissance poets mostly write about? • What time era (years) did the Harlem Renaissance take place? • Give an alternate theme for “If We Must Die” • Name the famous Harlem Renaissance artist that we discussed today. • The Harlem Renaissance was also known as what? • What literary devices did Langston Hughes often use in his poetry? • What was the theme of “Black Woman?” • Name a Duke Ellington song. • What type of music emerged during the Harlem Renaissance? • What inspired most Harlem Renaissance poets?

17. AP Prompts • Select several Harlem Renaissance authors’ works to consider the question of black authenticity and the role of the movement as an expression of distinctly African American culture. • Discuss several Harlem Renaissance writers' uses of religious verse and imagery, both individually and as a group. Are their symbolic representations of these tropes different from treatments you find in other eras of African American literature? In Anglo-American literary contexts? If so, how are they different?

18. Links • www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/claude-mckay • www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g.../douglas-johnson/poetry.htm • www.allpoetry.com/Langston_Hughes • www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19686 • http://www.biography.com/people/duke-ellington-9286338