Harlem Renaissance Webquest

1. Harlem Renaissance Webquest English 11

2. Background and introduction • The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American artistic movement that occurred in the years between WWI and The Great Depression.  • This social movement was spurred by a large-scale migration of African-Americans from rural areas in the South to cities in the North.  • Your task is to carefully examine a series of websites pertaining to the Harlem Renaissance and explore the characteristics, qualities, and people that impacted the Harlem Renaissance. 

3. Directions • Webquest will teach you how to acquire information about the Harlem Renaissance from informative websites and apply this new knowledge in the creation of documentaries that demonstrate your learning on the subject.  • There are four different categories: Dance, Music, Literature, and Art of the Harlem Renaissance.  • You will be answering questions from each category. You will be given links to start your search for the answers-you do not have to limit yourself to these websites.

4. Directions continued • You may do this Webquest in any order. • You will need to know what you are answering – • Either copy the question or label the topic being written about. • You may type your responses or write them. • Have Fun!!

5. Art of the Harlem Renaissance • http://www.iniva.org/harlem/negro.html • During the time period, the social movement we now call the Harlem Renaissance was called the "New Negro Movement" why do you think this name was recognized as appropriate?  • - Consider the changes in America between the end of the Civil War and the start of WW II, why is it that many African-Americans were actively trying to define what it meant to be both "African" and "American"?

6. Art Continued • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQBK8lQ7sZ4 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGcZGBEXPY0 • The art of the Harlem Renaissance seems overwhelmingly optimistic, despite the fact that Harlem  was already in a state of economic decline and many African-American performers were not embraced by mainstream America. • As you watch the two videos think about why that might be.

7. Art-Jacob Lawrence • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4lgvB5cV5E • This website includes images of all 60 panel paintings that Jacob Lawrence did to document the Great Migration.  Why do you think Lawrence chose this subject for his big project? •  - What themes and trends do you notice that reoccur throughout the paintings? •  - Choose one panel painting, describe how the painting relates to specific things that you know about American History.

8. Literature • http://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/harlem-renaissance-what-was-it-and-why-does-it-matter • What were some significant characteristics of the literary movement during the Harlem Renaissance, and how are they reflective of the culture of the period?http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/migrations/text8/lockenewnegro.pdf--Describe the transformation from the "Old Negro" to the "New Negro".  Which significant works/writers during the Harlem Renaissance would you say influenced or contributed to this transformation?

9. Langston Hughes • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0URpI9nKQ • https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/negro-speaks-rivers • Listen to and read the famous poem • The Negro Speaks of Rivers. What is the historical importance of the following lines: I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans

10. Langston HughesI Too Sing American • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rti7vmujaL4 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaDMSKZVKNY • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Ir2JEyC3M • I have given you three reading of Langston Hughes famous poem, I, too, sing American. Watch them in order. • What does it mean to be an American? I know that this could be a very involved paper – see of you can summarize it in 2 paragraphs.

11. Music • Where was Jazz first documented? What is it a fusion of? • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRbQO3Dp9GM • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4ZFsm9msv4-- The Joint is Jumpin’ and That Ain’t All • (it may take a minute for the audio to load) • What do you think of Jazz?  Have you ever listened to Jazz before?  Why do you think it became so popular so quickly?

12. Music-The Cotton club • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/peopleevents/e_harlem.html • https://youtu.be/szHWzomqBMI • https://youtu.be/rLNZdovc3PI • What helped to popularize Jazz?  Why do you think this increased the popularity of Jazz?-- Who was Duke Ellington?  What was his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance? 

13. Dance • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8NAhfhWnnE • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahoJReiCaPk • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp9b-0F8bQ4 • The first link is an overview of dance, the second is a specific dance originating in Harlem, called the Lyndie, and the third is dancing at a rent party. • Why do you think most styles of dance was highly improvised? • Why was the Lindy Hop so popular (you may have to search elsewhere)? How were dances like this used as a form of cultural and personal expression? • Can you think of popular dances today that are used as a forms of expression? • The last link is of a rent party-do a search and find out what a rent party is?