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Harlem Renaissance: African-American Struggle for Cultural Identity

Explore the themes of integration and assimilation for African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. Analyze the obstacles they faced in claiming a distinct cultural identity, the use of African settings and symbols in visual arts, and the promotion of racial pride through literature and music.

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Harlem Renaissance: African-American Struggle for Cultural Identity

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  1. Harlem Renaissance Themes for Analysis

  2. The Harlem Renaissance • Why is integration and assimilation different for African-Americans than European immigrants in the early twentieth century?

  3. African-Americans’ struggle to claim a distinct cultural identity and yet be seen as American WB Dubois “The Souls of Black Folk” and the metaphor of the “Veil” Obstacles to claiming a cultural identity: discrimination, stereotypes, lost African heritage, white approval/disapproval Hughes “I, Too, Sing America” Double-Consciousness

  4. Uses African settings, images, and symbols attracts whites and fulfills a desire to search for the roots of a lost heritage - Visual Arts Seeks to obliterate old stereotypes Dubois and Hughes Presents the beauty and truth of African-American life and promotes racial pride Claude McKay “America” Encourages integration and contact with the white and black upper classes Hughes “Theme for English B” New Negro Identity

  5. “All Art is Propaganda” Dubois and other prominent leaders criticize all “Black Art” that doesn’t portray African-Americans positively Seek to undue the damage done by years of racial stereotypes Expose the effects of discrimination, combat racial stereotypes and promote pride and activism. “True Negro Art” must resist the urge “towards whiteness.” Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and others look towards folk music and stories to represent a more authentic racial identity “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” The Blues, Jazz and Spirituals “The Weary Blues” The Purpose of African-American Art

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