Harlem Renaissance- Background Information

The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Renaissance, was an African American cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s. It was during a time period when many African Americans were moving from rural areas in the South to urban areas in the North after WWI. The movement started in the Harlem neighborhood of New York and spread throughout the United States. The movement greatly impacted literature, art, and music. Through literature, art, and music African Americans were able to express freedom, racial pride, a want for equality, and hope for a better future. These elements of art also expressed the hardships of slavery and racism, and how many African Americans were searching for a new identity with their newfound freedom. One of the main elements of the Harlem Renaissance is the diversity of expression. Although most artists expressed the same common theme, they expressed it in different ways. Music ranged from jazz to blues. Some artists had an abstract style while others used realism. Literature ranged from poetry to novels. There was no defined style of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance allowed artists to express their feeling about the past and the future. They could express their need and want for social equality. They could also tell their story and the struggles they went through because of their race. Many artists also expressed joy for their new freedom and opportunities, racial pride, and their hopes for the future.

Civil Rights Movement- Background Information

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States lasted from 1955-1968. The movement focused on abolishing racial discrimination and creating racial equality. African Americans fought for basic rights, like voting rights. African Americans also wanted freedom from discrimination and wanted to be given the same opportunities as other people. At the time, African Americans were discriminated against and segregation was everywhere. The movement was surrounded by much violence against the African American community. People protested the discrimination and unfair conditions through protests, boycotts, and sit-ins. Eventually, the country heard this group's message and agreed that what was happening was wrong. As a result, this movement helped desegregate the country and gave American Americans the basic rights that they had been fighting for.

During the Civil Rights Movement, artists were able to express their feelings and beliefs through their art. They were able to convey their message about discrimination and segregation to many people. These artists were a key factor in changing the opinions of many Americans on these issues.

Compare/Contrast

The Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement are similar in that they both involved African Americans fighting to end discrimination and revolved around racial pride. In both time periods, artists, writers, and musicians were able to express their feelings, stories, and messages to other people through their work. These people expressed the new experiences that went along with the changes of the movements.

The Harlem Renaissance is different from the Civil Rights Movement in several ways. During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans were just beginning to experience freedom and they were trying to form a new identity. During this time, the main form of expression was through literature, music, and art. There was much joy and pride during this time period. The Civil Rights movement was filled with much violence and hate. During this time, African Americans had established their identity and were fighting for their civil rights and equality. The main form of expression during this time was through protests, not forms of art.

Harlem Renaissance Musician- Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer during the Harlem Renaissance. He is considered one of the most influential figures in jazz. One of Ellington's most famous pieces is the song "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing)". The song is very happy and upbeat. This resembles the feeling many African Americans had at the time. They were experiencing new freedom and experiences that created much joy. This song also expresses a common feeling among Harlem Renaissance musicians. The song expresses that musicians have to have a passion for their music and give everything they have into their music. Many musicians during this time period agreed with this.

Harlem Renaissance Artist- Aaron Douglas

In this painting, Aaron Douglas expresses what the Harlem Renaissance symbolized for many African Americans. The people looking on to the city symbolizes the move of African Americans from the rural South to urban North. It also symbolizes the hope that many African Americans had for the future. The chains on the hands of the people symbolize the racial inequality African Americans had to deal with and what they hoped to leave behind.

Harlem Renaissance Male Writer- Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again

By Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Langston Hughes is an American writer known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. In his poem "Let America Be America Again", Hughes describes what America symbolizes. He explains that America symbolizes hope, freedom, and equality. He goes on to explain that African Americans, immigrants, and the poor do not know this America. He explains that this group of people is not treated equally and that these people have to go through many struggles because of who they are. Despite this, Hughes hopes that America can truly be America one day, where people can have freedom, equality, and hope. This poem embodies the Harlem Renaissance for many people, especially African Americans, who were searching for this America. These people had gone through many hardships in their life because of their race and they were fighting for true freedom and equality.

Harlem Renaissance Female Writer- Nella Larson

Nella Larsen focuses on the issue of skin color in her novel, Passing. In the novel, the light-skinned African Americans dominated black establishment and were successful, whereas dark-skinned African Americans felt rejected. Some of the light-skinned people passed for white people, and the others led fairly successful lives. These characters symbolized the importance of skin color to many people during this time period. During and before the Harlem Renaissance, many white people considered themselves to be better than African Americans, and were often more successful. African Americans were discriminated against and were not given the same opportunities as many white people. Passing expressed the importance of skin color during the Harlem Renaissance.

Civil Rights Movement Musician- Joan Baez

Joan Baez is an American folksinger. She made the song "We Shall Overcome" popular during the Civil Rights Movement when she sang it at the March on Washington, the political rally where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. The inspirational song talks about uniting as a group and overcoming the challenge together. It expresses that if the group continues to fight, then one day they will overcome the struggle. This song symbolizes the struggle for freedom and equal rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Many people felt that if they joined together and worked together, than they could be successful. As a result, more and more people joined and fought for the movement in hopes of overcoming discrimination.

Civil Rights Movement Artist- Malkia Roberts

Malkia Roberts, an American painter, painted "Spectrum" during the Civil Rights Movement in 1972. The image is of an African American woman. This painting expresses the same feelings many other African American woman felt at the time. In this painting, the woman shows little emotion, like she has accepted her current situation. At the same time, the woman is also looking up. This shows that she has accepted her current situation, but she is looking to the future for a better life. During the Civil Rights Movement, many people had come to terms with all of the struggles they were put through, but they still had hope for a better future.

Civil Rights Movement Writer- Maya Angelou

Still I Rise

by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/still-i-rise/

Maya Angelou is an American poet and writer who was very influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Her poem, "Still I Rise", was one of her literary works during this time. This poem describes the struggles she had faced throughout her life because of discrimination. It also expresses that despite these struggles, she was able to get through it and was able to rise above it all. This was the case for many African Americans during this time period. Many African Americans had to deal with these struggles because of their race, but they were determined to not let it stop them and they were able to rise above it. In other words, African Americans were not going to let other peoples' attempts to hurt them affect them.