Unit 6 - Youngstown City Schools

Youngstown City Schools Curriculum Project

ENGLISH / LANGUAGE ARTS - - Grade 8

Unit #6: HARLEM RENAISSANCE? (4.5 Weeks) 2013-2014

SYNOPSIS: In this unit, students will read about the Harlem Renaissance. Following their emancipation, many slaves migrated to the north to begin new lives as domestics, tradesmen, and farmers. A great number went to New York City, where they settled in the area called Harlem. Using excerpts from The Harlem Stomp; the novel Harlem Summer; assorted poetry; and a short story, students will read about the birth of music, art, literature, social reforms, and political ideals that characterized the movement in the early years of the

20 th century. By the end of the Unit, students will investigate a topic from the Harlem Renaissance and prepare a brief presentation for their peers. In collaboration with their Science classes, the students will also complete an Informational Research paper.

NOTE: This Unit includes the INFORMATIONAL PAPER in collaboration with Science. Coordinate schedule for submission of Note-Cards with Science Teacher.

STANDARDS

RL 8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL 8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL 8.5 Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style .

RI 8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

RI 8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

RI 8.9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation .

W 8.2 Write informative /explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. a.

Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories; include formatting (e.g.

, headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. b.

Develop the topic with relevant well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples. c.

Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts. d.

Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. e.

Establish and maintain a formal style. f.

Provide a concluding statement or section that

follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.

YCS Grade 8 English / Language Arts: Unit 6 - - Harlem Renaissance 2013-2014 1

W 8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 8.1 – 8.3.)

W 8.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 8.1-8.3 up to and including grade 7)

SL 8.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

SL 8.5 Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

Materials

FICTION POETRY DRAMA ON-LINE / AUDIO NON-FICTION

N/A Harlem Summer

Walter Dean Meyers

“Mary Elizabeth,”

Jessie Redmon Fauset

“”Calling Dreams,”

Georgia Douglas Johnson

“A Dream Deferred,”

Langston Huhes

Youtube selection:

“Harlem Renaissance: The Rise of

African American Literature, Art and Music” Rob94901

The Harlem Stomp,

(reference for teachers in

Media Centers) Laban

Carrick Hill

Key Terms

General Vocabulary Literary Skills Writing Skills

Emancipation Proclamation

Renaissance migration integration flourish urban discrimination aristocracy

“Jim Crow laws”

Harlem

NAACP

MOTIVATION analysis interpretation (multiple) evaluation text evidence inference character interactions text structure summarize central idea/theme figurative language research identify claims and

counterclaims support with evidence find credible sources provide transition/cohesion draft/edit/revise task purpose audience

Speaking /Listening and Language

Skills present information in clear, coherent manner use appropriate language, volume and

eye contact integrate multimedia and/or visual displays

TEACHER NOTES

1.

Teacher opens up class discussion by asking, “What happened to the slaves following the Emancipation Proclamation?”

Teacher lists responses on the board asking more guiding questions leading to the migration to Harlem.

Teacher asks another question to focus the unit: “What do you know of Harlem? What was the Harlem

Renaissance?” Again, the student responses are jotted down on the board.

2.

Teacher show students the Brain Pop Activity

( www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistoryharlemrenaissance/ ) after distributing the Brain Pop

Vocabulary List, a list of terms associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Students are instructed to listen for each term, jot notes; and work in 2s or 3s to create “student-friendly” definitions.

(Attachment #1 Brain Pop)

3. Teacher and students debrief to describe the Harlem Renaissance based on - what, when, who was


involved, what was the lasting impact. [ cont’d ]

MOTIVATION TEACHER NOTES

4. Teacher shows a 10-minute YouTube video: “Harlem Renaissance: The Rise of African-American

Literature, Art, and Music” (YouTube/Watch?v=9RQ-Ha9JmpI) to get an expanded sense of the

Harlem Renaissance. Students journal predictions of what they will learn this era.

5. Teacher directs students to write one academic and one personal goal which will be monitored throughout the unit.

6. Teacher previews the Unit: The Harlem Renaissance, Informational Paper, Traditional Assessments, and class work.

TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Introduction to Harlem

1. Teacher and students read “The Forward” from The Harlem Stomp written by Nikki Giovanni as an introduction to the Harlem Renaissance era. (Attachment #2) Teacher and students discuss the meanings of the underlined words and highlight 6-10 main ideas describing the Harlem

Renaissance. Students use this information to write a summary in their journals. (RI 8.2)

2. Teacher and students discuss the central ideas from the excerpt, “The Great Migration”

(Attachment #3) reading selection … how it develops (e.g., slaves fed up with the oppression and racism in the South; freed slaves sought a better life in the North etc).

FICTION - - NOVEL Harlem Summer

3. Teacher introduces the novel, Harlem Summer by providing some context for the novel. Teacher should provide a brief overview of the book before reading. Teacher and students read the first three chapters together including student volunteers. Then, teacher assigns short reading assignments/chunks followed by discussion groups with leading questions such as – Describe how you would feel in this situation. What are the differences between then and now? How does Harlem seem different from your neighborhood? etc. ( Attachment 4 is helpful in abridging text.) Students may also use these and other discussion questions as journal prompts.

4. Discussion and writing activities should focus on (a) point of view; (b) setting; (c) theme; (d) plot events; (e) language etc.

5. As students read the novel, teacher asks students if they found any figurative language, connotative meanings or technical words that give the selection a particular tone. Then, write or project these quotes on the board and ask students to identify a. figurative language b. connotative meanings c. technical words. (RI 8.4)

It is suggested that students then FIND their OWN examples.

FICTION - - SHORT STORY “Mary Elizabeth”

6. Teacher introduces the short story, “Mary Elizabeth,”(class set provided with “Harlem Stomp” packet) by explaining that most of the women coming North were “domestics.” Teacher and students read the selection using various reading techniques (e.g., read-aloud, pair reading etc.)

Students watch for - - (RL 8.1) (RL 8.2) a. a different dialect

TEACHER NOTES


b. explicit details c inferences supported by details d. theme/central idea … how it developed through the characters, setting, plot events and tone.

Following the reading, students write a short letter (5 – 7 sentences). This letter will be from Mary

Elizabeth to her cousins in the South explaining how her life in the North is better than the one she knew in the South. Students may read their letters to the class or in groups. (RL 8.1; W 8.4)

[ cont’d ]

TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES

POETRY

“Calling Dreams” [ NOTE: do not show author’s name yet ]

7. Teacher has students read “Calling Dreams” (Attachment #5); teacher asks students to

“interpret” what the poet means in a whole class discussion (e.g., attitude … change of heart … resolution).

It may be helpful if students read the poem silently first and then read aloud together as a class.

Before reading, teacher reminds students to think of those elements discussed earlier: structure, tone, subject, setting, language, etc. (RL 8.5) Note: Do not disclose the author’s name yet.

8. Teacher leads students in the analysis of the structure of the poem, “Calling Dreams:”

(e.g., Subject _______________ (the subject or topic)

Structure _______________ (the poem’s shape; author’s approach; format)

Tone _______________ (what is the “feeling” conveyed)

Language_______________ (emphasize figurative language; punctuation; sentence length)

“A Dream Deferred” [ NOTE: do not show author’s name yet ]

7. Teacher has students read “A Dream Deferred” (Attachment #5) and follow the same process of discussing and analyzing the poem as was used with “Calling Dreams” (Tasks 7, 8). (RL 8.5)

8. The structural analysis is best done whole class. A good first question might be:

 Which poem was written by a man?

 Which poem was written by a woman?

 How was this determined?

Teacher will provide a brief bio sketch of the two poets (Attachment #6), Langston Hughes and

Georgia Douglas Brown, before continuing with the comparison of the structural analysis of the two poems. (RL 8.5)

9. Using the example found in (Attachment #1), the teacher should draw the graph on the board or poster paper and complete it with the class, adding whatever information has not been provided by the students.

10. Teacher uses information from The Harlem Stomp or internet sources on two significant figures of this time, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Dubois. Students will read the material noting the similarities and differences in the philosophies/beliefs of the two men in their journals. A discussion of their similarities and differences may be recorded using a Venn Diagram or a 3-

Column List (Garvey – DuBois – Both). Teacher concludes discussion by asking students to journal their feelings about how each of these men impacted their lives today. (RI 8.9) d ] [

[

PRESENTATION: The HARLEM RENAISSANCE

11. Students work in 2s and 3s to select a topic from the Harlem Renaissance to investigate further.

Teams use the web, library resources, unit hand-outs, etc. for research. Students create a presentation which includes (1) topic, (2) visual display or multimedia, (3) audio recording, if music,

(4) who was associated with it and (5) highlight the important points of the topic. Each student is accountable for each standard. (SL 8.4 and SL 8.5)

TEACHER NOTES


INFORMATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT

12. Teacher introduces the Informational Paper to students - - reminding them of the lead-up research project they did in the prior Unit. The Science teachers will work with students in selecting topics, researching information from print, electronic, primary and secondary resources. Then students will bring materials to English teachers and follow the writing process and organization of materials for the argumentative paper. See Informational Research Paper FOLIO (attached to Curriculum

Map). (W 8.2 a-f, W 8.4, W 8.5 )

c[

TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT

Unit Test

Teacher-developed content tests or quizzes

Projects/Presentations

Journals

AUTHENITC OR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

1. Each student will complete the Informational Research Paper in collaboration with Science teachers.

(W 8.2 a-f, W 8.4, W 8.5 )

TEACHER NOTES

TEACHER NOTES


Attachment #1 Brain Pop Activity

Harlem Renaissance Vocabulary

Can you explain these terms in your own words?

1. Renaissance

2. Harlem

3. Flourish

4. Minority

5. Discrimination

6. Migration

7. Urban

8. Alienate (a verb)

9. Motif

10. Integration

11. Choose an additional term from the movie to define


Attachment #1 (cont’d) Brain Pop Activity

Harlem Renaissance Vocabulary

W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Explain his importance not only to The Great

Migration and The Harlem Renaissance but also to our lives today.

COMPLETE THESE STATEMENTS.

1. The Harlem Renaissance took place after the ____________________________________________________________ of African-Americans to the urban North and West from 1910 to 1920.

2. Harlem was a neighborhood in uptown _________________________________________.

3. Another name for the Harlem Renaissance is the _________________________________________________________.

THINK ABOUT IT – Explain how the Harlem Renaissance was a “rebirth.”


Attachment #1 (cont’d) Brain Pop Activity

Historical Summary

HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The Harlem Renaissance had a great cultural impact. Share some of its significant contributions below.

MIGRATION LITERATURE

_________________________ _________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

HARLEM

RENAISSANCE

MUSIC

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

POLITICS

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________


Attachment #2

The Harlem Stomp - - Forward by Nikki Giovanni

One of the most exciting periods in American History, if not in the history of the world, is the Harlem Renaissance.

In the early part of the twentieth century, Harlem was a hotbed of intellectual, artistic, literary and political blossoming for Black people. In response to the Black codes that were designed to undo the progressive 13 th , 14 th and 15 th Amendments to the constitution, the Black population started voting with its feet and walking away from the brutality and hardships of the South. One can almost hear them ask, “Shall we gather at the river?” before they marched to the North. No mater what price they might have to pay, gather they did. They came to St. Louis,

Chicago and ultimately to Harlem seeking peace, prosperity and freedom. Stepping out on faith, they both preserved and created a culture. A people who were chattel only a generation earlier took over the cultural quilt of

Americana and warmed the world.

It is an amazing of propaganda that Black people were lazy. Aside from the obvious impossibility that a slave cannot be alive and lazy, the fact is Blacks have worked and worked hard and successfully, in every field of endeavor they have been allowed to pursue. What a crazy irony that the people who had faithfully cleared the forest and planted the very crops that would be staples of the young country who had valiantly fought in each war, who had remained good and faithful friends through natural and manmade disasters, were now subject to unspeakable crimes. Blacks- who were lynched, bombed and burned out by Whites for trying to exercise basic citizenship rights, and then had to watch those same terrorists claim that Blacks were not able and did not want to vote, go to school or participate in the life of the community and country – were aghast at the blasphemy. Blacks had had enough. They left for the cities. They left for their physical and emotional well-being. They left to give their children a better chance.

There can be no doubt that they were scared. They had nothing but their great hearts, which had carried them through two hundred of the darkest years of Euro-American history. How these years came to be years of shame for Black people is beyond understanding. It is not we who kidnapped, raped and ravished a people. It is not we who continue to struggle against equality and opportunity.

The Harlem Renaissance is a testament to Black people’s perseverance. It’s a sounding call of Black innovation, freedom and creativity. In music, the Harlem Renaissance brought together a gaggle of Blacks who sang their plantation songs and them made a variation called blues and them made a variation called jazz. The Spirituals and jazz are now considered American music, but that can only be true if Blacks are an American people.

The Renaissance can also be viewed through its literature. It was a great literature that was nurtured and created.

Countee Cullen poignantly remembered a visit to Baltimore; Claude McKay in his famous poem “If We Must Die” demanded, “if we must die let it not be like hogs”; Zora Neale Hurston brought her keen observations to life and laughed at everybody; and the incomparable Langston Hughes wanted ultimately to know “What Happens to a

Dream Deferred?” In his beautiful and eloquent poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes , like his peers, found the voice of justice, the voice of hope and put it into words that others would hear, identify with, and understand.

Visual artists, such as Aaron Douglas, had to overcome the negative images that had been perpetuated during slavery and Reconstruction. Movies like Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind had to be countered with true images of a people struggling to find a place for themselves in a nation ashamed of its past. Harlem Stomp! celebrates these brave and wonderful people. Harlem Stomp! finds both truth and joy in the struggle of rebirth.

Harlem Stomp! Is an American history of an American people redefining this great American nation.


Attachment #3 The Great Migration by Richard Wormser

Within the black community, there had been constant migration since the end of the 19 th century. Much of that migration had taken place within the south as blacks migrated from place to place trying to make a decent living. In the 20 th century, blacks started to move to the North as the train provided easy access to Chicago and other

Northern cities. When World War I began in Europe, and foreign workers could no longer emigrate to America, factories needed a new labor source. Hundreds of thousands of blacks migrated from the South to Chicago and other cities of the North. The Chicago Defender, the most influential black newspaper, encouraged blacks to leave.

The paper held a vision of the North as the land of freedom, a dream that has been in the hearts of black men and women since slavery time – many referred to the North as “The Promised Land.” Young Richard Wright, who became an internationally acclaimed writer, remembered how the North kept hope alive during the dark days of his childhood in the deep South. “The North symbolized to me all that I had not felt or seen; it had no relation to what actually existed. Yet by imagining a place where everything is possible, it kept hope alive inside of me.”

Southern whites feared the migration would deprive them of black labor. Blacks saw the exodus as a fulfillment of

God’s promise. A Birmingham minister offered the following prayer to his congregation: “We feel and believe that this great Exodus is God’s hand and plan. In a mysterious way God is moving upon the hearts of our people to go where He has prepared for them.” Among those who migrated were the most creative people in the South. Jazz musicians came from New Orleans to play in Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. Blues players came from the

Delta. The NAACP welcomed writers and poets like writer Zora Neale Hurston, poet Langston Hughes, and sculptor Augusta Savage. They, along with poet Countee Cullen and other black artists, created a cultural explosion known as the “Harlem Renaissance.” The migration slowed down during the Depression in the 1930’s but picked up speed when World War II began. Again jobs opened up in factories. At the same time, mechanization came to the cotton fields, displacing many black farmers. Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated six million blacks migrated from the South.


Attachment #4

IDEAS FOR ABRIDGING TEXT

In reality, many, many students will not take the time - - or are unable, or often both - - to read a text in its entirety. But most will cooperate enough to read parts of a text, or abridgments. Experience has shown two levels of benefit.

In the immediate, it exposes students to timely and important literature and creates a common base of experience and information for the entire class - - importantly including Special Needs students.

Farther-reaching (but many teachers tell us sometime sooner than later) is the effect that students are motivated by the abridgment to read the entire piece on their own. - - and that helps to assuage our guilt in committing such a sacrilege against the piece.

STEP 1

Read the piece.

But have with you - - a. a pad and pen (laptop, I-pad, or other note-taking device) b. four colors of sticky-notes

(1) unless you are fortunate enough to have working paper copy - - in which case, use four colors of marker

(2) unless you are fortunate enough to have the text as a work document - - in which case, make 2 copies; you’ll probably change your mind at least once; use four colors of highlighting

(a) yellow = anchor text (aka “must read;” these passages are the heart and soul of the piece, and they

MUST be read and understood); typically highlighting important details of SCAMP

1. [S] setting

2. [C] characterization

3. [AM] author’s message or controlling idea

4. [P] plot development

(b) green = CLEAR examples of author’s style or technique (e.g., flashback; foreshadowing; parallel plots; everything in 3s; asides; rhetorical devices such as irony, repeated images of color or texture, etc.)

(c) pink = SIGNIFICANT, turn-key vocabulary and language (not just gotcha words or phrases but those that are essential to fully-grasping the message or so remarkable that they need to be savored)


(d) blue = the author’s message or controlling idea(s)

Attachment #4, page 2

STEP 2

Step back to admire your work.

Typically, you’ve marked WAY more than you’ll really need. But maybe not. Apply the Goldilocks principal: a. not too much - - or they may as well read the whole thing b. not too little - - or they’ll miss why you selected it in the first place c. just right ! - - enough so they’ll get the idea, master the standards you’re addressing, and want to go back to read the entire thing on their own.

A few LOOSE rules of thumb for selecting text you want students to read

1. The first big chunk that sets the stage - - offers the first glimpse of SCAMP (may NOT be the very first pages, but students need a sense of this before moving forward.

2. A chunk that has a major shift or turn-key event in the plot

3. A chunk that has a major shift in characterization

4. A chunk that has a major shift in setting

5. A chunk that has a major reflection of the author’s message

6. Sections of text with particularly remarkable language (dramatic, interesting, vivid, or figurative).

The remaining text - - the text you’ve not chosen - - you will summarize or paraphrase for students. You’ll be sort of “filling students in” between the big chunks.

STEP 3

Devise the plan of attack with students

1. Introduce students to the author’s (poet’s, playwright’s) background and motivation for writing the piece.

2. Preview of the text: a. Vocabulary? ONLY if there are terms or phrases essential to the author’s

message, list them on a wall chart. Find out if students already know any of the terms. Record at least a place-holder definition - - just to get students underway.


Attachment #4, page 3 b. Concepts or Ideas? ONLY if they are so complicated and unfamiliar that the students cannot navigate the text without them.

3. Employ a variety of reading strategies and student response techniques; mix and match from the following:

Reading

(a) Teacher read-aloud

(b) Student silent reading

(c) Student partner-read

(d) Student read-aloud (voluntary)

Students Processing What They Read

(a) write bullet points

(b) write questions

(c) make drawings

(d) turn to an elbow partner and paraphrase or summarize

4. Tackle Chunk 1

- - using a variety of reading strategies

- - with students processing the information in various ways

5. Tackle Chunk 2

Etc.


Attachment #5 Harlem Renaissance Poetry: Calling Dreams/ Dreams Deferred

“A Dream Deferred”

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

“Calling Dreams”

The right to make my dreams come true

I ask, nay, I demand of life,

Nor shall fate’s deadly contraband

Impede my steps, nor countermand.

Too long my heart against the ground

Has beat the dusty years around,

Too long my heart against the ground

Has beat the dusty years around

And now, at length, I rise, I wake!

And stride into the morning break!


Attachment #6 Biographical Sketches

Langston Hughes and Georgia Douglas Johnson

Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967)

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue.”

He was first published in The Crisis in 1921. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", which became Hughes's signature poem, was collected in his first book of poetry The Weary Blues (1926). Hughes's life and work were enormously influential during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, alongside those of his contemporaries, Zora Neale

Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, and Aaron Douglas. Except for

McKay, they worked together also to create the short-lived magazine, Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists.

Hughes and his contemporaries had different goals and aspirations than the black middle class. They criticized the men known as the midwives of the Harlem Renaissance: W. E. B. Du Bois, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Alain

LeRoy Locke, as being overly accommodating and assimilating euro-centric values and culture to achieve social equality.

Hughes and his fellows tried to depict the "low-life" in their art, that is, the real lives of blacks in the lower social-economic strata. They criticized the divisions and prejudices based on skin color within the black community.

Hughes identified as unashamedly black at a time when blackness was démodé. He stressed the theme of "black is beautiful" as he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths. His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience.

His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working-class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind. Hughes is quoted as saying that he confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America’s image of itself; a “people’s poet” who sought to re-educate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes - cite_note-43

Hughes stressed a racial consciousness and cultural nationalism devoid of self-hate. His thought united people of

African descent and Africa across the globe to encourage pride in their diverse black folk culture and black aesthetic. Hughes was one of the few prominent black writers to champion racial consciousness as a source of inspiration for black artists. In addition to his example in social attitudes, Hughes had an important technical influence by his emphasis on folk and jazz rhythms as the basis of his poetry of racial pride.


Attachment #6, p. 2 Biographical Sketches

Langston Hughes and Georgia Douglas Johnson

Georgia Douglas Johnson (September 10, 1880 – May 14, 1966)

Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson better known as Georgia Douglas Johnson was an American poet and a member of the Harlem Renaissance.

She was born in Atlanta, Georgia where she received an excellent education. She excelled in reading, recitations and physical education. She also taught herself to play the violin, which developed into a lifelong love of music.

Johnson graduated from Atlanta University's Normal School in 1896. She taught school worked as an assistant principal. Johnson then traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to study piano, harmony, and voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio from 1902 – 1903.

On September 28, 1903, Johnson married Henry Lincoln Johnson, an Atlanta lawyer and prominent Republican party member. They had two sons, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Jr. and Peter Douglas Johnson Johnson's husband accepted an appointment from 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.

She began to submit poems to newspapers and small magazines. She published her first poem in 1916 when she was thirty-six. She published four volumes of poetry, beginning in 1918 with The Heart of a Woman. Johnson also wrote songs, taught music, and performed as an organist at her Congregational church.

As a gesture of appreciation for her husband's loyalty and service to the Republican party, President Calvin

Coolidge appointed Johnson as the Commissioner of Conciliation in the Department of Labor. Soon after her husband's death, Johnson began to host what became forty years of weekly "Saturday Salons", for friends and authors, including Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Anne Spencer, Richard Bruce Nugent, Alain Locke, Jessie

Redmon Fauset, Angelina Weld Grimke and Eulalie Spence - all major contributors to the New Negro Movement, which is better known today as the Harlem Renaissance. She was especially close to the writer Angelina Grimke.

In September 2009, it was announced that Johnson would be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.


Tone

Structure

Language

Attachment #6, p. 2

Structural Analysis

The Poetry of Langston Hughes and Georgia Douglas Johnson

Note to Teachers: This simple graph/chart should be drawn on the board or poster paper to complete following the students’ reading of “A Dream Deferred” and “Calling Dreams.” Student responses should be recorded.

HUGHES

Subject

JOHNSON

Dreams

Figurative Language


Attachment #7

Harlem Jive

from

The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era

Jive

Ah-ah

Ain’t got ‘em

Bardacious

Belly rub

Berries

Boogie-woogie

Bookooing

Bottle it, bottle et.

Brick-presser

Bring mud

Buckra

Bull-skating

Bump, bumpty-bump,

Bump the bump

Catch the air

Chip

Cloakers

Collar a hot

Cut

Diddy-wah-diddy

Dickty

Dig

Dog

Dog it

Dog mah cats

Dogging

Doing the dozens

Down to the bricks

Fooping

Frail eel

Fungshun

Gum beater

Gut bucket

Jive

Jump salty

Kitchen mechanic

Translation a fool has no virtue; is of no value wonderful; marvelous sexy dance an expression of approval, as in, “She’s the berries.” a kind of dancing showing off (from beaucoup)

Shut up an idler to disappoint a white person bragging a slow one-step dance to leave under pressure to steal deceivers, liars to eat a meal to do something well a far-distant place; a measure of distance swell, grand; high-toned to understand a complimentary noun to show off; to strut astonishment dancing verbally agree to insult another’s parents to the limit fooling around a pretty girl a crowded, sweaty dance room a bragger a sleazy club to talk; to pursue; to deceive; also slang for black music to get angry a domestic servant or laborer


Kopasetee

[ cont’d ] approval (from copasetic)

Attachment #7

Harlem Jive

from

The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era

Jive

Mug man

Negrotarian

Translation

Oscar

Piano

Pole out

Rug-cutter a small time criminal or thug a white do-gooder coined by Zora Neale Hurston a stupid person spareribs to be distinguished or excel a person to cheap to go to a club; goes to rent parties; a good dancer

Shim sham shimmy an erotic dance

Shout a ball or prom; a one-step dance

Slip, slip in the dozens to joke with or kid a person or someone’s family

Solid

Sooner

Stomp

Stroll

Syndicating

Trucking

Wobble

Woofing

Work under cork perfect cheap; shabby a raucous dance party to do something really well gossiping to walk with style; also a dance step a dance gossip; casual or aimless talk to appear on stage in blackface makeup



Unit 6 - Youngstown City Schools

HARLEM

RENAISSANCE

“A Dream Deferred”

“Calling Dreams”

Dreams

Figurative Language

Harlem Jive

Harlem Jive

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Unit 6 - Youngstown City Schools

HARLEM

RENAISSANCE

“A Dream Deferred”

“Calling Dreams”

Dreams

Figurative Language

Harlem Jive

Harlem Jive

Related documents

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