Harlem Renaissance
The Typewriter by Dorothy West
This is a short story. It describes an African-American man who hates his real life. He creates a better life
for himself -- in his imagination -- in order to help his daughter improve her typing skills.
Any Human to Another-Countee Cullen
The poem "Any Human to Another" is a poem about how humans are essential to each other; the whole "no
man is an island" idea. Line 1: speaker seems to be isolated individual Line 2: the speaker is linked with
others in some way. Line 3: arrow=ills, etc.
How it Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is a descriptive essay in which Zora Neale Hurston explores the discovery of
her identity and self-pride. Hurston at the beginning of the essay talks about her childhood in Eatonville,
Florida. However, when she was thirteen her mother passed away, and she left home to attend a boarding school
in Jacksonville where she immediately became "colored." Hurston says she does not consider herself “tragically
colored” and begins weaving together extended metaphors that suggest her self-pride. Hurston does, however,
acknowledge moments when she feels her (or others’) racial difference, and her experience with a friend at a
jazz club marks the distance between their lives.
The Pink Hat Summary-Caroline Bond Day
The narrator of this story has a hat that makes her look white. She goes to all kinds of whites only
establishments until she breaks her ankle and her cover is blown. Her hat gets worn down and does not work
anymore. She ends up being happy just teaching her students.
The Negro Artist-Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was a black poet who expressed in this piece how different classes of blacks live in America
during the Roaring 20’s and how Hughes believes that black artists and other blacks should not base what they
do on what they feel their audience or the rest of society will think of what they are doing. In this piece Hughes
also talks about how blacks subconsciously or sometimes even consciously wanted to be white so that they
would be better accepted in society.
Miss Cynthie-Rudolph Fisher
This is a short story about a grandmother who goes to Harlem to visit her grandson, whom she thinks has
become a doctor or an undertaker. She learns, at the end of the story, that he is a dancer/actor on Broadway.
Both Miss Cynthie and Dave, her grandson, are forced to confront their prejudices about religion and
expectations. Ultimately, they find acceptance for one another.