Amanda Nyuma
Harlem Renaissance
PART 1: WELCOME TO THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE: The Harlem Renaissance marked a
cultural period during the 1920’s when African-Americans celebrated their heritage through
music, art, literature, politics and social movements.
View the following website to answer the questions:
http://www.coffeypark.com/harlem/history.htm
http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp
http://www.history.com/videos/the-harlem-renaissance-an-artistic-explosion
1. What is another name for the Harlem Renaissance?
It is called the New Negro Movement
2. What contributed to the beginnings of this movement?
The great Migration relocated many African Americans to the south to the North. Many discovered
they shared the same experiences of racism and harsh treatment, which resulted in an explosion of
cultural pride.
3. What were some common themes within the movement?
Some common theme in the movement was music, Jazz, blues, modernism, and African American
trials and tribulations.
4. List at LEAST 5 major authors, musicians, or political leaders associated with this
movement.
 Langston Hughes
 Cab Calloway
 Zora Neale Hurtson
 Duke Ellington
 Bessie Smith
5. Even after this movement ended, what enduring influences did it have on future
generations?
It brought in a new era in American politics. It made people aware of what African Americans were
going through. Lead way for leaders and acts to stop segregation and racism. It also inspired future
generations.
PART 2: POETRY IN MOTION: Langston Hughes was a famous Harlem Renaissance poet. Like
others, he developed themes that connected the African-American heritage to the present.
The websites for this activity is:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15722
STEP 1: Read “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” to yourself.
STEP 2: Press PLAY to hear Langston Hughes recite his poem.
1. How old was Langston Hughes when he wrote this poem?
He was 18 years old.
2. What rivers does Langston Hughes mention and how do they connect the past to the
present?
He mentions the Euphrates, Congo, Nile, and Mississippi
3. Think: How does Langston Hughes’ verbal reading of the poem affect its overall
tone?
When Langston Hughes reads it, you feel more of the emotion he was trying to convey and how he
wanted it to be read. When he read it, it gave me chills to know that he lived during a time of
segregation and read the poem.
PART 3: ALL THAT JAZZ MUSIC: During the Harlem Renaissance, jazz and blues music
spread from New Orleans to Harlem and all throughout the country.
At this website, Ron Scott writes:
This improvisational music called jazz is a unique sound, colored with political and social
ramifications, weaved with Black cultural threads. It is the voice of the ancestors who speak through
these great master musicians and the younger generation.
View http://jazzmuseuminharlem.org/jazznotes.html to discover:
1. Who are three famous male and female jazz legends? (Hint - one used to play the
trumpet in the picture that is now on display in the Smithsonian.)
Male: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman.
Female: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie holiday, and Sarah Vaughan
2. What themes about the African-American heritage resonate from the rhythms of jazz?
The themes that resonate are those of the slaves that were enslaved and sent to America a new land. The
sounds of jazz showed the fear and Heartache these African Americans had to go through. Their rhythms
were shown on the cotton fields under a blistering sun, as the slaves moved to the beat of work songs and
received a whipping if too slow.
3. Think: In your own opinion, why might a jazz museum be important for current and
future generations? A Jazz museum is important to preserve all the arts that African
Americans created during the Harlem Renaissance. It is also important to future generations
so they know all the people who stood up for African Americans and made art, music, etc.
PART 4: DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY: Many clubs such as the Cotton Club featured talented
African-American musicians in Harlem.
View
http://harlemworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/harlem-history-the-cotton-club/
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/cotton-club-harlem-1923
http://stubdog.com/articles/sept-09/cotton_club_harlem_new_york.asp
1. Who were some famous customers?
Jimmy Durante, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Mae West, Irving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Moss Hart, New York
mayor Jimmy Walker and other luminaries would appear.
2. What types of patrons were permitted to dance in this club?
They had to be at least 5’6” tall, light skinned with only a slight tan, and under twenty-one years of age.
3. Why did the owners choose this name for their club?
This is because the club was decorated as a stylish plantation environment. Therefore, he wanted the
name to match the environment as a “cotton field.”
4. Think: If you were an African-American musician, how might you feel in this club after
you had just finished playing your set?
I would feel sad but honored that I am that good to perform there. I would be sad because of
the racism that the owners have. Naming the club after a plantation and having only whites be
able to attend is racist.
PART 5: EXPRESSION THROUGH ART: Like the music and literature of the Harlem
Renaissance, visual artists painted or sculpted a rich variety of interpretations about AfricanAmerican culture and heritage.
View http://www.iniva.org/harlem/home.html to discover:
1. Who were some famous artists of the Harlem Renaissance?
Some famous artists were Aaron Douglas and Sir Jacob Epstein
2. Think: Compare and contrast your two favorite pieces of art from this website. How
were these examples representative for the period?
Ronald C. Moody
Midonz (Goddess of Transmutation): This a sculpture depicting a women’s face carved out of wood. While
Archibald J. Motley Jr, Blues 1929, is a painting, Set in Parisian 'Black and Tan' club where music is
flowing, champagne is being drunk and female and males are dancing. This piece conveys a more informal
art and shows more ciaos then the face sculpture
PART 6: POLITICAL BELIEFS: Many of today’s political ideologies and groups such as the
NAACP emerged during the Harlem Renaissance.
1. What types of laws actually disfranchised African-Americans after the Reconstruction?
The Jim Crow laws were laws allowing segregation, which was called separated but equal; the thirteenth and
14th amendments
2. What were the names of three organizations formed during the period of the Harlem
Renaissance? How did their political beliefs compare and differ?
The National Association of Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) the NUL, and the
UNIA
The NAACP was an organization that urged African Americans to protest racial violence. Was made to protect
African American rights. Believed they should work with society and show them they can be equal to whites.
The UNIA promoted African American business and leader Garvey wanted African Americans to have a
separate society in which they return to Africa.
The NUL advocated against racial discrimination
3. Think: Why was Ida B. Wells’ role as a newspaper writer so important to AfricanAmericans?
This was important because he knew how to talk, speak, read and write. Therefore, African
Americans trusted him to represent them very well. It also meant that he could distribute information
to others in the African American community.
PART 7: FEMALE ARTISTS: Along with political activists such as Ida B. Wells, the Harlem
African-American life.
View
http://zoranealehurston.com/about/
1. Think: After reading her biography, consider what you think she meant by this
quotation: " I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for
reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions."
It means that she is strong enough as women not to let a trial effect what she does and chooses
to do. She is not afraid to walk alone even if no one will follow. She chooses to walk alone in the
reality of roughness of the world then on a high fairytale of life. She is saying she does not want to
waist her time on dreams.
2. Click on the Home Page of this site. What famous book did she write that Alice Walker
claimed was the most important book to her in her lifetime?
The book Their Eyes Were Watching God.
PART 8: ENDURING LEGACIES: This journey has shown how the Harlem Renaissance
represented a time of significant achievement by African-Americans despite the lingering
racism of the times.
View http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february98/harlem3.html and read the responses to
this question:
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. Why?
1. Summarize two reasons why the art was optimistic.
The first reason the art was so optimistic because many artists had greater opportunities to publish
their pieces then they did before the Harlem Renaissance.
Also many thought that if they published these works it would lead to a better life and relations with
the opposite race.
2. Think: What images or ideas from these activities mean the most to you in today’s
times?
The ideas from these activities mean freedom to do and create what I want. It means being
free in everything, I do. Overall these activities has shown be a renaissance period where
there was increasing growth in creativity.