Literary Qualities
By: Jessie Stadt
Thomas Brophy
Billy Coleman
Countee Cullen
 Born 1903 in Kentucky, then moved into
the middle of the Harlem Renaissance
 “If I am going to be a poet at all, I am
going to be a Poet and not a Negro Poet”
– Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1924
Tableau
 Locked arm in arm they cross the way
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day
The sable pride of night.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.
Oblivious to look and word
They pass, and see no wonder
That lightning brilliant as a sword
Should blaze the path of thunder.
“Tableau”
 Was written by Countee Cullen.
 Stanza one shows the contrast between
the black and white races
 As the boys walk down the street the
adults watch them in shock and disgust.
 He boys don’t realize what their doing is
abnormal.
 “Lightning brilliant as a sword”
 Generational Change.
Claude McKay
 Wrote “The Lynching”
 Published by editor Frank Harris
 Work in New York City
 Life after WWI
The Lynching
His spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven.
His father, by the cruelest was of pain,
Had bidden him to his bosom once again;
The awful sin remained still unforgiven.
All night a bright and solitary star
(Perchance the one that ever guided him,
Yet gave him up at last to fate’s wild whim)
Hung pitifully o’er the swinging char.
Day, dawn, and soon the mixed crowds came to view
The ghastly body swaying in the sun:
The women thronged to look, but never a one
Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue;
And little lads, lynchers that were to be,
Danced around the dreadful thing in fiendish glee.
“The Lynching”
-Claude McKay
 “smoke ascended to high heaven”
 Connection to Jesus
 “Bright and solitary star”, “gave him up…
to Fate’s wild whim”
 Women have “eyes of steely blue”
 Children are described as dancing with
“fiendish glee”
Qualities of Harlem
Renaissance Writings
 Identification with the Black race
 most of the cultural ideas during this time period
related to what African-American dealing with.
 Militant proud spirit
 Many African-Americans were angered about how
they were being treated during the Harlem
renaissance which led to groups to lash out with
writing and created a spirit of unity.
 Anger at Racism
 People were angered at the way race was
determining how they were treated.
 Determination to fight Oppression
 Both of the world wars made people want
freedom against oppressive governments
 Rejection of White Culture
 African-Americans’ anger toward whites
made them not want to conform to white
culture
 Attempt to Reconstruct an invisible
heritage
 Their culture, language, beliefs were taken
from them during slavery and now they had
the chance to rebuild it.
Subjects and Thematic
Topics
 Lynching
 This was the murder of a person for no
apparent reason. Most of the community
supported it, therefore there was no report of
it.
 Prejudice
 The rejection of a person because of race,
ethnicity, or background
 Stereotyping
 The generalization of a group based on a
few individual’s actions
 White Culture Imperialism
 This is the forcing of white beliefs onto
everyone
 Assertion of Rights
 African-Americans of the time started to fight
for their civil rights by speaking out more
frequently and beginning to organize.
 Beauty of their color
 African-Americans of the time wanted to
show that black was not necessarily evil by
adding elements in their writing that made
darkness a beautiful or nice thing to have.
 Strength of African ancestors/ Black
culture
 Their ancestors went through slavery and
hardships which made them stronger as a
people.
Citations
 Cohassey, John. “Claude McKay.” 6.
Detroit, United States: Gale Research
Inc., 1994.
 Cohassey, John. “Countee Cullen.” 8.
Detroit, United States: Gale Research
Inc., 1994.