The Harlem Renaissance
My People – Langston Hughes
The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.
If We Must Die – Claude McKay
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Saturday's Child – Countee Cullen
Some are teethed on a silver spoon,
With the stars strung for a rattle;
I cut my teeth as the black racoon-For implements of battle.
Some are swaddled in silk and down,
And heralded by a star;
They swathed my limbs in a sackcloth gown
On a night that was black as tar.
For some, godfather and goddame
The opulent fairies be;
Dame Poverty gave me my name,
And Pain godfathered me.
For I was born on Saturday-"Bad time for planting a seed,"
Was all my father had to say,
And, "One mouth more to feed."
Death cut the strings that gave me life,
And handed me to Sorrow,
The only kind of middle wife
My folks could beg or borrow.
Harlem Renaissance Project
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement by African-American writers, artists,
and musicians to tell the story of their people and show pride in who they were
and where they came from. To help you understand the Harlem Renaissance you
are going to complete a project to show who you are and where you came from –
a personal renaissance.
For this project you must complete one of the following:
 Write a poem about your heritage. Talk about your ancestors – where they
came from and the challenges they faced in life. Tell how your heritage has
influenced you. You must have a minimum of fifteen (15) lines of poetry.
 Write a children’s story about your heritage. Talk about your ancestors –
where they came from and the challenges they faced in life. Tell how your
heritage has influenced you. You must have a minimum of 10 pages
complete with illustrations.
 Create a mural or collage of your heritage. You can draw this yourself or use
pictures from the internet or a magazine. The completed mural or collage
must be your own design and not just a copy of what someone else did.
You must have at least 5-10 different images in a mural and 15-20 images in
a collage.
 Write a song about your heritage. You can write just the lyrics and use a
melody from a song representative of your heritage or you can write the
music to demonstrate various aspects of your culture.
Note: All projects MUST be SCHOOL APPROPRIATE!!!