Harlem Renaissance

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Harlem Renaissance

• By Nikki Escobar, Sarah Santos, Daniel Dayawon,
  Darryl Agliam
• AP Literature Ms. Banuelos Period 01

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What is the movement?

• The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement
  from 1920-1930s where African Americans were
  proud of their race and celebrated their culture.
  Its also known as The Jazz Age or the Roaring
  Twenties for the new emerging writers, poets,
  musicians and artists expressing themselves
  through their works and the new music emergence
  of Jazz. It spread from the Harlem neighborhood
  in New York City to throughout the world where
  both whites and blacks enjoyed the movement.

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General Poetic Techniques Themes

• Techniques
• symbolism
• descriptive imagery
• Emphasis
• Tone
• reference to the past
• Metaphors
• Personification

• Themes
• Racial pride
• Discrimination
• Power
• Appreciation
• Acceptance
• Struggle
• Hope

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Poets
Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Claude McKay
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Art of the Harlem Renaissance
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Langston Hughes

• Biography
• Born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri
• Published his first poem in 1921, The Negro
  Speaks of Rivers.
• Was a distinguished writer in high school and
  attended Columbia University for one year and
  left to travel to African, Paris and Rome working
  as a freighter and other odd jobs.
• Vachel Linday promoted his poetry and soon after
  he attended Lincoln University and from there he
  launched and established his career as a poet and
  a writer.

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Notable Works

• the Negro Speaks of Rivers (1921)
• The Weary Blues (1926)
• Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927)
• Dear Lovely Death (1931)
• Let America be America Again (1938)
• Most important thing about him is that he was one
  of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance

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Dreams

• Hold fast to dreams
• For if dreams die
• Life is a broken-winged bird
• That cannot fly.
• Hold Fast to dreams
• For when dreams go
• Life is a barren field
• Frozen with snow

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Analysis and how it fits in the Harlem Renaissance

• Hold fast to dreams personification
• Life is a Broken winged bird that cannot fly
  personification
• Life is a barren field, frozen with snow -
  metaphor
• Hughes utilizes the figurative languages above to
  encourage and uplift their spirits to keep their
  dreams alive and hold onto the no matter what
  because there would be no purpose in life if they
  did not have any.

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Claude McKay

• Biography
• Festus Claudius McKay aka Claude McKay was one of
  the essential figures during the Harlem
  Renaissance.
• Born in Jamaica in 1889, he was raised as the son
  of a peasant farmer but had strong pride in
  African culture.
• He showcases in his work a variety of styles
  ranging from celebrating his peasant life in
  Jamaica to presenting negative views of
  Americans white dominant society.
• Notable Works
• America, A Prayer, If We Must Die, Home to
  Harlem, Harlem Shadows and The Harlem Dancer

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America
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,And
sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,Stealing
my breath of life, I will confessI love this
cultured hell that tests my youth!Her vigor
flows like tides into my blood,Giving me
strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.Yet as
a rebel fronts a king in state,I stand within
her walls with not a shredOf terror, malice, not
a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,And see her
might and granite wonders there,Beneath the
touch of Time's unerring hand,Like priceless
treasures sinking in the sand. 
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Analysis and how it fits into the Harlem
Renaissance

• In this poem, it expresses both McKays positive
  and negative views on America during the time of
  the Harlem Renaissance. He showcases both good
  and bad sides to America.
• Metaphor "Although she feeds me bread of
  bitterness
• -comparing America to a mother
• Personification and sinks into my throat her
  tiger's tooth" "stealing my breath of life"
• Explains how America gives him disgust (bitter
  bread) and pain (sinking tiger's tooth in throat)
  and he finds it hard to live there (stealing
  breath)
• "I will confess I love this cultured hell that
  tests my youth!"
• -Even though he faces many struggles and
  challenges in America, he loves it there. He sees
  the many challenges and struggles as things that
  make him stronger.

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Cont.

• Simile Her vigor flows like tides into my
  blood
• -Vigor power, energy, force. Comparing
  Americas force/ power to his blood flows
  theres strength within himself.
• Diction "I stand within her walls with not a
  shred of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
• -He face the challenges he encounters head on,
  with no fear. He doesnt conform to the ways
  society does conflicting pain to others (malice)
  and  discriminate by mocking and speaking out
   (jeer) that the white society does to African
  Americans.
• Foreshadowing "Darkly I gaze into the days
  ahead, and see her might and granite wonders
  there, beneath the touch of time's unerring hand,
  like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
• -I interpreted it as he tells how the great
  things America holds, is going to fade away like
  treasures sinking in the sand, if the racism,
  bitterness, and inequalities dont stop. 

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Gwendolyn B. Bennett

• Biography
• Born on July 8, 1902 in Giddings, Texas
• Took classes at Columbia University and Pratt
  Institute in New York.
• Wrote pieces for Opportunity, a local magazine
  where she had her own column, The Ebony Flute
  which allowed her to connect with the Harlem
  lifestyle. It began as a support group for young
  writers (Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Zora
  Neale Hurston were among the members)

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Notable Works

• To A Dark Girl
• Song
• Hatred
• Secret
• These works reflected racial pride and
  appreciation for African Music and dance.

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To A Dark Girl

• I love you for your brownness,
• And the rounded darkness of your breast,
• I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice
• And shadows where your wayward eyelids rest.
• Something of old forgotten queens
• Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk
• And something of the shackled slave
• Sobs in the rhythm of your talk.
• Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow's mate,
• Keep all you have of queenliness,
• Forgetting that you once were slave,
• And let your full lips laugh at Fate!

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Analysis

• Stanza 1
• - Descriptive imagery
• - appreciative tone
• - racial pride (embracing the girl's true self)
• - girl is symbolic of every black female
• can be loved for her skin, even in sadness
• Stanza 2
• - reflects on the past
• - metaphor- blacks were once great royal
• - Uses symbolism to portray the sadness that
  emanates from her voice
• - confidence of a slave, destined to be a queen
• Stanza 3
• - forget that you were a slave
• - live life with happiness

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Countee Cullen

• Biography
• Won major literary prizes like the Witter Bynner
  poetry contest in 1925.
• Adopted in 1918 by Reverend Frederick A. and
  Carolyn Belle (Mitchell) Cullen
• An outstanding student at DeWitt Clinton High
  School
• Edited school newspapers and literary magazines.

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Notable Works

• Color (1925)
• Copper Sun (1927)
• The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927)
• A brown girl dead (1925)

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A Brown Girl Dead

• With two white roses on her breasts,
•    White candles at head and feet,   
• Dark Madonna of the grave she rests
•    Lord Death has found her sweet.
• Her mother pawned her wedding ring   
•    To lay her out in white
• Shed be so proud shed dance and sing   
•    To see herself tonight.

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Analysis and how it fits in the Harlem Renaissance

• In the poem Cullen uses the word white twice
  which is important because in the title its clear
  that Cullen is talking about a black person.  in
  the first and second stanza, the word White is
  being used many times which is helping show that
  the author is trying to say that this black girl
  is living a life proud with white people. It
  seems like its a contrast of black and whites. 
  "she'd be so proud she'd dance and sing to see
  herself tonight." 
• In the first stanza, the words "Dark" and
  "Death" are both capitalized.  To me, this is
  implying that shes referring dark to death
  because she capitalizes these words specifically
  other than the rest.  The dark may refer to skin
  because the title has the color Brown in it.  The
  rhyme scheme in this poem is (A-B-A-B)

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AP Style Prompts

• Your Turn! Try out one of these
• 1. In the Harlem Renaissance, there were many
  occurrences of suppression, discrimination and
  sacrifice in the struggle to attain freedom.
  Choose a work of literary merit where the author
  effectively portrays the difficulty that is
  experienced in the journey to freedom.
• 2. The Harlem Renaissance contains both positive
  and negative aspects to it. Choose 2 works of
  literature where it expresses both positive and
  negative sides of Harlem Renaissance then write
  a compare and contrast paper discussing about
  it.
• 3. The Harlem Renaissance brought change as new
  and celebratory cultural movement. In a
  well-organized essay, explain how the Harlem
  Renaissance had impacted the period of 1920s
  using different examples from different works of
  literature.

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Quiz

• 1. What time period did the Harlem Renaissance
  begin?
• A) 1900-1910     B) 1910-1928   C) 1920-1930   D)
  1930-1940
• 2. Which of the following poets were not
  presented in the presentation?
• A) Langston Hughes  B) Claude McKay   C)  Zora
  Neale-Hurston  D) Gwen Bennett
• 3. What was the Harlem Renaissance?
• A) A great artistic, intellectual and cultural
  movement for African-Americans
• B) A time where African Americans celebrated
  their culture where many new writers and artists
  emerged
• C) B only
• D) A B

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Quiz

• 4. What literary techniques were NOT mentioned in
  this presentation?
• A) Metaphor  B) Personification C) Irony  
  D) Tone
• 5. What was the new sensation that formed from
  the Harlem Renaissance?
• A) Fashion styles
• B) Jazz music
• C) Political reforms
• D) all of the above

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Resources

1. http//www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/ben
   nett/life.htm
2. http//www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cul
   len/life.htm
3. http//www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmharlem1.html
4. http//pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Benn
   ett__Gwendolyn.html
5. http//www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/
6. http//www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/claude-mckay
7. http//www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83