The Harlem Renaissance I, Too, Sing America. Historical Context Cultural movement in the early 1920’s involving African American artists, writers, musicians,

The Harlem Renaissance

I, Too, Sing America

Historical Context• Cultural movement

in the early 1920’s involving African American artists, writers, musicians, and performers

• Following WW1, blacks migrated north to a part of NYC called Harlem

• Mainstream America began to develop a new respect for African art and culture

• Marcus Garvey began the “Back to Africa” movement and started the Black Star shipping line

• Newspapers published the work of African artists and sponsored literary contests to encourage young artists

• In autobiographies, poetry, short stories, novels, and folklore, African American writers affirmed the role of black talent in American culture

• All aspects of black life were explored and addressed in visual arts, music, and the written and spoken word

• Some attacked racism, others addressed issues within the black community

• A by-product was the affirmation that black dialects were as legitimate as standard English

• The Great Depression brought the movement to an end

The Poets• Claude McKay 1890-1948• Born and raised in

Jamaica• First wrote poems in the

Jamaican dialect• In 1914 he moved to

Harlem and worked odd jobs while writing & publishing

• McKay’s poems often voice his ambivalent and defiant feelings about black life in the United States

• Countee Cullen 1903-1946

• Grew up in NYC a brilliant student already writing and publishing in high school

• Earned a Master’s degree from Harvard and edited the important African American magazine Opportunity

• Although his style was influenced by British Romantic poets, he was repeatedly drawn to write about black issues

• Langston Hughes 1902-1967

• The most well known Harlem Renaissance poet, he wrote 15 volumes of poetry, 6 novels, 3 books of short stories, and 11 plays

• Influenced greatly by Whitman’s free verse

• Hughes used the repetitive structure of blues and the loose rhythms of jazz to “explain and illuminate the black condition in America”

• James W. Johnson 1871-1938

• American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist.

• Remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP & his novels, poems, and collections of folklore.

• One of the first African-American professors at New York University.