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.