The Harlem Renaissance

Abel and Molly

Key Aspects of the MovementOvert Racial Pride, idea of the “New Negro”

Variation: Modernism to jazz poetry, High-culture/low-culture

Common Themes:Slavery and it’s influence on the black American experienceEffects of racismHow to portray black life to white American audiences

Claude McKay (1889-1948)

Jamaican-born

Enrolled at Tuskegee, then Kansas State

Went to Harlem

Left-wing, influenced Richard Wright

Developed candid style that focused on depiction of authentic blackness

Gwendolyn Bennett (1902-1981)

Grew up on Native American Reservation in Nevada

Poet, Writer, graphic artist

Wrote for The Opportunity

Used column to spread news and highlight other writers

Contributed sense of racial pride

Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

Very little known about biographical information

Wrote in classical style

“If the aim of the Harlem Renaissance was in part the reinvention of the native born Negro as a being who can be assimilated while decidedly retaining something called a racial self consciousness, Cullen fit the bill”

Wrote predominately “Raceless poetry”