Harlem Renaissance

A flowering of black writing, art, and music in the 1920s and 1930s

Aims:

•To define and renew the Black heritage

•To protest oppression of Blacks

•To make other Americans aware of Black life

Origination: • The entry of the United States into WWI

had created a boom in the American industry, and as a result many blacks moved from the South to take jobs in Northern industrial plants.

• Blacks remained in large Northern cities, namely Chicago and New York. Harlem, a section of New York, became the cosmopolitan center of Black life in America.

Archibald J. Motley, Jr.Nightlife

Louis Mailou Jones. 1932 Ascent to Ethiopia

Palmer HaydenThe Janitor Who Paints

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

I've known rivers:I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.My soul has grown deep like the rivers.I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers• Our speaker has known rivers. He says so in a way an old man

telling stories to his grandchild might comment on people that he’s known in his lifetime: "I’ve known some people."

• Our speaker does not say, "I know rivers," but he says instead, "I’ve known rivers," making us feel as though much time has passed since our speaker first encountered these rivers.

• The fact that he has "known" these rivers suggests that he didn’t just sit on a rock by the river and watch it flow by or skip rocks upon it, he has spent some quality time with rivers. He and rivers are good friends.

• Our speaker tells us that his soul has become as deep as these ancient rivers.

• Think of the physical depth of these rivers, but also think of the depth of their history and their existence. These rivers have been around for as long as the earth has been in existence (over 4.5 billion years).

• Rivers have a source, or a place where they begin. The Euphrates River, for example, finds its source in the Armenian mountains. The Mississippi River’s source is Lake Itasca in Minnesota.

• Rivers flow in one direction, just like Time itself. • Rivers are powerful things. They can wear away the land around them

over time. They can leave a scar on the earth itself. • Since the beginning of civilization, humans have sought to build villages,

towns, and cities on the banks of rivers.

Africaby Claude McKay

The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light, The sciences were sucklings at thy breast; When all the world was young in pregnant night Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best. Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize, New peoples marvel at thy pyramids! The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes Watches the mad world with immobile lids. The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh's name. Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain! Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame! They went. The darkness swallowed thee again. Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done, Of all the mighty nations of the sun.

Americaby Claude McKay

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.

“America“ and “Africa” are Shakespearean sonnets about a black persons perception of both locations. He is facing racism in America. The person allows the challenges of racism to make him a stronger person instead of backing down. He has sort of a love- hate outlook on America (and Africa) because he knows there are a lot of possibilities and opportunities for black people.

The characteristics of both are the set rhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg that falls into three quatrains with an ending couplet made up of lines 10 syllables each.

Compare and Contrast

Africa

The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light, The sciences were sucklings at thy breast; When all the world was young in pregnant night Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best. Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize, New peoples marvel at thy pyramids! The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes Watches the mad world with immobile lids. The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh's name. Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain! Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame! They went. The darkness swallowed thee again. Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done, Of all the mighty nations of the sun.

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.