1. How has it been possible for America to remain racist, and
at the same time allow very small steps of black progress?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-06-suicide-mississippi_N.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14295788

2. The HarlemYork City, 1920s
Harlem, New
Renaissance
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=465437&imageID=1168456&word=Harlem%20%28New%20York%2C%20N%2EY%2E%29&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=153&nu

3. The Great Migration
• Push and Pull Factors
• Jim Crow, KKK, Lynching
• Boll Weevil
• War Jobs
• Immigration Act 1924
• Mississippi Flood

4. Duke Ellington performed regularly here, and Ella Fitzgerald and
Billie Holiday both launched their careers at the venue’s amateur
night.

5. From left to right: Poet Langston Hughes,
sociologist Charles Spurgeon Johnson, historian E.
Franklin Frazier, doctor and author Rudolph Fisher,
and legislator Hubert Delaney.

6. UNIA Parade

8. Review all three pieces of literature, visual art, or music from the Harlem
Renaissance. Then categorize each piece into one of the following
themes:
- African Heritage
- Black Southern Folk Traditions
- New African American Voice in the 20th Century

9. Claude McKay, If We Must Die
Jamaican-born Claude McKay is regarded as one of the
greatest Harlem Renaissance writers. He began publishing
poetry as a teenager and continued to publish both
poetry and fiction for many years after moving to the
United States. In 1919, while living in New York, he
published “If We Must Die” in a Marxist literary magazine
called The Liberator. In the poem, he urged black
Americans to unite against the racism inflicted on them
by the white population—insisting that, no matter their
fate, black Americans fight back.
With this poem, McKay captured the spirit of the
era and the ear of many African Americans. The poem—
a blatant response to the violent race riots and lynchings
going on around the country in the years prior to its
publication was lauded for its vocal protestation against
racial injustice, for which McKay became well known.
African Heritage?
The poem represents the New African American Voice in
the Twentieth Century theme of the Harlem Renaissance. Black Southern Folk Traditions?
New African American Voice in the
20th Century?

10. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes is considered one of the most talented of the
Harlem Renaissance writers. His poetry ranged from deeply
moving pieces that flushed with black pride to poems that told
stories about the lowliest walks of life. He also wrote novels, short
stories, experimental theater pieces, and an autobiography.
In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” which Hughes dedicated to W.
E.B. Du Bois, he drew on the long history of the black race with a
tone of pride and love. Hughes associated the “negro” of the title
with the entire black race and traced its path through time,
beginning with the emergence of human civilizations the first of
which arose along the Euphrates River. The Congo and Nile,
Africa’s largest rivers, also served as life-givers for developing
cultures, with the Nile and its pyramids bringing to mind one of
the most revered of ancient cultures, Egypt.
Finally, Hughes brings the race to the Mississippi River, which
evokes both the slavery the race suffered through and the
emancipation from it (for it was while traveling down the
Mississippi to New Orleans that Abraham Lincoln is said to have
first witnessed a slave auction). The poem represents the
African Heritage theme of the Harlem Renaissance.
African Heritage?
Black Southern Folk Traditions?
New African American Voice in the
20th Century?

11. Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston was one of the first female African
American writers to win great acclaim and was also an
early black feminist author. She began her career in
the
1920s, publishing short stories while also studying to
become an anthropologist. She was a prominent
member of the Harlem Renaissance and worked with
Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman to publish a
famous literary journal of the era, titled Fire!!
Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God,
written at the end of the Harlem Renaissance, reflects
the era’s influence. Its setting in Florida and its use of
the southern vernacular reveal Hurston’s attempts to
share on paper the lives of black southerners in the
early decades of the twentieth century. In the excerpt
given here, she describes life in the Everglades of
southern Florida as her main character, Janie, first sees
it.
Although criticized by some fellow black writers
of the time for not focusing enough attention on the
negative aspects of African American life, many view
her portrayal of the South as the backdrop for Janie’s African Heritage?
journey of self-discovery as an exemplary depiction of
the real lives of American blacks. The excerpt Black Southern Folk Traditions?
represents the Black Southern Folk Traditions theme of New African American Voice in the
the Harlem Renaissance. 20th Century?

12. An Idyll of Life in the Deep South, from Aspects of Negro Life series, Aaron Douglas, 1934
African Heritage?
Black Southern Folk Traditions?
New African American Voice in the 20th Century?

13. Fetiche et Fleurs (Fetish and Flowers), Palmer Hayden, 1926

14. Louis Armstrong, Hotter Than That
Louis Armstrong’s impact on the development of jazz
Style, during the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, was
tremendous. Among other influences, Armstrong
popularized a form of singing called scat. As can be
heard in “Hotter Than That,” when scatting, Armstrong
would sing rhythmic syllables instead of words. He
infused those syllables with so much emotion, rhyme,
and cadence that they seemed to convey meaning as
easily as words would have.
The exuberance of Armstrong’s singing in “Hotter
Than That” is notable. While a handful of ragtime
singers had sung scat before Armstrong did, its origin
indirectly goes back to Africa. African musical styles
influenced numerous aspects of jazz. Two of the most
recognizable to the lay listener are the use of drums
and syncopated rhythms. As well, the use of
instruments to emulate the human voice and the use of
the human voice as an instrument—as in scat—were
also common elements of African musical performance.
This song represents the African Heritage theme of the
Harlem Renaissance. African Heritage?
Black Southern Folk Traditions?
New African American Voice in the
20th Century?

15. Duke Ellington, East St. Louis Toodle-oo
Duke Ellington began his musical career during the
Harlem Renaissance and continued to win high praise
from listeners until his death some 50 years later. He
gained early acclaim for his ability to make music that
conjured a setting or image, including his “jungle” style
of music. The hallmark of this sound, which quickly
became popular, was the muted trumpet that one can
hear growling in the opening refrains of “East St. Louis
Toodle-oo.”
While Ellington later said he intended this piece to capture the
mood of a man on his way home after a long day of labor,
the jungle sound added a dark, mysterious element to this
and other songs. Ellington’s finesse at creating new sounds
not only
exhibited his talents as a composer and band leader but
also helped him make a huge mark on jazz music.
Born Edward Kennedy Ellington, he nicknamed himself The
Duke and espoused a sophisticated style that quickly became
associated with his music. In numerous ways, Ellington
helped bring a new level of respect to the music and to the
African American musicians who performed it.
African Heritage?
This song represents the New African American Voice in the Black Southern Folk Traditions?
Twentieth Century theme of the Harlem Renaissance.
New African American Voice in the
20th Century?

16. Backwater Blues, Bessie Smith
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night
Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
There's been enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she want to go
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
I packed all my clothes, throwed them in and they rowed me along
When it thunders and lightnin' and when the wind begins to blow
When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow
There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then looked down on the house were I used to live
Backwater
blues done call me to pack my things and go
Backwater blues done call me to pack my things and go African Heritage?
'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more
Black Southern Folk Traditions?
Mmm, I can't move no more New African American Voice in the
Mmm, I can't move no more 20th Century?
There ain't no place for a poor old girl to go

17. Bessie Smith, Backwater Blues
Blues singer Bessie Smith was one of the most successful
black musicians of the 1920s. Born in Tennessee, she made
frequent visits to Harlem. There she performed regularly and
recorded some of the best-selling songs of the decade.
In traditional southern blues, a singer focuses on portraying a
soulful, true vision of the world in a way that will speak to
others. Smith sang a brand of music called vaudeville blues.
This was similar to traditional blues but was accompanied by
showy entertainment and, in Smith’s case, some of the most
talented known jazz musicians.
Smith recorded numerous tracks with jazz greats Louis
Armstrong and James P. Johnson. A skilled pianist, Johnson
provided strong support for Smith’s rich, powerful voice in
“Backwater Blues.” The song became perhaps her most
famous. In it, Smith shows superb control over the range and
intonation of her voice. As well, she exemplifies her ability to
relay the strong emotions conjured by a song’s lyrics—which,
in this case, discuss the sadness of losing one’s home to
flooding waters. Indeed, Smith’s lyrics greatly contributed
to her popularity; many African Americans loved
Smith’s ability to transform disheartening events from African Heritage?
their lives into meaningful songs. Black Southern Folk Traditions?
This song represents the Southern Black Folk Traditions New African American Voice in the
theme of the Harlem Renaissance. 20th Century?

19. James Van Der Zee, Dress Rehearsal #1, 1933