1. The Debate
over Artistic
Dr. C
African American
Literature

2. DuBois-Criteria of Negro
Argument
Fight for full-fleged American
Citizenship
Suggests a difference in
perspective
His definition of beauty
infinite variety
endless possibilities
accessible to all
world is full of beauty but many are
choked away
as a result, many live distorted lives

3. DuBois & Art
Creativity is now loosed-
Awakened from a deep sleep
Suggests it may be Black
youth who lead the way
Suggests that young artists
must remember the past
Suggests that there is a rich,
romantic, disturbing past
from which one may draw

4. DuBois, Cont...
Judgement of art in the past:
Changing times now...
Art may be a way out of the
“color problem”
Warning about money of
philanthropists: subtle,
deadly bribes
Apostles of “good” art? -
Truth and Goodness

5. All Art is
Propaganda
Shapes thinking
Can distort truth and justice
Pegged “American” when the
world recognizes
achievements

6. Alain Locke - The New
Negro
Younger generation - vibrant,
new psychology
Old Negro is a myth
Guilty of “Social Mimicry”
America sees the Negro as more
of a formula than a human
As a result, Negroes see
themselves as a social problem
in a distorted perspective

7. Locke’s New Negro,
Cont...
Shed the shame of the past
Spiritual emancipation
New self-respect
Days of stereotypical
depictions are gone
Population shift from South
to North has:
transformed the Negro
midieval to modern

8. Locke, cont...
Harlem is a laboratory
The man furthest down is most
active getting up
Negro is being studied to be
understood
Danger of increased
paternalization
Suggests the Negro just wants to
be known for what he is, faults
and all...
Negro is a “forced radical”

9. Reading for
Wednesday
Cane by Jean Toomer
Rudolph Fisher for
Monday...pgs are in
syllabus