Searching Buddha

Harlem Renaissance: 1919-1937

Period Concerns: primarily a cultural movement in the Northern U.S. (not just NYC) – “the irresistible impulse of blacks to create boldly expressive art of a high quality as a primary response to their social conditions, as an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racism”
--focused in New York because of the publishing industry and because New York was a popular relocation spot for blacks fleeing the South. Also, massive industrialization – jobs available
-- jazz, blues, dance, socialism
-- focus on social and political progress for black Americans, as well as a development of the arts by and for black people, journalism to encourage these issues (particularly The Crisis, edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, but also Opportunity, the Messenger, Marcus Garvey’s Negro World)
-- also, development of a black arts scene “would prove the genius of black America to the greater world, and especially to white Americans, who presumably would be moved to treat blacks with greater justice and compassion”
-- development of a unique form of expression; dialect verse; honoring the folkloric tradition

Themes: poverty, racism, violence against blacks, rejection of minstrelry, defiance, socialism, rhythm, colorism, “the racial spirit” (racial awareness), humor and love as a means of overcoming painful circumstances, the New Negro, spirit of optimism, folk culture

Likely Authors and Works:
Jean Toomer – modernist, sought inner harmony (wrote Cane to put to his rest his own struggle with race), mystic, rejected a racial identity but claimed by the African-American community
n Cane – portraits of black life in the north and the south, included poetry that challenged young African-American writers, early work, very influential

Claude McKay – Jamaican born, first major poet of the H.R., traditional forms, but explosive condemnations of bigotry and oppression, favored the sonnet
n Home to Harlem (1928) – explores the pleasures and complexities of black urban life
n Harlem Shadows, If We Must Die, Africa, America

Countee Cullen – native New Yorker, fit an African-American perspective into traditional poetic forms, which was reacted to by other poets (Hughes, etc.). Influenced by the Romantics
n Color (1925) – poetry in traditional forms about black experience
n Heritage (1925) – a long poem suggesting that Africa was a “source of confusion and ambivalence”, heritage is holding back the black American

Langston Hughes – originally from Kansas, studied at Columbia, felt that jazz and blues had to be combined with formal poetry as “the most authentic and moving expression in art of Afric-Amer cultural feeling”, felt a responsibility that black artists should focus on black themes
n The Weary Blues (1926) – poetry embracing musical forms (jazz, blues) as a fresh style
n Mulatto (1935) – a play about the South and miscengenation, long run on Broadway
n Not Without Laughter (1930) – novel about a young boy growing up in the Midwest

Zora Neale Hurston – Florida born anthropologist, wrote fiction without white characters, strong emphasis on folk culture, raised in an all-black town (Eatonville, Florida)
n Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) – follows the life of a beautiful woman in an all black town – celebrates one individual’s triumph over sexism and poverty
n Mules and Men (1935) – collection of African-American folklore

Nella Larson – the only black member of a white family, nurse, librarian, only ever produced two novels, but focused on themes of colorism and racism
n Quicksand – a narrative of an unhappy woman of biracial parentage, her search for identity between her Danish relations and her African-American relations
n Passing (1929) – a story of a fair-skinned black woman who “passes” for a white woman

Angelina Weld Grimké – although from a fairly sheltered well-to-do background, she wrote traditional poetry and drama concerned with the problems of African-Americans
n Rachel (1916) – a sentimental play that stressed the hurts of middle-class blacks and condemned lynching
n The Closing Door – insistence on the immorality of bringing black children into a world that does not give them a chance to live a successful, happy life

Alain Locke – editor for the The Survey Graphic, edited an anthology called The New Negro, showcasing most of the other writers in this guide, Rhodes scholar, Harvard/Oxford educated
n The New Negro – introduction to the anthology, extremely important in defining the essence of the Harlem Renaissance and the energy and optimism of the period

Sterling A. Brown – wrote dialect poetry, one of the primary folk poets because he used dialect poetry to express serious things, not just humor. Major rival was Langston Hughes, also used jazz and the blues
n Memphis Blues, Tin Roof Blues, Slim Greer, Cabaret, Old Lem

Arna Bontemps – heavily religious, wrote meditative pieces that also focused on race pride (without the folkloric tradition)
n A Summer Tragedy (1932) – short story about an elderly black couple that run their car off a ledge into a river – themes of violence and tragedy, lynching
n Popo and Fifina (1932) – collaboration with Hughes, children’s story
n God Sends Sunday (1931) – story of a black jockey who enjoys fast living (criticized for showing the seamier side of black life)
n Black Thunder (1936) – story of the aborted slave rebellion led by Gabriel Prosser
n Dreams at Dusk (1939) – story of a slave rebllion in Haiti

Helene Johnson – wrote poetry in which lyricism is blended with a genteel sensuality and a muted expression of racial pride. Published in Opportunity, Vanity Fair, Fire!!
n Poem, Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem, Invocation

Gates, Henry Louis Jr., ed. The Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, Second
Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2004.