The Harlem Renaissance
Highlights
1. The 2nd half of the decade witnessed an outpouring of publications by African Americans.
2. The 1920s was a decade of extraordinary creativity in the arts for black Americans.
3. Negritude was a movement mainly among French speaking black writers emphasizing a black aesthetic.
4. New York City became a magnet for blacks fleeing the South in the aftermath of the entrenchment of segregation.
5. Harlem was seriously overbuilt and became the Negro capital of the world.
6. Harlem and New York became the headquarters of many of African American cultural and political national organizations.
7. First glimmerings of new day literature came with the Three Plays for a Negro by Ridgely Torrence.
8. James Weldon’s Book of American Negro Poetry emphasized youthful promise of new writers.
9. Jean Toomer illustrated the peculiar challenges and opportunities of the nascent movement.
10. White patronage was important and necessary because of segregation and racial beliefs.
11. If books by blacks were to be published something more than merit had to be behind them.
12. The 2 leading figures were Carl Van Vechten and Charlotte Osgood Mason.
13. Writers and artists lived with uneasy knowledge that most blacks didn't know about it.
14. The growing antagonism between many of the old writers and editors and younger set.
15. Among the black writers certain significant tensions became more serious.
16. The success of Shuffle Along in 1921 led to a vogue of revues and many imitations.
17. Around 1928, emphasis among the writers of the renaissance shifted from poetry to fiction.
18. The crash of Wall Street in 1929 was the beginning of the end.
19. The 1929 Wall Street crash was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States.
20. Conditions for blacks made mockery of heady enthusiasm that led to the 1920s.
2. The 1920s was a decade of extraordinary creativity in the arts for black Americans.
3. Negritude was a movement mainly among French speaking black writers emphasizing a black aesthetic.
4. New York City became a magnet for blacks fleeing the South in the aftermath of the entrenchment of segregation.
5. Harlem was seriously overbuilt and became the Negro capital of the world.
6. Harlem and New York became the headquarters of many of African American cultural and political national organizations.
7. First glimmerings of new day literature came with the Three Plays for a Negro by Ridgely Torrence.
8. James Weldon’s Book of American Negro Poetry emphasized youthful promise of new writers.
9. Jean Toomer illustrated the peculiar challenges and opportunities of the nascent movement.
10. White patronage was important and necessary because of segregation and racial beliefs.
11. If books by blacks were to be published something more than merit had to be behind them.
12. The 2 leading figures were Carl Van Vechten and Charlotte Osgood Mason.
13. Writers and artists lived with uneasy knowledge that most blacks didn't know about it.
14. The growing antagonism between many of the old writers and editors and younger set.
15. Among the black writers certain significant tensions became more serious.
16. The success of Shuffle Along in 1921 led to a vogue of revues and many imitations.
17. Around 1928, emphasis among the writers of the renaissance shifted from poetry to fiction.
18. The crash of Wall Street in 1929 was the beginning of the end.
19. The 1929 Wall Street crash was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States.
20. Conditions for blacks made mockery of heady enthusiasm that led to the 1920s.
Literature
Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem
by Helene M Johnson
You are disdainful and magnificant--
Your perfect body and your pompous gait,
Your dark eyes flashing solemnly with hate,
Small wonder that you are incompetent
To imitate those whom you so despise--
Your shoulders towering high above the throng,
Your head thrown back in rich, barbaric song,
Palm trees and mangoes stretched before your eyes.
Let others toil and sweat for labor's sake
And wring from grasping hands their need of gold.
Why urge ahead your supercilious feet?
Scorn will efface each footprint that you make.
I love your laughter arrogant and bold.
You are too splendid for this city street.
by Helene M Johnson
You are disdainful and magnificant--
Your perfect body and your pompous gait,
Your dark eyes flashing solemnly with hate,
Small wonder that you are incompetent
To imitate those whom you so despise--
Your shoulders towering high above the throng,
Your head thrown back in rich, barbaric song,
Palm trees and mangoes stretched before your eyes.
Let others toil and sweat for labor's sake
And wring from grasping hands their need of gold.
Why urge ahead your supercilious feet?
Scorn will efface each footprint that you make.
I love your laughter arrogant and bold.
You are too splendid for this city street.
My Analysis
Situation: The poet tells a story but not traditionally as the speaker tells the story of a people. The poem expresses an emotion of confidence and somewhat ironic. The speaker is not discussed and remains unknown. However, it might be the author. The speaker is speaking to a Negro in Harlem. It isn’t clear if you can trust the speaker.
Structure:
Language:
Musical Devices:
- Tone: The speaker attitude is in wonder but criticizing of the subject. A congratulatory and pitiful tone would be appropriate for reading this poem aloud. Words like “too splendid” and “incompetent” give me a clue to the tone.
Structure:
- Form: There are 14 lines. It is similar to a traditional sonnet but has a different rhyme scheme and no couplet. I think the poet chose this form because Shakespeare dedicates sonnets to great muses in his life which shows how important the subject is to the author.
- Movement: The poem develops by free association as the speaker discusses the Negro in Harlem. There is movement to the same attitude.
- Syntax: There are 6 sentences. The sentences are complicated and the nouns are in the usual “noun verb” order.
- Punctuation: There is enjambment in most of the lines and end-stopped lines in the last 4 lines.
- Title: The title describes exactly what the poem is about. It relates as it tells the subject and purpose.
Language:
- Diction: The word choice is formal. The moods of pity are associated with “small wonder” and “why urge” and congratulatory attitudes are associated with words like “magnificent”, “perfect” and “splendid”.
- Allusion: There are allusions to slavery and racism.
- Imagery: The images add to the meaning as the reader helps to understand the true grand nature and problems of the Negro in Harlem Nature.
Musical Devices:
- Rhyme scheme: The rhyme occurs in a regular pattern. The effect is satisfying.
- Rhyme/Meter: There are stressed syllables at the end of the line.
Literature I Would Like to Read
- Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
- Saturday’s Child by Countee Cullen