Harlem Renaissance Notes

HISTORY

In the early ______hundreds of thousands of African-Americans took part in ______, moving from the rural South into the industrial cities of the North.

Reasons for Great Migration:

1. ______through Jim Crow Laws in the South.

2. ______in the north opened doors for jobs.

During the migration many settled in ______, and it became a meeting ground for writers, musicians, and artists.

FOUNDING FATHERS

1. ______(1868-1963)

  • Author and social activist
  • 1925 article "A Negro Art Renaissance" celebrated the emergence of black people in creative arts.
  • Editor of the NAACP magazine The Crisis, he demanded full and immediate equality for blacks.

2. ______(1871 – 1938)

  • He was a teacher, poet, novelist, songwriter, newspaper editor, lawyer, and diplomat.
  • Published the first analogies of traditional African-American poetry and spirituals.

3. ______(1885 – 1954)

  • In 1925 he published The New Negro, an anthology of essays, stories, and poems by young black writers.
  • The term "New Negro" was often used to describe the proud, spirited, and empowered younger generation.

LITERATURE

From the 1920s through the mid-1930s ______African-American writers from Harlem published more than ______volumes of poetry and fiction.

  • ______- was best known as a poet, also wrote plays, a novel, short stories, and an autobiography.
  • ______– was an anthropologist and folklorist, she studied at Colombia University. She used the music and stories she collected as a folklorist to inform her novels, and plays.
  • ______- was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised by foster parents in New York. He was recognized as an award-winning poet by his high school years.

MUSIC

Jazz first emerged in ______in the early 1900s. During the ______, it traveled along with southern migrants to northern cities, including Chicago, Kansas City, and New York City. Jazz allowed performers to improvise, creating their own unique melodies and rhythms as they played.

  • ______- He began his career as a jazz pianist and became the leader of the first "big bands." The Duke Ellington Orchestra played dance music at the hottest night-clubs in Harlem.Over the course of six decades, he produced more than 3,000 musical compositions, writing for stage productions, movies, ballet companies, and symphony orchestras.
  • ______- He moved from New Orleans to Harlem in 1924 to play in Fletcher Henderson's band. His exciting and innovating trumpet solos made him an instant sensation.
  • ______- She was known as the "Empress of the Blues". She recorded more than 150 songs and toured the country, thrilling audiences with her deep, expressive voice. Many of Smith's songs spoke about her awareness as a strong, independent black woman.

ART

  • ______is often called the Father of African-American Art. He was born in Topeka, Kansas, and he studied Fine Art at the University of Nebraska.
  • ______was born in New Jersey in 1917. His family moved to the Harlem area of New York City when he was a young teenager. Lawrence was 23 years old when he completed his set of paintings from the Great Migration.
  • ______(November 3, 1905 – June 9, 1998) She was an artist who painted and influenced others during the Harlem Renaissance and beyond during her long teaching and artistic career.

"The world does not know that a people is great, until that people produces great literature and art."

-James Weldon Johnson

"Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."

-Langston Hughes