Elit 48 c class 21
- 1. ELIT 48C Class #21 Accidental or Incidental?
- 2. The adjective accidental means unintentional or happening by chance. The adjective incidental means secondary or nonessential. It often refers to something that occurs in connection with a more important activity or event.
- 3. AGENDA Choose new teams The Harlem Renaissance Historical Context The Poems of Langston Hughes Author Introduction: Zora Neale Hurston
- 4. 2. You must change at least 50% of your team. 3. You may never be on a team with the same person more than twice. 4. You may never have a new team comprised of more than 50% of any prior team. 1. Your teams can be made up of 4 or 5 people.
- 6. The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a period between World War I and the Great Depression when black artists and writers flourished in the United States. Most critics and historians agree that 1917 marks the first comprehensive signs of increased cultural activity among black artists in the Harlem section of New York City and that by the mid-1930s the movement had lost much of its original vigor. While Harlem was the epicenter of black culture during this period, and home to more blacks than any other urban area in the nation in the years after World War I, other cities, such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, also fostered similar but smaller communities of black artists. What Are We Talking About?
- 7. Between 1890 and 1920, the near collapse of the southern agricultural economy, coupled with a labor shortage in the north, prompted about two million blacks to migrate to northern cities in search of work. In addition, World War I had left an entire generation of African Americans asking why, when they had fought and many had died for their country, they were still afforded second-class status. Why This Movement?
- 8. Harlem had become an entertainment capital. Musical performers moved to Harlem, drawn by the hundreds of nightclubs and other venues where the jazz sound was wildly popular. Performers Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and others played at nightspots like Smalls’s Inn and the Savoy Ballroom. Whites from other parts of New York City “discovered” Harlem and made it the place to be on a Saturday night. Ironically, some of the nightclubs were off-limits to blacks, including the famous Cotton Club, until 1928. Instead, they catered to a wealthy white clientele intent on experiencing the “exotic” Harlem atmosphere. How did Harlem Change?
- 9. A number of black intellectuals, for example W. E. B. Du Bois, made it clear that the time had come for white America to acknowledge the achievements of African-American artists and thinkers. The idea that whites might come to accept blacks if they were exposed to their artistic endeavors became a popular one. To this end, magazines such as the Crisis and Opportunity featured the prose and poetry of Harlem Renaissance stars Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Nella Larsen, and Zora Neale Hurston. Major New York-based publishing houses began to search for new black voices and print their poems, short stories, and novels. What Happened Next?
- 10. White intellectual society embraced these writers and supported— financially and through social contacts—their efforts to educate Americans about their race, culture, and heritage through their art. Ultimately, however, the financial backing began to run dry in the early 1930s with the collapse of the New York stock market and the ensuing worldwide economic depression. The Renaissance had run its course. How did it turn out?
- 11. Discussion The Poetry of Langston Hughes
- 12. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” What do you think it means to have a soul that is deep as rivers?
- 13. “I, too, sing America” How does “I, too, sing America” make you think about what it means to be an American? How is "America" presented in this poem, and how does it make you feel about America?
- 14. “The Weary Blues” What connections can be made between race and blues music in "The Weary Blues"?
- 15. Author Introduction Zora Neale Hurston A novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston was the prototypical authority on black culture from the Harlem Renaissance.
- 16. Zora Neale Hurston combined literature with anthropology. She first gained attention with her short stories such as "John Redding Goes to Sea.” After several years of anthropological research financed through grants and fellowships, Zora Neale Hurston's first novel Jonah's Gourd Vine was published in 1934 to critical success. In 1935, her book Mules and Men, which investigated voodoo practices in black communities in Florida and New Orleans, also brought her success. Hurston's greatest novel, Their Eyes Watching God, was published in 1937. Zora Neale Hurston was a utopian, who held that black Americans could attain sovereignty from white American society and all its bigotry, as proven by her hometown of Eatonville. Her work did not address the issue of racism of whites, and as this became a emerging theme among black writers in the post World War II era of civil rights, Hurston's literary influence faded. She further damaged her own reputation by criticizing the civil rights movement and supporting ultraconservative politicians. She died in poverty and obscurity.
- 17. HOMEWORK Read Zora Neale Hurston: “The Eatonville Anthology” 530-38 and “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” 538-541 Post #21 Choose one Community is a consistent theme in the works of Zora Neale Hurston and the primary bond among the smaller stories contained in "The Eatonville Anthology." How does the image of a front porch act as a symbol of the social concept of community? Cite specific incidents from the story that prove this connection. How does the narrator's viewpoint direct the reader's understanding and approval of the citizens presented in "The Eatonville Anthology"? Discuss specific examples.