Term paper on Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

World War I witnessed a significant migration of African Americans from the fields of the South to the factories of the North. Many settled in Harlem , which quickly became the mecca for African American writers and artists. Notable among the writers were Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Alain Locke, who drew on their largely neglected African American heritage. Harlem also became home to a rich jazz culture during the 1920s. Denying that African Americans or their culture could ever find a home in the United States, Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey found popular support when he urged Harlemites to return to Africa.

Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Explain how Harlem became the center of African American cultural life.

2. Discuss the contributions to the Harlem Renaissance of a prominent African American writer, artist, or musician.

3. Why did jazz become widely popular during the 1920s?

4. Discuss the rise and fall of Marcus Garvey.

5. Compare the racial views of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan.

Suggested Sources : See entries 9, 30, 72, and 73 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage . Susan Altman and Joel Kemelhor. New York : Facts on File, 1997. Good general encyclopedia with treatment of issues, topics, events, and personalities; informative entry on Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era . Bruce Kellner, ed. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1984. Excellent reference source for brief information regarding personalities, titles, events, and so forth. Detailed bibliography as well as glossary.

The Harlem Renaissance: A Selected Bibliography . Robert A. Russ. New York : AMS, 1987. Extensive resource for identifying pertinent materials on the topic.

The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Reference Guide for Student Research . Marie E. Rodgers. Englewood , CO : Libraries Unlimited, 1998. Excellent historical overview of the years 1917–1933, with biographical sketches and annotated references.

GENERAL SOURCES

Hughes, Langston. A Pictorial History of the Negro in America . New York : Crown Publishers, 1983. Comprehensive illustrated history, with one chapter devoted to the Harlem Renaissance.

Katz, William L. Black Legacy: A History of New York’s African Americans . New York : Atheneum Books, 1997. The Harlem Renaissance receives emphasis in this general history of African Americans in New York . Well illustrated.

Schoener, Allon, ed. Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America . New York : New Press/Norton, 1969. A good survey of the creative energy coming out of Harlem . Originally issued as part of a museum exhibit.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Burkett, Randall K. Garveyism as a Religious Movement: The Institutionalization of a Black Civil Religion . Blue Ridge Summit , PA : Scarecrow, 1978. An informative examination of the religious dimensions associated with Garvey’s mission. Still available from the publisher.

Chambers, Veronica. The Harlem Renaissance . Broomall , PA : Chelsea House Publishers, 1997. Concise and easy-to-read account of the personalities placed within the perspective of social and political influences; art, literature, music, and other topics.

Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America . New York : Studio Museum in

Harlem , 1987. Fine illustrated description of the visual arts as part of the Harlem Renaissance. Numerous examples.

Haskins, James. The Harlem Renaissance . Brookfield , CT : Millbrook, 1996. Easy-to-read, informative treatment of artists, musicians, writers, and others placed within the issues of the time and the ongoing debates regarding thematic material, social commentary, and other topics.

Hutchinson, George. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White . Cambridge : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1997. Detailed scholarly analysis of the impact and development of artistic expression in the movement. Examines the role of Alain Locke in promoting the arts.

Jacques, Geoffrey. Free within Ourselves: The Harlem Renaissance . New York : Franklin Watts, 1996. Brief, easy-to-read, informative introductory survey of the artistic productivity of the Renaissance; examines poetry, art, music, novels, theater, and other areas.

Lewis, David L. When Harlem Was in Vogue . New York : Knopf, 1981. Fine, readable history of this period of creativity. Informative and appealing.

Powell, Richard et al., eds. Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renais-sance . Berkeley : University of California Press, 1997. Catalog of a traveling exhibition that opened in London . Excellent commentary on the work of artists, singers, photographers, actors, and others.

Roses, Lorraine E., and Ruth E. Randolph, eds. Harlem ‘s Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900–1950 . Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1996. Interesting and informative compilation of writings on a wide range of topics from nearly sixty women, including Zora Neale Hurston and Jessie Fauset.

Spencer, Jon Michael. The New Negroes and Their Music: The Success of the Harlem Renaissance . Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 1997. Good study of the developments and obstacles faced by the black musicians and composers in New York at the time.

Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance . Houston : Rice University Press, 1988. A useful examination of the history, geography, and ideas of the period. Emphasizes the emergence of cultural expression through writing, including publishing history.

———. The Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940: Interpretation of an African American Literary Movement . New York : Garland , 1996. 7 vols. Primary sources, including lectures, essays, speeches, articles, and book reviews, in the first five volumes, and essays about the Harlem Renaissance by historians and others in the final two volumes.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

‘‘Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940.” Dictionary of Literary Biography . Detroit : Gale, 1987. Detailed and lengthy bi-

ographical descriptions of selected writers. Volume 51 continues the work of volume 50 treating writers before the Harlem Renaissance.

Coleman , Leon . Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: A Critical Assessment . Hamden , CT : Garland , 1998. Uses correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, and published material to evaluate Van Vechten’s contribution to the Harlem Renaissance.

Roses, Lorraine E., and Ruth E. Randolph. Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black Women Writers . Boston : G. K. Hall, 1990. Brief, cogent biographical sketches.

Rush, Theressa Gunnels, et al. Black American Writers: Past and Present: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary . Blue Ridge Summit , PA : Scarecrow, 1975. A comprehensive tool providing biographical sketches of the Harlem Renaissance writers as well as others. Still in print and considered important.

Stein, Judith. The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 1986. Interesting and revealing biographical study and social history of black nationalism in its formative years.

Wall, Cheryl A. Women of the Harlem Renaissance . Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1995. Treatment and critical commentary on literary black females Jessie Redmon Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nella Larsen; includes other writers and artists.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

The Roaring Twenties . Wynnewood , PA : Schlessinger Media/Library Video. 1996. Videocassette. Seventeenth volume of a twenty-volume set ( United States History Video Collection ); covers Harlem Renaissance, Jazz Age, and other topics in the 40-minute tape.

Paul Robeson: One Man Show . Wilkes Barre, PA: Karol Video, 197?. A compelling performance by James Earl Jones in 118 minutes illustrates Robeson’s character and motivation.

WORLD WIDE WEB

‘‘ Harlem Renaissance.” Geocities . October 1997. http://www.geocities.com./Athens/Forum/4722/big.html Contains leads to ‘‘Poetry,” ‘‘Politics,” ‘‘Women,” ‘‘Jazz,” and ‘‘Theatre.” Brief biographies and analyses; poetry section contains a selection of poems from different poets as well.