Launching Into The Harlem Renaissance!

·         The Harlem Renaissance was in the 1920s and early 1930s.

·         It emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918.

·         It was an African American cultural movement.

·         The Harlem Renaissance was the development of African American literature, music, theater, art, and politics.

·         It was centered in the Harlem neighborhood in New York City.

·         It is also known as the New Negro Movement, Negro Renaissance, and New Negro Renaissance.

·         It marks the first time that African American literature and art was taken seriously.

·         Throughout the Harlem Renaissance, sixteen black writers published more than 50 volumes of poetry and fiction.

·         Charles S. Johnson of the National Urban League hosting a dinner to recognize the new literary talent, the publication of Nigger Heaven (1926) by white novelist Carl Van Vechten, and the production of Fire!!, a literary magazine, launched the Harlem Renaissance.

·         It changed forever the dynamics of African American arts and literature in the United States.

Josephine Baker 

a picture of Josephine Baker
 from Student Encarta

·         Josephine Baker was born in 1906 and died in 1975.

·         She was a singer and a dancer.

·         She moved to Paris, France, in the mid-1920s.

·         She helped introduce European audiences to African American dances and music.

·         She starred in several motion pictures.

·         In one of her jungle dances, she wore a skirt of bananas.

·         Her signature song is “J’ai deux amours” (I Have Two Loves), and it referred to her love for two countries, the United States and France.

Click Here to listen to her signature song.

A picture of Claude McKay from Student Encarta

Claude McKay

·         He was born in Jamaica in 1890 and died in 1948.

·         He was an American writer.

·         He was known for his poems and novels of black life.

·         McKay’s first novel was Home to Harlem (1928).

·         He converted to Catholicism.

A picture of Langston
Hughes from Student Encarta

Langston Hughes

·         He was born in 1902 and died in 1967.

·         He was an American writer

·         In his poetry, he was known for using the rhythm of jazz and of everyday Black speech.

·         His first poem was “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”

·         He wrote the drama Mulatto, which was performed on Broadway 373 times.

·         Hughes wrote more than 50 books, but he is best-known for his poetry.

Works Cited:

"Claude McKay." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

"Josephine Baker." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

"Langston Hughes." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

Wintz, Cary DeCordova. "Harlem Renaissance." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:     Microsoft Corporation, 2008.