Chapter 12: A Prospering Society "The Harlem Renaissance"

Introduction During the jazz and the jive of the early 1920s, African American writers began making their voices heard in the pages of American literature. Many of these writers met, lived, and supported one another in a suburb of New York City called Harlem. Their expressions of African American experiences and cultural heritage inspired an explosion of African American literature and poetry. As African Americans in all areas of the arts and society joined in, a movement was born that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. This Web site chronicles the historic events and important people that brought the Harlem Renaissance to life. Destination Title: HARLEM 1900–1940 Note: Clicking on the link above will launch a new browser window. Need help using your browser for this activity? Click here for tips. Directions Start at the HARLEM 1900–1940 Web site. Click on the "Exhibition" topic. Browse through the site, taking notes as you go. After you have read through the information, answer the following questions. 1. What role did the Crisis play in the Harlem Renaissance? 2. List several African American authors of the Harlem Renaissance and their works. 3. How did Aaron Douglas's art represent his African heritage? 4. What influence did Duke Ellington have on music? 5. The Harlem Renaissance injected American society with the rhythms and yearnings of the 1920s' African American. On a separate sheet of paper, write a short essay that describes the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on American culture. Include in your short essay examples of people, works, and ideas that added the African American voice to the texture of our society.