Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance was a literary and cultural movement that began right after the end of WWI. Large numbers of African Americans moved North in search of jobs and of new opportunities.




Characteristics:
Intent
   - to improve and uplift African Americans through historical awareness 
   - "The New Negro"
         - term introduced by Alain LeRoy
         - described a new wave of African-American intellectuals who used poetry and other forms of artistic and cultural expression to subvert racism


Influenced by African American folk poetry and oral traditions 


Reflected new found pride in black culture 


Major Themes:
Migration
American Identity
AMerican Dream




Styles:
Varied from each poet
Repetitive Structure
Recurring themes of blues music
Jazz songs impacted the structure of poems
Free Verse




Employment of Lit Devices:
References to black American past and the experiences of slavery 




Authors:
Langston Hughes 1902-1967 ~ The Weary Blues (1926)
Countee Cullen 1903-1946 ~ I Have a Rendezvous With Life (1920s)
Claude McKay 1889-1948 ~ Birds of Prey
Effie Lee Newsome 1885-1979 ~ The Bronze Legacy (To a Brown Boy)
Jean Toomer 1894-1967 ~ Blue Meridian



Example:

My People by Langston Hughes




The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.