Harlem Renaissance
During the Harlem Renaissance a new feeling of racial pride emerged in the Black Intelligencia. The Black Intelligencia consisted of African-American writers, poets, philosophers, historians, and artists whose expertise conveyed five central themes according to Sterling Brown, a writer of that time: "1) Africa as a source of race pride, 2) Black American heroes 3) racial political propaganda, 4) the "Black folk" tradition, and 5) candid self-revelation." Two of the main people responsible for this new consciousness were W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke. Du Bois laid a foundation for this dawn of racial pride in his essays. Locke took Du Bois' initial idea one step further with his writings and aiding younger writers and artists that appeared during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes was one of the writers that Locke mentored. Hughes was a devote believer of exhibiting pride in the Black race; this theme was often exhibited in his writing. These three men have each contributed and advanced the sentiment of racial pride in their own unique way during the Harlem Renaissance.In order to fully understand the contributions of W.E.B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, and Langston Hughes it is imperative to know their backgrounds. W
Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter formed the Niagara Movement in 1905. The organization scattered in five years, and in 1909 Du Bois, with several other eminent African-American and Caucasian men and women, formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP). Du Bois became the Director of Publications and Research for the NAACP based in New York. For the next twenty-four years Du Bois was the editor of its journal, The Crisis. Locke started the novel The New Negro by editing Harlem Edition of Survey Graphic (March 1925) entitled "Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro," which introduced American readers to the Harlem Renaissance. He then expanded the theme of The New Negro which included works by a stately collection of new artists like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Rudolph Fisher, Jean Tommer, and others; it also featured established writers like James Weldon Johnson, Claude Mckay, and W.E.B. Du Bois. In The New Negro Locke displayed works by writers who did not "sugar coat" their situations as minorities in a racist country. These writers spoke about the grim realities of racism and poverty that Black people faced daily and encouraged their audiences to take pride and empower themselves. This indeed was the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance and the continuation and expansion of racial pride. (New York: 1995). pp. 1-20, 44-76, 140-164. Du Bois laid a foundation by starting the consciousness of racial ride, beginning with education for African-Americans, role models for African-Americans, and the idea of giving back to the African-American community. Locke advanced this idea further by applying the sentiment of racial pride to arts like writing, painting, poetry, song, dance, etc. which brought artists like Langston Hughes into the public sphere which in turn rose awareness to all of American society, Black and white, about the importance of racial pride. These three men all have contributed immensely to the increase of consciouness of racial pride during the Harlem Renaissance. Davis, Charles T. and Daniel Walden. Being Black: Writings by Afro-Americans from
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Approximate Word count = 2642
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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