LITERATURE OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

The Harlem Renaissance was the defining movement in African American literature due to the outbreak of active creativity among writers. Literature was used to promote and praise the heritage of African Americans. African American literature was re-defined through the uniqueness of the culture. Literature also played a key role in the transformation from the "Old Negro" to the "New Negro".

IMPORTANT WRITERS

 Langston Hughes (1902-1967) 

• One of the main interpreters to the world of the black experience in the United States
• Attended Columbia University
• His poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers was published in The Crisis, which brought him a lot of attention
• Wrote poetry about black life in America from the 20s - 60s, but also wrote short stories, plays and novels
• Refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America
• Told stories in ways that reflected actual culture - showed both their suffering and their triumphs 



A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Countee Cullen (1903-1946) 

• Poet
• Went to New York University and received an M.A. from Havard University
• His formal education derived from white influences, which heavily influenced his creativity
• He lacked background to write about the black experience
• Preferred to use classical verse rather than rely on rhytms and idioms of his African American heritage
• Assitant editor for Opportunity magazine
• Believed poetry to be raceless, "I want to be a poet, not a negro poet"
• The Black Christ was a poem that compared the lynching of black people to the crucification of Christ - one of his poems that did take a racial theme
• His novel One Way to Heaven depicted life in Harlem

Jean Toomer (1894-1967)

• His writing centers around his longing for racial unity
• Grew up in a black community, went to a black high school
• Attened the University of Wisconsin and the City College of New York
• 'Light-skinned' black man that was trying to establish an identity in a society that had rigid race distinctions
• Cane is one of his most well known pieces of work, which is a series of vignettes based on the origins and experiences of African Americans in the United States

 

MAGAZINES

Main American magazines associated with the Harlem Renaissance include Opportunity, Fire!!! and The Crisis. All these magazines were crucial in the Harlem Renaissance as they published the work of many writers.

Opportunity Magazine

• Published from 1923 - 1949
• Edited by Charles S. Johnson
• Aim was to give voice to the black culture that was neglected by mainstream American publishing
• Encouraged young writers to submit their work
• There were three literary contests, winners included Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen 

 

References

http://www.poets.org
http://www.lib.subr.edu/BLACK_HISTORY/
http://www.britannica.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/harlemrenaissance.html
http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/literature/page_1.htm