ELIT 48CClass #15

Accidental

or Incidental?

The adjective accidental

means unintentional or

happening by chance.

The adjective incidental

means secondary or

nonessential. It often

refers to something that

occurs in connection with

a more important activity

or event.

Chair Poet?

Rain And Wind

By Trevor West

Raindrops on this page

Wind blows my paper away

Oh crap! I need that!

AGENDA

Choose new teams

The Harlem Renaissance

Historical Context The Poems of

Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston

2. You must change at least 50% of your team.

3. You may never be on a team with the same person more than twice.

4. You may never have a new team composed of more than 50% of any prior team.

1. Your teams can be made up of 4 or 5 people.

LectureThe Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a period between World War I and the Great Depression when black artists and writers flourished in the United States.

Most critics and historians agree that 1917 marks the first comprehensive signs of increased cultural activity among black artists in the Harlem section of New York City and that by the mid-1930s the movement had lost much of its original vigor.

While Harlem was the epicenter of black culture during this period, and home to more blacks than any other urban area in the nation in the years after World War I, other cities, such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, also fostered similar but smaller communities of black artists.

What Are We Talking About?

Between 1890 and 1920, the near collapse of the southern

agricultural economy, coupled with a labor shortage in the

north, prompted about two million blacks to migrate to

northern cities in search of work.

In addition, World War I had left an entire generation of

African Americans asking why, when they had fought and

many had died for their country, they were still afforded

second-class status.

Why This Movement?

Harlem had become an entertainment capital. Musical performers moved to

Harlem, drawn by the hundreds of nightclubs and other venues where the jazz

sound was wildly popular. Performers Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fats

Waller, and others played at nightspots like Smalls’s Inn and the Savoy

Ballroom. Whites from other parts of New York City “discovered” Harlem

and made it the place to be on a Saturday night. Ironically, some of the

nightclubs were off-limits to blacks, including the famous Cotton Club, until

1928. Instead, they catered to a wealthy white clientele intent on experiencing

the “exotic” Harlem atmosphere.

How did Harlem Change?

A number of black intellectuals, for example W. E. B. Du Bois,

made it clear that the time had come for white America to

acknowledge the achievements of African-American artists

and thinkers. The idea that whites might come to accept blacks

if they were exposed to their artistic endeavors became a

popular one.

To this end, magazines such as the Crisis and Opportunity

featured the prose and poetry of Harlem Renaissance stars

Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Nella

Larsen, and Zora Neale Hurston. Major New York-based

publishing houses began to search for new black voices and

print their poems, short stories, and novels.

What Happened Next?

White intellectual society

embraced these writers and

supported— financially and

through social contacts—their

efforts to educate Americans

about their race, culture, and

heritage through their art.

Ultimately, however, the

financial backing began to run

dry in the early 1930s with the

collapse of the New York stock

market and the ensuing

worldwide economic depression.

The Renaissance had run its

course.

How did it turn out?

In your groups, discuss your

responses to the homework

questions concerning Hughes’s

poems

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,”“I, too, sing America,”“The Weary Blues”

1. What connections can be

made between race and

blues music in "The Weary

Blues"?

2. What do you think it means

to have a soul that is deep

as rivers?

3. How does “I, too, sing

America” make you think

about what it means to be

an American? How is

"America" presented in this

poem, and how does it

make you feel about

America?

“The Negro

Speaks of

Rivers”

What do you think it means to have a soul that is deep as rivers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFp40WJbsA

What do you think it means to have a soul that is deep as rivers?1. I believe that a soul being as deep as rivers means that one has

knowledge and experience that can nurture others. A soul starts off

shallow and innocent; it can’t do much other than maintain it’s

current state. However, over the passing of time, the soul, like a

river, becomes deeper when a larger, main body of knowledge

pours more into its original form. The soul then becomes enriched

and pregnant with new and old things. A soul must rely on the

wisdom of elders, like the Euphrates, Congo, Nile, and Mississippi,

in order to become “deep” like them.

1. By saying his soul has grown as deeps as river he is saying he is

filled with all the richness the ancient generations have provided

him with, and as a river himself, he will continue to add to the

enrichment of the civilizations who are still to come.

“I, too, sing America”

How does “I, too, sing America” make you think about what it means to be an American?

How is "America" presented in this poem, and how does it make you feel about America?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiCWng

Pt-L4

How does “I, too, sing America” make you think about what it means to be an American? How is "America" presented in this poem, and how does it make you feel about America?

1. In this poem, Hughes depicts America as a racist society that does not respect, nor

treat African Americans as equal “Americans.” In “I, too, sing America”, Hughes

depicts this racist mentality because he shows how an African American (the darker

brother) is shunned and hidden away from others. The reason being that the family

is embarrassed and does not want others to see him. By ostracizing him and

separating him from the others who eat at the table, the people are essentially

dehumanizing him. […] Overall, this poem makes me contemplate how delusional

the notion of equality and freedom for all in America truly is.

2. America has a plethora of cultures and races that inhabit it, but even with the

immense diversity people still have this immediate picture of what an American

looks like, and that picture is usually of a white person. White is the immediate

default for an average American citizen. People who are non-white get asked

questions like “where are you really from?” since they don’t fit the image of a

typical American. People of color aren’t seen as real Americans due to their race and

cultural background.

“The Weary Blues”What connections can be made between race and blues music in "The Weary Blues"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM7HSOwJw20

What connections can be made between race and blues music in "The Weary Blues”?

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

Rocking back and forth to a mellow

croon,

I heard a Negro play.

Down on Lenox Avenue the other

night

By the pale dull pallor of an old gas

light

He did a lazy sway . . .

He did a lazy sway . . .

To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.

With his ebony hands on each ivory

key

He made that poor piano moan with

melody.

O Blues!

Swaying to and fro on his rickety

stool

He played that sad raggy tune like

a musical fool.

Sweet Blues!

Coming from a black man’s soul.

O Blues!

In a deep song voice with a

melancholy tone

I heard that Negro sing, that old

piano moan—

“Ain’t got nobody in all this

world,

Ain’t got nobody but ma self.

I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’

After graduating from Barnard College in New

York City, Hurston returned to Eatonville to study

her townspeople. As an anthropologist, she

treasured the myths, legends, and folklore that

combined to create the unique African-

American culture. Hurston's cultural pride and

anthropological interests fused in her fiction. She

recorded the voice of her native townspeople

in an authentic manner, effectively capturing

the mood, speech patterns, attitudes, and

customs of Eatonville. Today, one of the most

noted features of Hurston's fiction is her use of

the African-American dialect in the speech of

her characters.

Zora Neale Hurston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PANwrq_OuPM&list=PLhUY1L

ZyjQLUARKUgLPv1vrSc-1WqoCVE

Group Discussion

1. Community is the primary bond among the stories contained in

"The Eatonville Anthology." How does the image of a front

porch act as a symbol of the social concept of community?

Cite specific incidents from the story that prove this

connection.

1. How does the narrator's viewpoint direct the reader's

understanding and approval of the citizens presented in "The

Eatonville Anthology"? Discuss specific examples.

1. QHQ: “How it Feels to Be Colored Me”

Community is a consistent theme in the works of Zora Neale Hurston

and the primary bond among the smaller stories contained in "The

Eatonville Anthology." How does the image of a front porch act as a

symbol of the social concept of community? Cite specific incidents

from the story that prove this connection.

The best image of the front porch I could find was from [Hurston’s]

“Eatonville Anthology” section XII The Head of the Nail. Here it can be seen

that Daisy Taylor is flirtatious with the married men of the town, and as Zora

describes her, is the “town vamp” (535). As it is Saturday night and the town

is gathered, we can see a sense of “community”. Here, “the town has had its

bath and with its week’s pay in pocket, fares forth to be merry. The men tell

stories and treat the ladies to soda water, peanuts and peppermint candy”

(535). Daisy is overstepping her boundaries, wanting to gain candy and

attention from the married men. This is a breaking of community and is not

accepted on the porch. [Hurston] states, “the porch was cold to her that night”

(535). Daisy has no hope to gain her way into the community if she cannot

receive any warmth from the porch. The porch represents society, community,

a sense of family, and because she is breaking the rules of ettiquette, she is

kicked out.

How does the narrator's viewpoint direct the reader's

understanding and approval of the citizens presented in "The

Eatonville Anthology"? Discuss specific examples.

Hurston gives an honest portrait of life in Eatonville, showing the imperfection

of the people portrayed. She has an observant viewpoint, describing each

person and his or her situation with a very terse tone, leaving the reader with a

clear understanding of the character’s reality with not much room for

disapproval. Hurston talks of Becky Moore and her fatherless eleven children,

concluding with how “the other mothers of the town […] won’t let their

children play with hers” (531). Consequently, she is able place the reader up

front with an honest depiction of a reality that cannot be denied. In addition,

Hurston talks about Mrs. Clarke, who despite getting beat by her husband still

misses him when he is not in church. The irony that arises from this uncovers

the paradoxical nature of human beings, as Hurston succeeds in showing the

reality of individuals and their complexities. Moreover, Hurston chooses to

simply depict the character’s situations—whether good or bad—and leave it

just at that: a concise, honest portrait of life in Eatonville. As a result, she is

able to establish a seemingly objective perspective for each situation, forcing

the reader to approve every presentation of Eatonville as true to life.

QHQs: “How it Feels to Be Colored Me1. What does Hurston mean by “I am not tragically colored”?

2. What does Hurston means when she says, “He is so pale with his

whiteness then and I am so colored” (540)?

3. Huston says “At certain times I have no race, I am me” and “I belong to

no race nor time” (1518). Do you think it’s possible to completely

ignore race as Hurston implies she does?

4. What does Hurston mean when she describes herself as “a fragment of

the Great Soul?”

5. If Hurston is not bitter about the distinction between the “colored” and

white people, then how does she feel about it?

6. What would Langston Hughes think of [Hurston’s] denial of the racial

mountain?

HOMEWORK

Familiarize yourself with potential topics for essay #1

Post # 18

In 300 words, consider one of our previous texts through the lens of African American Criticism.

Read “American Literature since 1945” pp. 3-19

Read Mary Klages “Postmodernism.” There is a link to this article on the website home page.

Post #19

QHQ on Klages