The Harlem Renaissanceand

Modernism

What is modern?

Why do people like to be on the “cutting edge”?

What does modern mean to you?

Is this modern?

Can Ideals Survive Catastrophe?

How can people hold on to their idealism in light of dire events?

Is it even possible?

How Can People Honor their Heritage?

Is it important to honor your past?

Writing is one way to honor one’s past – what are other ways to do this?

What drives human behavior?

Do you think people regulate their behavior through reason and understanding?

Or are they driven by unconscious desire?

What are some of the major events from 1910 to 1940?

Pause and chat with your neighbor…

WWI: 1914 to 1918

How was WWI different from previous wars?

New War Technology

• Machine guns• Poison gas• Airplane bombers• Submarines

WWI: The first modern war

Some facts:

32 nations were involved.

20 million were dead.

What effect did the war have on society?

“Words such as glory, honor, courage or hallow were obscene.”

--Ernest Hemingway

The Jazz Age

(from a 1929 movie poster)

Some Americans, disillusioned with the traditional values that led to war, sought escape in the pleasures of entertainment and good times.

The Roaring Twenties

A booming economy characterized this time.

“…the greatest, guadiest spree in history” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

1920’s: Incomes on the Rise

More money for goods More money for leisure

Prohibition

Alcohol was outlawed from 1920 to 1933.

Speakeasy’s – illegal bars – became popular

Gangsters made their fortune in the blackmarket for alcohol.

The Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, had all white guests listening to Black performers.

It was about time!

In 1920, passage of the 19th Amendment finally gave women the right to vote!

Flappers…the new woman

The flapper was an emancipated young woman who embraced new fashions and the urban attitudes of the day.

The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was the voice of the 1920’s. He criticized the dark underside of the lives of the very rich.

The Harlem Renaissance

When: 1916 through 1920’s

What: Flowering of African American arts and culture

Where: Harlem, New York City

Great Migration

Millions of black farmers and sharecroppers moved to the urban North in search of opportunity and freedom from oppression and racial hostility.

Destination: Harlem

Harlem – the upper West side of Manhattan – quickly became the cultural center of African-American life.

Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God is amongst the works that made her a figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Langston Hughes

One of the leading poets of the Harlem Renaissance

The Great Depression

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression spelled an end to the Roaring Twenties and the Harlem Renaissance.

Modernism

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

Modernism means…

“Art of writing that reflects a loss of hope after World War I and believes individuals are threatened and isolated by society and mass culture.”

Bring out the Modernists…

Poet William Carlos Williams is a Modernist.

I guess that about covers it…

Thanks for listening!