1. “Incident” - Countee Cullen
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.
How is this an example of understatement?

2. “Strange Fruit”
Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop

3. Harlem Renaissance
After massive amounts of African Americans moved north, the neighborhood of Harlem in NY became the mecca for the African American Voice
Artists, musicians, writers, poets, political leaders began expressing themselves & their feelings of isolation
For the first time in the U.S., African Americans had their own, unique voice & experience being heard and published in the mainstream world

4. Recurring Themes of Harlem Renaissance
Alienation- a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment
Acculturation- process of cultural change and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures
Assimilation- by which a person or a group’s language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group

5. “A Negro Speaks of Rivers” “Dream Variations”
How are the following found in these poems?
Alienation-
Acculturation-
Assimilation-

6. Warm-up: May 24 What could limit your dream from coming true?
What will happen to you if that dream doesn’t come true?
How have you seen others deal with their dreams not coming true? How did they react?

7. Harlem (Dream Deferred) Langston Hughes
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?

8. A Raisin in the Sun Written by Loraine Hansberry (1930-1965)
First African American woman to write a play performed on Broadway
Written in 1957, first performed 1959
Hansberry inspired by her father & Hughes poem
Title is taken from the poem “Harlem”. “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”
Focuses on lives of African Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago
Play is semi-autobiographical—her own family had struggled against segregation