1. Harlem Renaissance Themes for Analysis

2. The Harlem Renaissance Why is integration and assimilation different for African-Americans as compared to European immigrants?

3. Double-Consciousness African-Americans’ struggle to claim a distinct cultural identity and yet be seen as American –WB Dubois “The Souls of Black Folk” and the metaphor of the “Veil” Obstacles: discrimination, stereotypes, lost African heritage, White approval/disapproval –Hughes “Father and Son” and “I, Too, Sing America”

4. New Negro Identity The use of African settings, images, and symbols attracts whites and fulfills a desire to search for the roots of a lost heritage –Hughes “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Seeks to obliterate old stereotypes –Hughes “Father and Son” Obligation to present the beauty and truth of African-American life Promote racial pride Through integration and contact with the white and black upper classes new understanding will emerge –Jazz –White patronage

5. The Purpose of African-American Art “All Art is Propaganda” Dubois, Locke, and others criticize all Black art that doesn’t portray African- Americans positively Seek to undue the damage done by years of racial stereotypes –“The Souls of Black Folk – the Talented Tenth” Claude McKay’s poems – “America” expose the effects of discrimination, combat racial stereotypes and promote pride and activism. “True Negro art” must resist the urge “towards whiteness.” Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and others look towards folk music and stories to represent a more authentic racial identity –“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” –The Blues, Jazz and Spirituals – “The Weary Blues”

6. Optimism Theme for English B All of our futures are intertwined