The poem “O Black and Unknown Bards” by James Weldon Johnson contains many themes of Harlem Renaissance writing. The poem addresses the theme of identity which is something that African Americans struggled with and attempted to address in their work during this time. African Americans explored their history when trying to discover their identity. A major part of their history that they explored was slavery. Slavery had a major impact on their lives and how they defined themselves. Johnson admires their courage and ability to recover from a cruel past. This admiration of African Americans connects to the theme of the celebration of blackness which is also widely prevalent in the works of the Harlem Renaissance. In the last stanza,
