Harlem Globetrotters

construct bonds with each other. In the case of Sonny and his brother, the narrator, in James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, their paths were parallel with one another until they grew up. Sonny left the slums of Harlem, aspiring to become a musician, while his brother settled in Harlem and became a teacher. Although the narrator and his brother ended up with completely different lives, the narrator being a family man with a teaching job and Sonny, an ex-convict playing jazz at a club,…

The Great Migration was a massive movement of African Americans from the South of the United States to the North with the largest amount coming in 1915 to 1920 of over 500,000 Blacks. African Americans left the miserable condition of the South that included low wages, racism, and horrible violence, and headed up to “The Promised Land” of the North where it was believed they could find refuge or even start over again. Black Protest and the Great Migration by Eric Arnesen is a history of documents…

Black Modernism and Situating Revelations The articles “Black Modernism” and “Situating Revelations” were written by Thomas DeFrantz. DeFrantz is currently a Professor of African and African American Studies, a Professor of Dance, and a Professor of Theater Studies at Duke University. He has done extensive research on dance studies and performance technology. In addition, DeFrantz was previously the president of the Society of Dance History Scholars, and he has been a part of Black Performance…

Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26, 1911 (Biography.com). He won a Pulitzer Prize for his works, including A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Tin Roof. A Streetcar Named Desire, written in 1947, is the play that gave Williams his first Pulitzer Prize (Biography.com). The main characters in that play are Blanche Dubois, her younger sister Stella, and Stella’s husband Stanley Kowalski. Blanche Dubois has unexpectedly come to live with her sister because she…

The Harlem Renaissance was the first pro-black movement that was not criticized or shamed upon by whites. It was the upcoming of African Americans' heritage after slavery. It also outlined the bravery of blacks, the conquering of oppression, and the presence of individuality during the 1920s. It transformed black culture as a whole and is worthy of recognition throughout history. This was the turning point in African American heritage in America , celebrating black culture. Coming from slavery ,…

writers who have been interested in the cause of the cultural emancipation of the African Americans. They also had a stand against the slavery system and the unjust American society. Resultantly, that Harlem became the sacred place of the Negro and the center of the black community in America. The Harlem community becames the center and the Godfather for African American people. Many stories of protest and struggle were written by writers and black critics, some of them autobiographical…

Introduction Harlem Renaissance was a period in history from 1918 to 1930. During this period, there was a literary and intellectual flowering of great cultural, economic and identity assertion among African Americans (Rowen and Brunner, 2007; Rhodes, nd). This great period strong artistic and intellectual movement of African Americans was characterized by the wave of literary works centered on Negroes, which means that some of the works were written by them, or some of the works were all about…

“Call them from their houses, and teach them to dream.” - Jean Toomer. The Harlem Renaissance is a period of time spanning from the Roaring Twenties through the Great Depression, but it is more than a period of time, it was way of life. During this renaissance, black culture evolved, and broke the mold of blacks being less than whites intellectually, musically, and socially. The Harlem Renaissance is undoubtedly the most important era in Black arts, literature, society, and science. Rebirth of…

Ex-Colored Man, testifies to a success that would be nonexistent were it not for learning from the oppression he faces. As slavery ended, white supremacy rises. Many Blacks moved in significant numbers to urban centers in the North, namely New York’s Harlem. For the Blacks to feel secure, they lived together in groups, thus forming Black neighborhoods. Out of these towns and era came many art influencers, such as Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston. Their work transformed into…

“My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.” An African American wrote “Facing It”, by Yusef Komunyakaa. Facing It, is a poem that is talking about being strong, war, black wall, names, and Vietnam Veteran. What’s he facing? Why is looking at the black wall with thousands of names on it so hard? Why is he holding back tears? When he could just face it? Being strong is not always good. While Komunyakaa, takes us on a journey about him being strong, being a vet, the sky, changing the…