Harlem Globetrotters

Sing it, Dance it, Write it, Paint it Just like many of the great visionaries of the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas, one of the leading visual artists of the era, was not born and raised in Harlem. This artistic genius came out of Topeka, Kansas, where he developed an artistic sense of community and isolation. Before Douglas became a “pioneering Africanist” of the Harlem Renaissance, he received his bachelors degree of fine arts at the University of Nebraska, and taught in Missouri…

he Harlem renaissance was a conglomeration of the best and brightest, poets, singers, artist, philosophers and all around thinkers of the African American community. They were escaping the oppression of the American South for a place where they could gather and let their creativity free. Some of the major names that were a part of the Renaissance included Langston Hughes (poet), Claude McKay (writer/poet), Zora Neale Hurston (novelist) and many more. The Harlem Renaissance wasn't just a…

Jacob Lawrence “The Migration of the Negro” A. After viewing this painting by Jacob Lawrence, there were various observation I made about the form of this painting. First off, the painting utilizes various diagonal lines on the back of the subjects, which gives the painting the sense of movement that the artist intended to depict. In addition, the painting features mainly geometric forms such as triangles, circles and rectangles; rather than depicting the figures with organic shapes. In terms…

The Power of Words African American writers such as Langston Hughes bring a voice to the segregation and racial issues African Americans and other minority groups endured. Hughes works provide a clear, visual picture of the racism, and discrimination towards African Americans. Hughes does not “sugar coat” the effects that racism and segregation had towards African American and their cultures and traditions. In Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too” the speaker speaks about eating and singing but…

He was so intrigued by the art scene there that he defined the spirit of age from a literary point of view. The Big Sea was the first volume of his autobiography and it provides his point of view about the Harlem Renaissance. He met other writers during this time period such as: Countee Cullen, Claude McCay, W.E.B. DuBois, and James Weldon Johnson (Langston Hughes Biography). [When] his poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in the 1925 Opportunity magazine…

Maya Angelou and Alice Walker are both well-known African American authors. They both were awarded for having some of the best non-fictional and fictional texts on what it is like to be black in the United States. Both Angelou and Walker were inspirational civil rights activists but what made them different was their styles in writing, ways of expressing topics or situations, and each very unique. Maya Angelou was a strong writer, actor, and a great poet. In fact she was the writer, director,…

that nobody will dare the him to eat in the kitchen, but rather see how beautiful said character is and they’ll be ashamed of how they treated him. Incident is a poem by Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen is one of the great voices that represented the Harlem Renaissance. Incident tells a short story of how a nice smile that was given with joy was returned with a rude face and cruelty. Cullen writes about a character of color riding around Baltimore enjoying the sites, when the character notices a…

Havana was also famous for its 'Creollo' cuisine. Dishes such as black beans, old clothes, Congrí (black beans and rice) with roast pork, cassava with mojo, ajiaco or desserts such as fritters, guava shells, 'Coquitos' (coconut balls) or 'Pan de Gloria' (Glory Bread) were a treat for both visitors and locals. And their drinks, 'Mojitos', 'Daiquiris', 'Piña Coladas' and other cocktails, such as those prepared in the legendary 'Bodeguita de El Medio', were world- renowned. Owing to its nightlife,…

A remarkable book chronicling an understudied period in Cuban history, “Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920-1940”, by Robin D. Moore is an intriguing study of Cuban popular music in the twentieth century. Moore dissects and explains how the music which is often associated with Cuba was considered at one time riffraff and lewd because of its African influence, origins and associations compared to the more sophisticated music of Europeans. Between 1920…

nationalists formed in New York City. This new group differed from the existing Black Panther party since they insisted on using visual arts, poetry, and theatre as a means to awaken black consciousness and achieve liberation. Although it began in Harlem, it…