These aspects can be traced back from the slavery era, and hence use art at a way of teeming with sadness and bitterness. The author believes that Black-Americas utilize these influential songs to utter their artistic potential in its simplest form. According to Daniels, the “civilized” white people owes to the soul-utterances of its black counterpart numerous moments of joy not to recognize ungrudging the considerable fact that what the Black has attained is of great civilizing worth. To the author, Negroes got the same opportunities and education facilities of the whites.2 Criteria of Negro Art The above topic presents work done by Du Bois. The author explores the value of the artistic potential found in the black people and the manner that it has been absorbed into the American culture.
The Harlem Renaissance included more than the emergence of strong black literary voices. Painting, sculpture, music, theater, and dance were affected, too. Painter Aaron Douglas, actor Paul Robeson, dancer Florence Mills, bandleader Duke Ellington, sculptor Richmond Barthe, playwright Willis Richardson, and composer R. Nathaniel Dett were products of, as well as contributors to, the fabric and depth of the movement. These were people during this time period that weren’t afraid to strive and to make a difference in their community by reaching out to individuals. In conclusion, the African American’s during the time will never be forgotten or not acknowledge for their right being.
The Crisis Magazine helped blacks have their literature published for the people to read. “As African American journals such as W.E.B. Du Bois’s Crisis and Opportunity, edited by Charles S. Johnson, began to flourish, it became possible for African American writers to publish in a style that suited their tastes.” (The Harlem Renaissance Gale Group 1). It was a great key to get their work recognized. People were beginning to see how much the black community can contribute.
Of the many African American authors during this significant time period was Claude McKay. According to “The Harlem Renaissance” by Richard Worth, McKay’s poems express the many angles of the black experience (39). Of his many poems, one of the most influential was his poem “Harlem Shadows.” In “Harlem Shadows,” McKay refers to society ignoring the fact that young African American girls are forced into prostitution: “Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way of poverty, dishonor and disgrace, has pushed the timid little feet of clay, the sacred brown feet of my fallen race!”(McKay) Another literary piece written by McKay was his novel Home to Harlem. In this novel he described the everyday lives of Harlem residents and emphasized its music, lifestyles, etc. (Worth, 41).
It is safe to say the African American literature has impacted the creative works of the world in a greatly influential nature. Many generations have looked to the works of great Black writers to fill in the pieces and tell the secondary or rather the more realistic version of some the world’s toughest eras. The novel, Jubilee, by Margaret Walker captivates its readers by painting a picture of southern slavery at the critical era of the American Civil War. There are many interesting factors of this novel that draw the reader in. The protagonist, Vyry is a biracial slave, the product of her master and his mistress.
Philosophers saw it as an opportunity to put African American issues at a place of importance. Some also considered it jus a strategic business opportunity for publishers, theatre producers, and other entrepreneurs during the 1920s and 30s. The most voiced opinion was that of the African Americans who participated in this “New Negro Movement”. Especially the Blacks whose lives were documented, affected, and imitated in the artwork and theatre productions of that time frame. The importance of Harlem as the origin of the renaissance in the visual arts in the 1920s and 30s is highly questionable.
Through the use of linguistic devices, her representation of black women, imagery and symbolic features, and the theme of interracial relations, Morrison illustrates that black culture that is resilient, vibrant, independent, and determined. Published in 1987, Beloved is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel that recounts how those who survived slavery healed themselves and reflects on the period of slavery in “a manner in which it can be digested, in a manner in which the memory is not destructive” (Morey 1988: 2). It is this rememory as Morrison calls it that helps those considered “others” become individuals. Set in Ohio, the book focuses on Sethe; Sethe’s surviving daughter, Denver; Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs; and the ghost of Sethe’s dead daughter, Beloved. Throughout the book, “Morrison communicates an unforgettable sense of the strength, terror and devastation that is part of the black community, whilst skilfully portraying the unalterable connections between spiritual and physical life” (Morey 1988: 1093).
BLACK IDENTITY WITH REFERENCE TO ALICE WALKER’S THE COLOR PURPLE In the 1920s black writers and artists of America led a flourishing new movement in the literature, theatre and jazz known as the Harlem Renaissance or the Negro movement. The Harlem Renaissance is unusual among literary and artistic movements for its close relationship to civil rights and reform organization. It was an unprecedented outburst of the creative activity among the black writers. The impact of the movement hit all the areas of art, literature, politics and social life paving way for the people of colour a constructive outlet to voice their need against all odds. In 1960s, the feminist movement emerged against the dominant patriarchal society.
Angelou's poems celebrate black people, men and women; at the same time, they bear witness to the trials of black people in this country. Implicitly or directly, whites are called to account, yet Angelou's poetry, steeped though it is in the languages and cultures of black America, does not exclude whites (Stark). Quite the reverse: the poems are generous in their directness, and in the humor Angelou finds alongside her outrage and pain, in their dynamic embrace of life (Cookson). They are truly celebratory pieces of poetic works she has created. She prefers strong,
The Harlem Renaissance was important because it inspired an explosion of cultural pride and perceived as a new beginning for African Americans. Black Americans were inspired to create works rooted in their own culture instead of imitating the styles of white Americans. African Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become “The New Negro” a term coined in 1925 by Alain LeRoy Locke (1885-1954), writer and patron of the arts. The following quote by Nathan Huggins (1927-1989), a prominent African American historian and author, reflects the change in attitudes that would help lay the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement. “For the Afro-American in