Description
The 1920s saw an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African Americans in all artistic fields. Known as The New Negro Movement and later as the Harlem Renaissance, this period (roughly 1920-1940) of incredible literary production marks the first collective artistic expression of African Americans. Issues that will be considered will include: the contemporary politics, aesthetics, and material conditions of production that surrounded the creation of Harlem Renaissance texts; the triple demand of the Harlem Renaissance Author—to create “more sophisticated†African American literary works, to create “authentic Black texts,†and to answer to communal demands for literature in the service of racial uplift. The course will also include a survey of African American achievements in music and the visual arts. The influence of the Harlem Renaissance in the evolution of African American literature will also be examined, as well as its impact on other movements in the Black world, no