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African American Literature
From 1950----present
Shuo Li
May 31st,2011
ED P&L 834
Dr. Beverly Gordon
1
The overview
In broad terms, African-American literature can be defined as writings by
people of African descent living in the United States. It is highly varied.
African-American literature has generally focused on the role of African
Americans within the larger American society and what it means to be an
American. As Princeton University professor Albert J. Raboteau has said,
all African-American study "speaks to the deeper meaning of the
African-American presence in this nation. This presence has always been
a test case of the nation's claims to freedom, democracy, equality, the
inclusiveness of all." African-American literature explores the issues of
freedom and equality long denied to Blacks in the United States, along
with further themes such as African American
culture, racism, religion, slavery, a sense of home. and more.
African-American literature has both been influenced by the great
African diasporic heritage and shaped it in many countries. It has been
created within the larger realm of post-colonial literature, although
scholars distinguish between the two, saying that "African American
literature differs from most post-colonial literature in that it is written by
members of a minority community who reside within a nation of vast
wealth and economic power."
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Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance from 1920 to 1940 brought new attention to
African American literature. While the Harlem Renaissance, based in the
African American community in Harlem in New York City, existed as a
larger flowering of social thought and culture—with numerous Black
artists, musicians, and others producing classic works in fields from jazz
to theater—the renaissance is perhaps best known for the literature that
came out of it.
Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936.Among the
most famous writers of the renaissance is poet Langston Hughes. Hughes
first received attention in the 1922 poetry collection, The Book of
American Negro Poetry. This book, edited by James Weldon Johnson,
featured the work of the period's most talented poets (including, among
others, Claude McKay, who also published three novels, Home to Harlem,
Banjo and Banana Bottom and a collection of short stories). In 1926,
Hughes published a collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, and in 1930 a
novel, Not Without Laughter. Perhaps, Hughes' most famous poem is
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which he wrote as a young teen. His
single, most recognized character is Jesse B. Simple, a plainspoken,
pragmatic Harlemite whose comedic observations appeared in Hughes's
columns for the Chicago Defender and the New York Post. Simple Speaks
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His Mind (1950) is, perhaps, the best-known collection of Simple stories
published in book form. Until his death in 1967, Hughes published nine
volumes of poetry, eight books of short stories, two novels, and a number
of plays, children's books, and translations.
Another famous writer of the renaissance is novelist Zora Neale Hurston,
author of the classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).
Altogether, Hurston wrote 14 books which ranged from anthropology
to short stories to novel-length fiction. Because of Hurston's gender and
the fact that her work was not seen as socially or politically relevant, her
writings fell into obscurity for decades. Hurston's work was rediscovered
in the 1970s in a famous essay by Alice Walker, who found in Hurston a
role model for all female African American writers.
While Hurston and Hughes are the two most influential writers to come
out of the Harlem Renaissance, a number of other writers also became
well known during this period. They include Jean Toomer, who wrote
Cane, a famous collection of stories, poems, and sketches about rural and
urban Black life, and Dorothy West, author of the novel The Living is
Easy, which examined the life of an upper-class Black family. Another
popular renaissance writer is Countee Cullen, who described everyday
black life in his poems (such as a trip he made to Baltimore, which was
ruined by a racial insult). Cullen's books include the poetry collections
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Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl
(1927). Frank Marshall Davis's poetry collections Black Man's Verse
(1935) and I am the American Negro (1937), published by Black Cat
Press, earned him critical acclaim. Author Wallace Thurman also made
an impact with his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life
(1929), which focused on intraracial prejudice between lighter-skinned
and darker-skinned African Americans.
The Harlem Renaissance marked a turning point for African American
literature. Prior to this time, books by African Americans were primarily
read by other Black people. With the renaissance, though, African
American literature—as well as black fine art and performance
art—began to be absorbed into mainstream American culture.
5
Activities
Activity #1 Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance
The purpose of this activity is to provide students with a brief
introduction to the Harlem Renaissance. Lecturing and brainstorming
would be primary strategies for this activity and ask for student
volunteers to share their thoughts with the entire class. The points to be
covered are:
1. What was the state of black literature before the Renaissance?
2. What was the Great Migration?
3. What were the reasons giving rise to the Harlem Renaissance?
4. What is a literary movement and what does the term Renaissance mean?
Here it would be useful to mention other literary movements and the
European Renaissance.
Activity #2—Interview
As a community outreach project, find a few local African American
authors. Have the students split up into groups according to the amount of
authors found. The students should conduct group interviews of the local
authors to find out about background, inspirations, current works, etc.
Activity #3 Writing Poetry or Short Stories Using Themes from the
Harlem Renaissance
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After reading several Harlem Renaissance novels, poems etc., each
student will write original poetry using the formats provided, or style of
their own, that reflect the themes and writers attitudes they have
identified, as well as recite their writings and give interpretation to class.
Students will be graded on their reflections of the poems, their oral
interpretations, and readings of their poetry.
Activity #4—Board Game
All literature has several components including introduction, conflict,
climax, andresolution. Have the students get into groups of three or four
and select a studied work, preferably a novel or play. The student must
create a comprehensive board game according to the events in the chosen
work.
Activity #5—Movie
Choose one or two movies for the students to watch such as A Raisin in
the Sun or Roots or Disappearing Acts, just to name a few. Have the
students write a review of the movie in comparison to the original written
work. Obtain parental consent to watch the movies if necessary.
7
Bibliography
• Andrews, W., Foster, F., and Harris, T. (Editors).The Oxford
Companion to African American Literature. Oxford, 1997.
• Brodhead, R. "An Anatomy of Multiculturalism". Yale Alumni
Magazine, April 1994. Excerpted here.
• Cashmore, E. "Review of the Norton Anthology of
African-American Literature" New Statesman, April 25, 1997.
• Dalrymple, T. "An Imaginary 'Scandal'" The New Criterion, May
2005.
• Davis, M., Graham, M., and Pineault-Burke, S. (Editors). Teaching
African American Literature: Theory and Practice. Routledge,
1998.
• Gates, H. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black
Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers Basic Civitas
Books, 2003
• Gilyard, K., and Wardi, A. African American Literature. Penguin,
2004.
• Greenberg, P. "I hate that (The rise of identity journalism)".
Townhall.com, June 15, 2005.
• Groden, M., and Krieswirth, M. (Editors). "African-American
Theory and Criticism" from the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary
Theory and Criticism. 8
• Grossman, J. "Historical Research and Narrative of Chicago and
the Great Migration".
• Hamilton, K. "Writers' Retreat: Despite the proliferation of Black
authors and titles in today's marketplace, many look to literary
journals to carry on the torch for the written word". Black Issues in
Higher Education, November 6, 2003.
• Jay, G. American Literature and the Culture Wars. Cornell
University Press, 1997. Excerpted here.
• Lowney, J. "Haiti and Black Transnationalism: Remapping the
Migrant Geography of Home to Harlem" African American Review,
Fall, 2000.
• McKay, N., and Gates, H. (Editors). The Norton Anthology of
African American Literature, Second Edition. W. W. Norton &
Company, 2004.
• Mitchem, S. "No Longer Nailed to the Floor". Cross Currents,
spring, 2003.
• Nishikawa, K. "African American Critical Theory." The
Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed.
Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2005. 36-41.
• Nishikawa, K. "Crime and Mystery Fiction." The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom
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and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2005. 360-67.
• Roach, R. "Powerful pages: Unprecedented Public Impact of W.W.
Norton and Co's Norton Anthology of African American
Literature". Black Issues in Higher Education, September 18, 1997.
• Scott, D. "Harlem shadows: Re-evaluating Wallace Thurman's The
Blacker the Berry". MELUS, fall-winter, 2004.
• John Callahan, Ph.D., In the African-American Grain: Call and
Response in Twentieth-Century Black Fiction, University of
Illinois Press, reprint ed., 2001. ISBN 0-252-06982-X