Harlem Renaissance Literature Questions
Bring on the tough stuff. There's not just one right answer.
- Everyone likes to talk about how racially mixed all the parties and clubs were during the Harlem Renaissance, but how much of that is truth, and how much of it's just a rosy view of the past? What kinds of major racial conflicts were going on at that time, inside and outside of these artsy gatherings?
- Some of the major philosophies that came out of or were a part of the Harlem Renaissance were specific to the lives of black Americans. But how can these same philosophies relate to the lives of people who aren't black, or maybe even aren't American? Explain your answer.
- It's easy to look back on the Harlem Renaissance as a time when all these black writers and intellectuals worked together to create a vibrant literary culture. But we know that things weren't all hunky-dory between the movement's two head honchos, W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. What was their beef with each other? And really, how different were their ideas?
- Even though there were definitely women writers, artists, and musicians in the Harlem Renaissance, we don't often hear as much about them in our history courses. Why? Was the Harlem Renaissance still a man's world?
- How did fashion influence other aspects of the Harlem Renaissance (and vice versa)?
- "Passing" (for white) was a survival strategy employed by some lighter-skinned African Americans in Harlem during the Renaissance. How could a place and a culture so supposedly supportive of blackness also popularize a practice that was all about trying to "pass" as white?
- What do people gain and what do people lose when they "pass" as white?
- How did class differences influence the culture of the Harlem Renaissance and its great works of art and literature?
- How did stereotypes of blackness and whiteness shape the Harlem Renaissance?
- How do the cultural and racial politics of that time resemble those of our own? How were they different?
- How has the literature of this movement influenced the literary culture we have today?