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American Literature: Harlem Renaissance 8529 Views


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Description:

The Harlem Renaissance: an era when a group of basketball players who could do insane tricks switched gears and started painting oil portraits. Or something.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

No the harlem renaissance Marie great migration began nineteen sixteen

00:13

in there and confirm thanks used began writing about thirteen

00:18

zora neale hurston Let's do this jazz is the music

00:24

of my soul It speaks through me with whisper of

00:28

my ancestors food breaths a harlem new york in the

00:33

nineteen twenties with a fine time and place to be

00:36

alive It was a special era for music and literature

00:40

unlike any other before or since it was such a

00:43

big deal in fact that history books and literary scholars

00:46

alike have since dubbed this time as the harlem renaissance

00:51

Fancy words for the best party ever throw The harlem

00:55

renaissance took place when our whole lot african americans found

00:58

new homes in cities like new york and began producing

01:01

some seriously incredible music art and literature No longer bound

01:05

by the horrendous constructs of slavery and servitude These folks

01:09

had newfound freedom and were able to create like they

01:11

never could before You can bet some classic work came

01:15

out of this time period Think about it until the

01:17

eighteen sixties when the thirteenth amendment to the constitution was

01:20

ratified and slavery was abolished the on ly life in

01:23

america that african americans knew Was that of slavery For

01:26

the most part they were completely cut off from western

01:29

literacy and art So roughly fifty years after slavery was

01:33

abolished african american stormed the city's found inspiration and community

01:37

within the place and in each other and went tat

01:40

town creating and all the fun began with a little

01:43

thing called the great migration the great migration better than

01:47

the pretty good migration but not a spiffy as the

01:50

totally excellent migration started in the early to mid nineteen

01:53

tens in nineteen fourteen a minor footnote in history called

01:57

world war one began an american men were leaving their

02:00

jobs to go fight over seize this opened up many

02:03

positions and factories in the city's southern african americans eager

02:07

for a new life and new opportunities rushed to fill

02:10

these open positions Hey it appears that war can be

02:13

good for something with new jobs came new money and

02:15

these migrant workers were able to forge new identities for

02:18

themselves as well Part of building identity is in creation

02:21

and these folks went all out with their imaginative processes

02:25

They've never had the ability to freely create art and

02:28

literature that expressed their own Life and struggles and this

02:31

was it between the nineteen tens and about nineteen seventy

02:34

around six million african american people moved from the south

02:38

to the north to start new lives It was pretty

02:40

great for everyone I keep going on and on about

02:43

how fabulous this time period wass so we need to

02:46

check out the actual work of some of its most

02:48

noteworthy artists Let's meet langston hughes Little langston was born

02:53

in joplin missouri in nineteen o two At the tender

02:56

age of thirteen he began writing poetry and had his

02:58

first poetry collection the weary blues published when he was

03:02

just twenty four by twenty eight he added award winning

03:05

novelist to his rapidly expanding literary resume overachieve much langston

03:10

sheesh slow your roll it's virtually impossible to talk about

03:14

the harlem renaissance without talking about hughes Since he's known

03:17

as the driving force of the entire movement his work

03:20

was so compelling to a wide audience because he wrote

03:23

about the black american experience unapologetically and with no hold

03:26

bart hughes understood the importance of capturing and sharing the

03:30

rial experience of the people he grew up with and

03:33

lived around His work reflects Addiction dialect pain and passions

03:37

of african american people in the early nineteen hundreds in

03:41

his lifetime hughes wrote and published tons of poems eleven

03:44

plays and a grip of books too He died in

03:47

nineteen sixty seven due to complications from prostate cancer Hughes

03:51

left such a mark in his time at his home

03:53

in harlem was decreed a historical landmark and the street

03:56

it sits on is now called langston hughes place Yeah

03:59

the dude was pretty lovable to say the least Least

04:02

I want to see some of hugh's work of course

04:04

ugo let's start by reading one of his most famous

04:07

pieces harlem dream deferred We'll talk more about its significance

04:12

afterward Harlem dream deferred What happens to a dream deferred

04:17

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun

04:19

or fester like a sore and then run Does it

04:23

stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar over like

04:27

a syrupy sweet Maybe it just sags like a heavy

04:31

load or does it explode Hoof it's so good to

04:34

give me the chills What does the title tell us

04:37

about this poem It's a place name title which to

04:40

be honest is a fairly ambitious way to kick off

04:42

a poem gaming your poem after an entire city assumes

04:46

you have some sort of authority to tell the readers

04:49

something poignant or meaningful about the place your name in

04:52

but we know that langston was more than well equipped

04:55

to handle this challenge We also know that even though

04:57

he doesn't specifically discuss the business is or the people

05:00

in harlem the poem is meant to represent the city

05:03

as a whole This poem might well be considered the

05:05

anthem for harlem it's so powerful of lasting two diving

05:09

deeper let's touch on hues use of imagery imagery those

05:13

amazing pictures that spring up in our brains when you're

05:15

reading an awesome piece of literature poetry harlem might only

05:18

be eleven lines long but it doesn't seem likely that

05:21

hughes could have crammed anymore imagery into it After posing

05:25

the initial question what happens to a dream deferred He

05:28

was immediately smacks the audience with one amazing image after

05:31

the next does it dry up like a raisin in

05:34

the sun or fester like a sore and then run

05:38

Does it stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar

05:42

over like a syrupy sweet maybe it just sags like

05:46

a heavy load Hughes uses his similes comparisons using the

05:50

word like or as in each of these images similes

05:53

are direct an effective way to create a madrid poetry

05:56

and he was certainly wasn't afraid to use them Each

05:58

piece of imagery and harlem stand strong on its own

06:01

two feet and causes the reader to envision exactly what

06:04

he's saying Remember the question is what happens to a

06:07

dream deferred Each subsequent image is a possible answer to

06:11

this question That's the good stuff right there Next up

06:14

we're going to check out another one of hugh's best

06:16

love poems The negro speaks of river's side note it

06:20

wasn't considered a kn pc in hughes's day to use

06:23

a term like negro We're not just throwing down racist

06:26

leg on you Here we go I've known rivers I've

06:29

known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

06:32

flow of human blood in human veins My soul has

06:36

grown deep like the rivers i bathed in the euphrates

06:40

When dawns were young i built my hut near the

06:44

congo and it lulled made asleep I looked upon the

06:47

nile and raised the pyramids Above it i heard the

06:51

singing of the mississippi when abe lincoln went down to

06:55

new orleans and i've seen it's muddy bosom turn all

06:59

gold i've known rivers ancient dusky rivers My soul has

07:06

grown deep like the river miami hughes sure knew how

07:10

to put words together did need theme is a crucial

07:13

element to poetry we haven't yet discussed As you may

07:16

recall the theme of a piece is the main idea

07:18

to it The theme often focuses on one central subject

07:21

So what do you think the theme of the negro

07:23

speaks of rivers could be We're dealing with race in

07:26

this poem we know as much from the title but

07:28

connected to the theme of race is the theme of

07:30

identity for instance when he says i looked upon the

07:33

nile and raised the pyramids above it he's speaking of

07:37

ancient egyptians erecting the pyramids of giza and when he

07:40

says i heard the singing of the mississippi when abe

07:42

lincoln went down to new orleans he's talking about a

07:45

trip the former potus took when he was a teen

07:48

lincoln saw the slave market of new orleans and its

07:50

horror contributed to his views Of how awful slavery was

07:54

and his fight to abolish it fuses referencing specific instances

07:58

from history when african people have interacted with rivers or

08:01

that a river has played a major role in their

08:03

life lives by doing so he's giving the black race

08:06

as a whole a sense of belonging he's celebrating their

08:09

history as a whole again which connects race and identity

08:12

as overarching theme hughes wrote and published a lot of

08:15

poem in this lifetime so we don't have time to

08:17

read them all today If you're interested Though some of

08:20

the other big titles are the weary blues I too

08:23

sing america mother to son and theme for english feet

08:27

we could hang out and dish about langston hughes all

08:30

day long but we've got another remarkable figure from harlem

08:33

renaissance to meet so let's hop to it Meet zora

08:36

neale hurston the queen of the harlem renaissance party Zorro

08:40

was born in alabama in eighteen ninety one but moved

08:42

to florida as a toddler This would become the home

08:45

she referenced in her own written work Both of her

08:47

parents were former slaves which likely shaped her feelings toward

08:50

the horrible practice and caused it to become active and

08:53

civil rights movements later in life she received an associates

08:56

degree from howard university in washington d c for her

08:59

writing career began to take form as she wrote and

09:01

published pieces in their newspaper Not long after getting her

09:04

degree sora took off for the big apple and quickly

09:07

became entrenched in the harlem renaissance A likable and friendly

09:10

sort zohra made quick friends good all langston hughes was

09:13

already an established figure in the movement and was one

09:16

of the folks who are on the front Both her

09:18

charm and writing skills helped her to create and maintain

09:20

a place in the harlem renaissance as the new negro

09:24

Until she came along the renaissance had been dominated by

09:26

male writers and artists Sora change that by asserting herself

09:30

in the scene but unlike use she wasn't trying to

09:32

capture the essence of all african american women or men

09:35

for that matter she was more concentrated with demonstrating her

09:38

talent and power as an individual This was controversial in

09:41

a movement that relied on the ideals of unity and

09:44

togetherness But zordon back down during her lifetime zohra published

09:48

many short stories and a handful of novels including her

09:51

memoir her most famous novel their eyes were watching god

09:54

wasn't well received by her peers when it was published

09:57

in nineteen thirty seven zohra didn't have much commercial success

10:00

during her lifetime due to the controversial nature of her

10:03

writing and died pennant many years after she died Alice

10:07

walker who inspired by nora's work wrote the award winning

10:10

novel the color purple wrote an article that sparked renewed

10:13

interest in zara's writing once more in this way zohra

10:16

became posthumously celebrated and study i know you can't wait

10:21

to get your hands on controversial books good thing we're

10:24

going to get a closer look next while we don't

10:26

have time to hang out and read all of their

10:28

eyes were watching god we're going to talk about some

10:31

of the novels major themes of the stories big ideas

10:34

through imagery the mental pictures hurston creates with words and

10:37

read passages that support each one side note We totally

10:40

recommend checking out this incredible novel on your own time

10:43

ready So the book in a nutshell is about janie

10:46

crawford a mixed race woman looking for love her whole

10:49

life she marries a man Her grandmother ranges for her

10:52

but leaves when has abused turns into threats to kill

10:55

her Nice janey then meets and marries the mayor of

10:58

eatonville florida Does that name ring a bell but he's

11:01

way older than her and eventually dies leaving her a

11:04

widow Finally janey meets a wandering dude called tea cake

11:07

They goto work in the everglades together but then a

11:09

hurricane hits and jamie is attacked by a rabid dog

11:12

Cake saves her and contracts rabies when he's bitten by

11:14

the dog So much for those heroic efforts tea cakes

11:17

rabies cause him to go mad and attacked jane She

11:20

shoots him kills him to save herself and is found

11:22

not guilty of murder since it was self defense Who

11:25

Now that you know that just the plot we can

11:27

turn to our themes One of the major themes is

11:30

love Janey wants it and searches for it her whole

11:32

life This passage comes from early in the book When

11:35

janey is a young girl she was stretched on her

11:37

back beneath the pear tree and the alto chant of

11:40

the visiting bees and son of the pending breathe mobile

11:42

And janey felt a pain Remorse Lis suite that left

11:45

her limp and later hot diggety This is the pivotal

11:48

moment that shapes janey's thoughts about love for the rest

11:51

of her life She believes in perfect romance and expects

11:54

every future suitor to live up to this ideal Sadly

11:58

we already know this doesn't quite happen but it's a

12:00

striking image for the steam of love that runs throughout

12:03

the entire course of the book Another major theme in

12:06

this novel is race and how it affects the characters

12:09

Check this out The sun was gone It was the

12:11

time to hear things and talk These sitters had been

12:14

tongue lis fearless eyeless conveniences all day long Mules and

12:18

other brutes had occupied their skins But now the sun

12:21

and the osman were gone so the skins felt powerful

12:25

Inhuman They became lords of sounds and lesser things They

12:28

passed nations through their mouths They sat in judgement This

12:32

potent passage shows what the daily life of an african

12:35

american looks like while under the white boss man's watchful

12:38

eye These people worked hard but in their own time

12:41

they can hear things and talk their their own bosses

12:44

They can discuss subjects they choose at their own leisure

12:47

in this way person gives us a strong sense of

12:49

the time place and economic and political climate of her

12:52

setting in this novel society and its classes of people

12:55

is another prevalent theme and their eyes were watching god

12:57

Janey is an enigma The people don't get her because

13:00

she doesn't fit in or conform to basic societal norms

13:03

Food for thought think this might have been hurston's own

13:06

feeling about society right at the beginning of the novel

13:09

were given this passage from even ville gossips Was she

13:12

doing Come back here and them overalls What a title

13:15

for the old man has down back like some younger

13:24

for janey she's lost her husband and now all the

13:27

neighborhoods busybodies are on her case about what else Her

13:31

looks Jamie was likely envied as the mayor's wife Then

13:34

she confused everyone when she ran off with tea cake

13:37

for the more she's pretty and refined So people feel

13:39

threatened by her and turned to criticism instead of getting

13:42

to know janey as a person and find out her

13:44

real story This passage also touches on the themes of

13:48

both jealousy and appearance it's also runs the entire course

13:51

of the novel their eyes were watching God also has

13:54

themes of memory in the past Freedom and confinement free

13:57

well and pride among others as usual There's A lot

14:00

more we could say and no more time to say

14:03

it do yourself a big favor and pick up their

14:05

eyes were watching not to read all the good details

14:08

on your own our time's winding down once more friends

14:11

as we've seen the harlem renaissance was an important period

14:14

in literary history The poetry of langston hughes and zora

14:18

neale hurston's phiri Individual ism are some of the most

14:20

important takeaways from this period Without these two who knows

14:24

what the renaissance would have looked like or if it

14:26

even would have happened at all Fortunately this isn't the

14:28

case and we've got hughes and hurston's amazing work to

14:31

study and discuss It seems like it's time to hit

14:34

up some poetry right about now In fact south may

14:37

have you heard this one Jazz is the music of

14:39

my soul It speaks through me with the whisper of 00:14:42.299 --> [endTime] my ancestors soothing breath

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