Newbridge Discovery Links® Cheryl Willis Hudson S, & a B - Newbridge A Haights Cross Communications +(ompany The Harlem Renaissance: Profiles in Creativity ISBN: 1-58273-732-0 Program Author: Dr. Brenda Parkes Content Reviewer: Dolan Hubbard, President, Langston Hughes Society and Professor of English and Language Arts, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD Teacher Reviewer: Denise Ott, Olmsted 67, Buffalo, NY Written by Cheryl Willis Hudson Editorial and Design Assistance by Curriculum Concepts Newbridge Educational Publishing 333 East 38th Street, New York, NY 10016 www. newbridgeonline.com Copyright © 2002 Newbridge Educational Publishing, a Haights Cross Communications Company “My People”: From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Incorporated. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Cover Photograph: A student of Augusta Fells Savage, at work in her Harlem studio Table of Contents Photograph: Langston Hughes Photo Credits Cover: Genevieve Naylor/CORBIS; Contents Page: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution/ Art Resource, NY/The van Vechten Trust, Photograph by Carl van Vechten; pages 4-5: Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS; page 6: Brown Brothers; page 7: Bettmann/CORBIS; page 9: (background) Culver Pictures, (inset) Frank Driggs Collection/Archive Photos; page 11: (left) Frank Driggs Collection/Archive Photos, (right) Frank Driggs Collection; page 12: CORBIS; page 14: (inset) Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; pages 14—15: (background) Bettmann/CORBIS; page 16: Janet Sommer/Archive Photos; page 18: (left) Yale Collection: of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, (right) Courtesy, Tom Wirth, The Fire!! Press, Hillside, NJ; page 19: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource, NY; page 20:Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; page 21: Photograph by Madam Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society; page 22: (inset) The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL; pages 22-23: (background) tinted Photograph by Madam Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society, C8559; page 23: (inset) Photograph by Madam Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society, C8559; page 25: (top & bottom) The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL/Photograph by Morgan and Marvin Smith; page 26: (inset) The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL; pages 26-27: (background) The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL/Photograph by Morgan and Marvin Smith; page 27: (inset) Bettmann/CORBIS; pages 28-30: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL; page 31: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL/photo by Vernon, N.Y.C. IHBIR= ASRC INRE ) ) 14dDIC O LONIENtS TS A Place Called Harlem Bessie Smith James Weldon Johnson Langston Hughes A’Lelia Walker Augusta Fells Savage Arturo A. Schomburg e Ao T reaneii k AL In the 1920s, families enjoyed strolling the - — e S .T — = S - )o = ~= = ~= ) S = = )o ~ - S = = - Sunday afternoons. m arlem! Today this neighborhood in New York City is known all over the world as a center of ‘ African American culture. How did this one | community become so famous? It all began in the early 1900s when nearly L 500,000 African Americans moved from farms in the southern states to big cities in the North in search of | better jobs and a better way of life. Thousands of these hopefuls made their way to New York City. They had not only read in the newpapers about the possibility of good jobs, but they also had heard of a neighborhood R | with houses that offered “life in the grand style, with S elevator, telephone, and hall boys.” G | Harlem then covered about two square miles in the T B A | northern part of New York’s Manhattan island. It had " B | wide boulevards, beautiful town houses, and large w o N 33 ‘ , T f 2 y . t e | apartment buildings. This vibrant community soon - o v - q T - s ’ - attracted black people from all over North America, i o : L | the Caribbean, and even Africa. In the 1920s, more o P Y V ., ‘ black people lived in Harlem than in the cities of 4 A T B Birmingham, St. Louis, and Mempbhis put together. L SR e e In Harlem there were African American churches, businesses, settlement houses, and civil rights organizations. There were fashionable clubs and ballrooms where both black and white people danced and listened to the latest jazz. After World War 1, America was prosperous, and there was a new sense of freedom 1n the air. In Harlem, black families had | £ S L ~ In the early 1900s, African Americans found new opportunities. They new homes and a new way of life in Harlem. could forge a new and | positive life as part of a tightly knit community. The arrival of more people also meant a greater | concentration of talent and new ideas. Black artists, | writers, musicians, actors, and political leaders flocked to Harlem. They unleashed a burst of creative energy in art, literature, and music that became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Renaissance means “rebirth” or “awakening,” a fitting description for this exciting time. The Harlem R enaissance was filled with possibilities for both black people and white people to x M A e <} learn more about the beauty and strength of African and African American culture. Books by black authors were available to everyone. White artists and wealthy | party-goers sampled Harlem night life. Jazz was the hot | new music originated by African Americans. Everyone | danced the Charleston and the lindy, steps created by black dancers. Newly popular phonograph records and radios spread the new music that was influenced by black culture | everywhere. In this book, you will meet six of the many remarkable people from the Harlem Renaissance. They each found ways to use their talent and strength of character to succeed. They ,‘ each faced hard times and felt the pain g&E¥% lived in the North, did not have the same opportunities and rights that white people enjoyed. But with the Harlem R enaissance, and the achievements of the people you are about to meet, came a new sense of pride and hope. In the 1920s and 1930s, Harlem was a center of African I American pride, but the term African American was not in — use. Instead, people referred to the mselves as c olored or Negro. Bessie Smith 1894-1937 essie Smith was a big woman with a bold personality. She was a masterful blues singer whose songs were, in many ways, a mirror of her life. Her voice was strong and rough, yet also tender. Her songs told about bad luck, being poor, hard times, and disappointments in love. Onstage, she hypnotized audiences with her powerful presence. She worked hard for her stardom. Both of Bessie’s parents died when she was very young. When she was nine, she went to live with an older sister, Viola. Bessie often sang barefoot on street corners for pennies and nickels to help support her family. In her teens, she joined Moses Stokes’s traveling vaudeville tent show. She sang and danced and did skits with other performers. Bessie later joined other tent shows and attracted huge crowds of admirers in the South, Midwest, and North. By the mid-1920s, Bessie was known as “The Empress of the Blues.” She signed a record deal with