LITERATURE

CROSSING URBAN BORDERS
The New Media Classroom

Borough of Manhattan CC

July 10 - 14, 2000
Angelina Weld Grimke

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Up South Activity
Literature of the Harlem Renaissance

    The Great Migration spurred a burst of creative energy in black communities in Northern cities, marked by achievements in music, literature, dance, and painting.  These achievements are collectively known as the Harlem Renaissance.  The work of the Harlem Renaissance both celebrated African American heritage and was used to protest the racial injustice, such as lynching, that African Americans had suffered since the end of Reconstruction.

Themes:  civil rights, migration, community/family life

Skills:  Connecting themes in history and literature, creative writing

Resources:  Up South video, The Crisis Reader or photocopies of Langston Hughes "The South" and Fenton Johnson's "The Servant", photocopy of Langston Hughes "Chicago", website on African American women playwrights found at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/listw.html

Activity:  Creating poetry or drama

1.  Individual Reviewing and Reaction to Poems and Short Story  (15 min) Read Fenton Johnson's "The Servant" and the two poems by Langston Hughes.  As you read, consider the questions below.  Also, underline the key words and phrases that stand out to you.

  1. Who are the main characters?  What is the setting?  How do these interact?
  2. What does the author say about the social conditions in which the African Americans lived in the South and then in Chicago after migrating?
  3. List the major themes (these should or could be related to the key words and phrases) found in the literature.
  4. How does all of this relate to or further your understanding of the film Up South?
2.  Individual Reviewing and Reaction to Plays and Playwrights  (15 mins) We will examine the lives of playwrights and excerpts from their plays to further our knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance and African American life in the early 1900s.  As you read, underline the key words and phrases that seem important to you.  Please read the biographical information and the excerpt from two of the following playwrights.

As before, underline the key words and phrases that stand out to you.  Consider these questions as you are reading:


Georgia Douglas Johnson:
Biography at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/john.html
"Blue Blood" at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/blue.html

Alice Dunbar Nelson:
Biography at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/dunbar-nelson.html,
"Mine Eyes Have Seen" at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/mine.html

Angelina Weld Grimke:
Biography at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/grim.html
"Rachel" at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/rach.html

Shirley Graham (DuBois):
Biography at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/gra.html
"Tom-Tom" at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/tom.html

3.  Synthesis (7 min)

  1. What are the similarities between the drama written by African American women and the poetry and short story written by African American men?
  2. What are the differences between the drama written by African American women and the poetry and short story written by African American men?
  3. Have you found common themes and/or key words?  What are they?
4.  Creative writing  (13 min) Working individually, in pairs, or as a group: create a poem, a synopsis and scene of a play, or a fictional scene of one of the plays you read an excerpt from that incorporates the key words and/or themes you discovered through reading.  The writing you create should reflect your views about the social conditions African Americans were faced with in the early 20th century.
 
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (40 minutes)
Meet with others who used these resources to share insights, ideas, and reflections on your experience of doing this activity. Begin by briefly sharing your ideas for the presentations and then discuss the activity, using the following questions as prompts: 
  1. What could students learn from this activity about the community/family life of African American families?  What do they learn about civil rights, equality, and the Great Migration?  What kinds of background information would students need to effectively engage in this activity?
  2. Would this activity, or some variation of it, work in your classroom or site? How would you reshape it for your audience? How would you combine it with other resources or sequence it with other lessons?
  3. What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of this activity? Is it a good vehicle for developing student skills in inquiry, exploring primary sources, and developing arguments?
  4. How would you describe the pedagogy (or principles of teaching/learning) that informs this activity? What aspects of the activity help to make it effective? What skills and modes of thinking does it support? Do the electronic resources suit the assignment's goals? What can we learn from this activity about the kinds of inquiry assignments that work best when using new media?

Adapted from the Up South Workshop Activity 3 and Patricia Haverstick's Harlem Renaissance unit plan found at http://www.geocities.com/thaverstick/harlemteacher.html.

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