Transcript Slide 1

California Content Standards:
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Listening and Speaking Strategies
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1.1 Recognize strategies used by the media to
inform, persuade, entertain and transmit culture.
1.3 Interpret and evaluate the various ways in
which events are presented and information is
communicated by visual image makers.
California Content Standards:
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Literary Response and Analysis
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3.2 Analyze the way in which the theme or
meaning of a selection represents a view or
comment on life, using textual evidence to
support the claim.
3.4 Analyze ways in which poets use imagery,
personification, figures of speech and sounds to
evoke readers’ emotions.
The Harlem Renaissance
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Time: End of WWI to 1935
Two-ness: Who you think you are vs what
you perceive others to think you are
(W.E.B. Du Bois).
Common themes: alienation, marginality,
the use of folk material, the use of the blues
tradition, the problems of writing for an elite
audience.
The Great Migration
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Harlem is the new suburb (1904)
Educated African-Americans move in
“White Flight”
WWI causes mass movement of African
Americans from the south
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Find jobs
Sick of southern racism
The Effects
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Racial consciousness
“Back to Africa" (Marcus Garvey)
Racial integration
Music (jazz, spirituals and blues)
Art (painting, sculpture, photography)
Dance
Writing (poetry, plays, novels, etc)
Notable Poets
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Claude McKay
Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes
Jean Toomer
Jessie Redmon Fauset
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
Notable Artists
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W. H. Johnson
Lois Mailou Jones
Sargent Johnson
Aaron Douglas
Palmer Hayden
Jacob Lawrence
Archibald Motley Jr.
Notable Musicians
Louis Armstrong
 Josephine Baker
 Duke Ellington
 Billie Holiday
 Jelly Roll Morton
 Bessie Smith
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Example Art
Aaron Douglas
Into Bondage 1936
List words that describe
this painting.
Example Poem
Claude McKay (1889-1948)
America
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
List words that describe this poem.
Example Song
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They Can't Take That Away From Me
Billie Holiday, 1937
List words that describe this song.
Artists
Aaron Douglas (1898-1979)
Aaron Douglas was the Harlem
Renaissance artist whose
work best exemplified the
'New Negro' philosophy. He
painted murals for public
buildings and produced
illustrations and cover designs
for many black publications
including The Crisis and
Opportunity. In 1940 he
moved to Nashville,
Tennessee, where he founded
the Art Department at Fisk
University and taught for
twenty nine years.
Into Bondage
1936
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
Aspects of Negro Life #62:
Song of the Towers
1934
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
Aspects of Negro
Life: The Negro in
an African Setting
1934
Oil on canvas
Aaron Douglas
Archibald Motley Jr. (1891-1980)
Archibald Motley Jr. labored in Chicago while teaching himself
the fundamentals of painting and practicing his technique. His
first solo exhibit came in 1928 in New York, and displayed his
fascination with aspects of African American culture such as
music, voodoo, and mysticism. After winning the
Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929, he traveled and studied in
Paris, where upon his return, he began painting scenes of
nightlife and gambling in response to Prohibition. Despite his
African American heritage and the rise of the Harlem
Renaissance movement, Motley was a member of Ashcan
school that did not devote itself to any ethnicity.
Blues
1929
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Mending Socks
1924
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Nightlife
1943
Oil on canvas
Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)
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Lawrence's work recounts the AfricanAmerican experience in this country.
Although he has been labeled a
protest artist and social realist, in truth
he considered himself first and
foremost an artist. His images convey
the hopes, dreams, and courage of
the black community. He often
captured life observed on the streets
of post-Depression Harlem. He also
recorded another history of America,
one that was told to him by his family,
neighbors, and friends. Lawrence's art
is human and accessible, with a quiet
dignity and understatement that
makes it all the more powerful. He is
the first African-American artist to
have his work included in the
permanent collection of the Museum
of Modern Art, New York.
Dust to Dust
(The Funeral)
1938
Gouache on paper
Jacob Lawrence
Crippled Child on Crutches
1935
Pastels on paper
Jacob Lawrence
Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)
Lois Mailou Jones was a pioneering artist
of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in
New England, her life was still clouded
by the prejudices of an everyday
African American life. She began her
career after attending the School of
the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.
Afterwards, she went through the
racial barriers to exhibit her works to
the world. She perservered through
many roadblocks and prejudices,
without ever losing her passion to
express herself through art.
Les Fetiches
1938
Oil on linen
Loïs Mailou Jones
Textile Design for Cretonne
1928
Loïs Mailou Jones
Ascent of Ethiopia
1932
Painting
Lois Mailou Jones
William H. Johnson
William H. Johnson entered the Harlem
Renaissance during its making. He
came to New York in 1918 from
Florence, South Carolina, to embark
on his career. He became a student at
the National Academy of Design. He
was educated there for five years,
during which he learned from greats
such as George Luks and Charles
Hawthorne. He then traveled to places
in North Africa and Europe to paint
and find residence. It was by the
suggestion of Hawthorne that he
traveled to Paris in 1826, where he
settled, painted, and studied the works
of modern European masters.
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
1939
Oil on board
William H. Johnson
A View Down
Akersgate, Oslo
1935
Oil on burlap
William H. Johnson
Street Musicians
1937
Oil on canvas
William H. Johnson
Sargent Johnson
Johnson lived and worked in the Bay
Area during a time of great
diversity in intellectual, cultural,
and artistic production. Influenced
by what was known as the Negro
Renaissance of the 1920s, he
focused his early work on the
issue of racial identity, seeking to
show the natural beauty and
dignity of African Americans. Bay
Area art communities were
flourishing when Johnson arrived
in 1915, and he later became
influential in an artistic
environment that would develop
its own variety of Modernism.
Mask
ca. 1930-1935
copper on wood base
Sargent Johnson
Forever Free
1933
Sculpture
Sargent Johnson
Mask
1933
Sculpture
Sargent Johnson
Palmer Hayden (1890-1973)
Born Peyton Hedgeman, he was given the
name Palmer Hayden by his white
commanding sergeant during World
War I. In his town of brith, Wide Water,
Virginia, he was often referred to as a
self trained artist. He was a student at
Cooper Union in New York and
pursued independent studies at
Boothbay Art Colony in Maine. He
studied and painted in France, where
he lived for some years.Hayden's
reputation emanates from his realistic
depictions of folklore and Black
historical events. He, like Douglas,
was also among the first Black
American artists to use African
subjects and designs in his painting.
The Big Bend Tunnel
1940
Oil on canvas
Palmer Hayden
The Janitor Who Paints
ca. 1930
oil on canvas
Palmer Hayden
Beale Street Blues
1938
Painting
Palmer Hayden
James VanDerZee (1886-1983)
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Many of VanDerZee's
photographs celebrate the life of
the emergent black middle class.
Using the conventions of studio
portrait photography, he
composed images that reflected
his clients' dignity, independence,
and material comfort,
characterizing the time as one of
achievement, idealism, and
success. VanDerZee's
photographs portray the Harlem
of the 1920s and 1930s as a
community that managed to be
simultaneously talented, spiritual,
and prosperous.
Evening Attire
1922
Gelatin silver print
James VanDerZee
His Lady’s Corsage
1931
Vintage gelatin silver print
James VanDerZee
Alpha Phi Alpha Basketball Team
1926
Photograph
James Van Der Zee
Augusta Savage (1892-1962)
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Augusta Savage was a world-famous
African-American sculptor. Born in
Florida, she had her first formal art
training in New York City at Cooper
Union, the school recommended to
her by Solon Gorglum. While she
studied, she supported herself by
doing odd jobs, including clerking and
working in laundries. In 1926 she
exhibited her work at the
Sesquicentennial Exposition in
Philadelphia. That same year she was
awarded a scholarship to study in
Rome. However, she was unable to
accept the award because she could
not raise the money she would have
needed to live there. Later, she did
study in Europe.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
1939
Sculpture
Augusta Savage
Gamin
1930
Painted Plaster
Augusta Savage
Musicians
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
The first popular jazz singer to move
audiences with the intense,
personal feeling of classic blues,
Billie Holiday changed the art of
American pop vocals forever.
Almost fifty years after her death,
it's difficult to believe that prior to
her emergence, jazz and pop
singers were tied to the Tin Pan
Alley tradition and rarely
personalized their songs; only
blues singers like Bessie Smith
and Ma Rainey actually gave the
impression they had lived through
what they were singing.
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They Can't Take That Away From
Me
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Summertime
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Getting Some Fun Out Of Life
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
Born 29 April 1899 in Washington
DC, composer, bandleader, and
pianist Edward Kennedy ("Duke")
Ellington was recognized in his
lifetime as one of the greatest jazz
composers and performers.
Nicknamed "Duke" by a boyhood
friend who admired his regal air,
the name stuck and became
indelibly associated with the finest
creations in big band and vocal
jazz. A genius for instrumental
combinations, improvisation, and
jazz arranging brought the world
the unique "Ellington" sound that
found consummate expression in
many of his works
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East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
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The Mooche
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It Don't Mean A Thing
Ethel Waters (1900-1977)
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Ethel Waters was a popular black
American singer and actress. She
gained recognition as a singer of
both blues and popular songs.
Waters starred in several
Broadway musicals, and
introduced a number of wellknown songs during her stage
career. She also appeared in
dramatic roles.
Waters was born in Chester,
Pennsylvania. She began singing
in nightclubs and in vaudeville
when she was 17 years old.
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Smile!
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Am I Blue?
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Guess Who's In Town
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Louis Daniel Armstrong was an
American jazz musician.
Armstrong was a charismatic,
innovative performer whose
musical skills and bright
personality transformed jazz from
a rough regional dance music into
a popular art form. Probably the
most famous jazz musician of the
20th century, he first achieved
fame as a trumpeter, but towards
the end of his career he was best
known as a vocalist and was one
of the most influential jazz
singers.
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Skid-Dat-De-Dat
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Potato Head Blues
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Gut Bucket Blues
Fletcher Henderson (1898-1952)
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Fletcher Henderson was
very important to early
jazz as leader of the first
great jazz big band, as an
arranger and composer in
the 1930s, and as a
masterful talent scout. Yet,
at the height of the swing
era, Henderson's band
was little-known.
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Ain't She Sweet?
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Alabamy Bound
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One Of These Days
Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
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Josephine Baker grew up in St. Louis,
Missouri, but left home at an early age
and began performing on stage. She
appeared in the chorus lines of allblack revues on vaudeville, and
travelled to Paris in 1925 as part of La
Revue Negre. Her lithe body and
clowning around on stage caused a
sensation, and by the 1930s she was
so successful she had her own
nightclub. Baker was famous for her
exotic outfits and uninhibited sexuality,
her trademarks being a leopard on a
leash, a skirt made of feathers and a
dance in which she wore bananas on
her head and not much else.
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Blue Skies
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Bye Bye Blackbird
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Sleepy Time Gal
Jelly Role Morton (1890-1941)
Piano player Jelly Roll Morton was a
pioneer of modern American jazz.
He grew up in New Orleans and
began playing in saloons and
brothels when he was still a boy.
In later years he performed solo
and with his band, the Red Hot
Peppers, and he is particularly
remembered for a series of
recordings he made in Chicago
for RCA Victor in the 1920s.
Morton is often credited with
mixing individual improvisation
within rehearsed group
arrangements, a format which
became a staple of jazz.
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Honeysuckle Rose
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Wolverine Blues
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Jelly Roll Blues
Bessie Smith (1894-1937)
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Bessie Smith is largely
regarded as the most
popular and successful
blues singer of 1920s and
1930s, and she has had
an enormous influence on
singers throughout the
history of American
popular music, including
Mahalia Jackson, Janis
Joplin, and Norah Jones.
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See If I Care
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Down Hearted Blues
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Gulf Coast Blues