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This volume provides new historical and literary insights into the Harlem Renaissance, returning attention to it not only as a broad expression of artistic work but also as a movement that found catharsis in art and hope in resistance.

By examining such major figures of the era as Jessie Fauset, Paul Robeson, and Zora Neale Hurston, the contributors reframe our understanding of the interplay of art, politics, culture, and society in 1920s Harlem. The fourteen essays explore the meaning and power of Harlem theater, literature, and art during the period; probe how understanding of racial, provincial, and gender identities originated and evolved; and reexamine the sociopolitical contexts of this extraordinary black creative class. Delving into these topics anew, The Harlem Renaissance Revisited reconsiders the national and international connections of the movement and how it challenged clichéd interpretations of sexuality, gender, race, and class. The contributors show how those who played an integral role in shattering stereotypes about black creativity pointed the way toward real freedom in the United States, in turn sowing some of the seeds of the Black Power movement.

A fascinating chapter in the history of the African American experience and New York City, the cultural flowering of the Harlem Renaissance reverberates today. This thought-provoking combination of social history and intellectual art criticism opens this powerful moment in history to renewed and dynamic interpretation and sharper discussion.

Customer Reviews (6)

Boxer Jack Johnson "represented black power in its fullest form: intelligent, ... jet black and able to crush white hegemony"
Open at random any one of the 14 essays in THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE REVISITED: POLITICS, ARTS, AND LETTERS. Read that essay and see you don't then hunger for 13 more. They are all good, all provocative, all about "The New Negro," the Harlem Renaissance (1919 - 1935). They showcase black men and women who made both previously "supreme" whites and downtrodden blacks take a second, more admiring look at black men and women -- their art, their language, their corporate culture, their physical attributes and their politics. Connecticut Professor of HistoryJeffrey O. G. Ogbar, has carefully selected 14 different writers, each with much worth reading and pondering.

I took my own advice offered above and opened five of the 14 essays at random. I chose one to review a bit more fully and four others for you to sip a drop or two from.

(I.) Chapter Eleven: "Jack Johnson, Paul Robeson, and the Hypermasculine African American Uebermensch" by Paula Marie Seniors. Of the 21 pages of this essay, fully five-plus pages are footnotes. All 14 essays are scholarly. This one has the largest academic addenda. The essay is very, very good and convincing. But it might be nearly a page shorter if the author, a young prize-winning scholar teaching at Virginia Tech, had not exuberantly repeated a score of times "Hypermasculine African American Uebermensch."

Her prototypical black heroes of masculinity are the heavyweight boxer John Arthur "Jack" Johnson (1878 - 1946) and Renaissance man and all around athlete Paul Robeson (1898 - 1976).

Johnson, "the Galveston Giant," was flamboyant. He had three white wives, he rubbed his blackness in white men's faces. When Johnson won the heavy weight boxing title in 1908, no less than Jack London called for a "great white hope" to emerge and restore the honor of white males. One did arise. Former undefeated world champ James J. Jeffries came out of retirement and was worn down to a TKO. Boxer Jack Johnson "represented black power in its fullest form: intelligent, strong, muscled, impenetrable, jet black and able to crush white hegemony uncompromisingly."


* * *

Who has not heard of Paul Robeson. As singer of "Old Man River," sure. But as polyglot linguist? As All American footballer? As general Renaissance man? He was big. He was black. He was cosmopolitan. He was fearless of fascists American and elsewhere. And he showed white people everywhere what talents they could expect coming generations of black males to reveal.

(II) Snatches from four other essays selected at random:

-- (A) Chapter Ten. Wallace Thurman's 1929 novel THE BLACKER THE BERRY immortalized the folk saying, "The blacker the berry, / the sweeter the juice." Its heroine is Emma Lou Morgan. She did not mind being black, but Emma Lou, mistakenly, saw herself as TOO black, and that ruined her life till she came to terms with it.

--(B) "So the Girl Marries" is Chapter Four's theme: the 1928 Harlem high society wedding between soon to be revealed bisexual poet Countee Cullen and Nina Yolande Du Bois, daughter of the legendary black genius Dr W. E. B. Du Bois. The marriage lasted only a few months. But it inspired a stage play, YOLANDE, KNOCK ME A KISS. You can't understand the Harlem Renaissance without grasping the good and bad sides of Mr and Mrs Countee Cullen.

-- (C) Chapter Eight is all about the American Protestant "song sermon." When enslaved and transported African minstrels were converted to Christianity, they started retelling Bible stories in a Mandingo way: with acting, singing, dancing and active audience/congregation action and reaction. Their lineal discendants, the Spirit-filled black Protestant preachers, constitute perhaps black America's greatest contribution to culture.

-- (D) Chapter Three is about the spirituality behind the music -- all the music, secular and religious -- of Duke Ellington. Duke took the jazz that made him and his band famous in Harlem's Cotton Club into the cathedral. "Ellington took the Cotton Club concepts of elaborate ideas and precision pacing into church." His three sacred concerts (1965, 1968, 1973) were sublime show business, with "dancing, instrumental and vocal solos, luscious ensemble work (and) choirs."

Essayist Frank A. Salamone does not mention another link to a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance (1919 - 1935), boxer Jack Johnson. A nightclub that Johnson opened in Harlem in 1920 was sold in 1923 and renamed The Cotton Club. What goes around, comes around.

This is an almost perfect book. A great editor. Pretty fair writing. Important history of black Americans who made a difference. Much of the scholarship is derivative, but the originals selected are cited and the selecting was mighty fine.

-OOO-

A book of 14 essays on an important period in the "arts", but more of a textbook than a casual read.
This book gathers 14 essays on the various portions of the Harlem Renaissance and cover music (Duke Ellington; Paul Robeson), literature, and other arts. Though the essays are brief each comes with nearly a page of footnotes making it more of a textbook than a mass-market non-fiction history of a culture. I can see this being used in an African American studies program in high school or at a university.THERE it might be used as an introduction.

For the casual reader - especially one who doesn't want to switch back and forth between the main text and the numbered footnotes - there are better books out there on the subject.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

lamb stew and curried goat
under the name of ogbar as rubric, jeffrey o. g. ogbar shepards a herd of fourteen academics from different countries.there are several goats in his fold, nibbling away in the green pastures of the harlem renaissance, finding fault, instead of celebration, with the designated appellation.randy and rapacious within their enclosure they question and trod new paths to consider.

some of the fourteen offerings:

the harlem renaissance as an abstraction is jacob s. dorman's thesis in his Back to Harlem, focusing on the harlem renaissance as home of the hardpressed worker instead of the celebrated lovable gangsters and entertainers:
`Examining everyday life and work patterns in 1920s Harlem illustrates that the abstracted Harlem of the literary imagination is an inadequate replacement for the knowledge of Harlem to be gleaned through social history.Harlem's black workers inspired and helped create the abstraction of Harlem ...'

in Jack Johnson, Paul Robeson, and the Hypermasculine African American Ubermensch, paula marie seniors in her highly accessible essay discusses the black `renaissance' man.

at work in the field of the lord, is mckinley melton with his paper Speak It into Existence on james weldon johnson's Trombones of God, and his neat reverent declaration of the african american preacher and the sermon as song grounded in hebrew scripture and folk song.

shawn anthony christian critiques in detail the film Brother to Brother, in his essay Between Black Gay Men.readers of his essay should see the film before reading the essay; otherwise, any pleasure in the unfolding story will be ruined.

maxim matusevich explores the sway of stalin's soviet union on african americans of the era in "Harlem Globetrotters".jacqueline c. jones contributes "So the Girl Marries" on the marriage between yolande dubois, daughter of w.e.b. dubois, and the poet, countee cullen.the haitian novelist and literary critic, myriam j. a. chancy, writes of claude mckay's extensive travels and of zora neale hurston's time in haiti, in Border Crossings.

that ogbar's flock has waxed fat on their eating makes for much food for thought, while leaving plenty for the curious general reader to savor.

Scholarly Reconsideration of an Important Period
Title The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts, and Letters
Author Ogbar G., Jeffrey O.
Rating ****
Tags


This book is a collection of fourteen scholarly essays on the Harlem Renaissance, that flowering of black culture in the U.S. in the 1920s and 30s. It centered on Harlem, and is most known for its impact on the arts, but it involved intellectual pursuits across the spectrum. Editor Ogden divides the essays into five parts: Aesthetics and the New Negro; Class and Place in Harlem; Literary Icons Reconsidered; Gender Constructions; and Politics and the New Negro. The New Negro was a concept that was an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance, and also the title of one of the era's definitive books, an anthology of black writing edited by Alain Locke.

As usual in an anthology, the essays vary in quality. Some tend to suffer from an overabundance of academic terminology. Some are less interesting than others. Among the stand outs are "No Negro Renaissance: Hubert H. Harrison and the Role of the New Negro Literary Critic" , which discusses Harrison's critique of the Harlem Renaissance in which he argued that calling the period a Renaissance diminished great Negro artists of prior years; and "Harlem Globe-Trotters: Black Sojourners in Stalin's Soviet Union" about the African Americans who traveled to the Soviet Union and found an acceptance they could not find in other countries, certainly not in the United States.

Editor Ogden is to be commended for book's production values. Each essay has footnotes following the essay as well as a bibliography. Brief biographies of the contributors follow the essays, as does the most outstanding feature, an index of the whole work. For example, if you look up "Du Bois, W. E. B." you get every page he was referenced in all the essays.

It is a well-done work, overall, though probably is not the book to read for an introduction to the Harlem Renaissance. It is a valuable work for scholars of the era, bringing in fresh ideas about an important period in history.


Publication The Johns Hopkins University Press (2010), Paperback, 272 pages
Publication date 2010
ISBN 0801894611 / 9780801894619

Great supplemental reading for Harlem Renaissance fans
I am thrilled to have come across this book. I am working on a PhD in American literature with a focus in African American literature and Queer Theory. This book covers the intersections of race and sexuality within the Harlem Renaissance and offers some refreshing new insights for thought and discussion concerning the "New Negro" and queer politics.
I haven't finished the book yet, but the few essays I have read have me very excited to keep picking up the book until it is finished.
If you are interested in artists/writers such as Hurston, Hughes, Cullen, Fauset etc., this book is a must. Very pleased. ... Read more

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Harlem Renaissance. African American art, African American culture, African American literature, Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, New Negro, Niggerati, Hubert Harrison, Harlem ... Read more

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African American artists during the Harlem Renaissance were social activists, making a significant contribution to black culture and aesthetics. This book engages the philosophical discourse of Kenneth Burke and examines these artists as activists, and their works as symbols of social protest. ... Read more

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Richard Bruce Nugent (1906–1987) was a writer, painter, illustrator, and popular bohemian personality who lived at the center of the Harlem Renaissance. Protégé of Alain Locke, roommate of Wallace Thurman, and friend of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, the precocious Nugent stood for many years as the only African-American writer willing to clearly pronounce his homosexuality in print. His contribution to the landmark publication FIRE!!, "Smoke, Lilies and Jade," was unprecedented in its celebration of same-sex desire. A resident of the notorious "Niggeratti Manor," Nugent also appeared on Broadway in Porgy (the 1927 play) and Run, Little Chillun (1933)

Thomas H. Wirth, a close friend of Nugent’s during the last years of the artist’s life, has assembled a selection of Nugent’s most important writings, paintings, and drawings—works mostly unpublished or scattered in rare and obscure publications and collected here for the first time. Wirth has written an introduction providing biographical information about Nugent’s life and situating his art in relation to the visual and literary currents which influenced him. A foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. emphasizes the importance of Nugent for African American history and culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Discovering a forgotten Hero of the Harlem Renaissance
Richard Bruce Nugent was the son of two black parents,his father was an entertainer and his mother was a member of one of the leading black Washington D.C. families of the day.Nugent was out of the closet at 19 years of age, black and proud and proud to be gay and unconventionally bohemian.

Nugent has often been relegated to only a footnote and a provider of anecdotal stories about theHarlem Renaissance and its leading canonized figures by reserchers and biographers past and present.Thomas Wirth's book seeks to rectify an injustice and put Nugent back to the forefront as a contributing member to the Renaissance.After a brief foreward by Herny Louis Gates Jr. stressing Nugent's importance to the history of black literature, gay literature, especially black gay literature and literature in general, the reader is treated to a very brief biography of Nugent and his milieu of the time by Wirth.

From this point on in the book, Wirht allows Nugent's words to speak for Nugent himself by offering a variety of work that was unpublished during Nugent's lifetime and forgotten or lost. Wirth gives a brief introduction to each piece of work presented explaining nuiances and the history behind it.In addition, presented in GAY REBLE.. are some of Nugent's diverse artwork.

Unlike Langston Hughes who showed very little interest in white men sexually and as objects of desire in much of his life and work, barring simple friendships----but whose preference was for men of his own race, especially the handsome "darker-skinned"black men---- Nugent, in his own words, favored white men.The reason he gives is somewhat inanitious, but is represented in much of his work and life.

Smoke, Lilies, and Jade is the most famous and infamous work presented in GAY REBEL... because it was the first piece of writing by an OPENLY GAY BLACK MAN whose protagonist was a black gay man and "Beauty," the object of desire in the story was a composite of Langston Hughes, Harold Jackman and Valentino.Lesser known works include "Geisha Man" and "Gentleman Jigger," a somewhat semi-autobigraphical sketch where Nugent is honest in how he managed to come to terms with and extinguish his skin color prejudices with darker-skinned black after meeting Wallace Thurman, another influential and leading intellectual of the Harlem Renaissance.

It should be pointed out that Nugent, like Langston Hughes, Zora Hurston, Wallace Thurman were all proud to be black.But again, like Hughes, Hurston, and Thurman, Nugent understood that black Americans are a multicultural people of mixed bloodlines no matter the complextion of skin and the race of either parent.It is important to remeber this when reading some of Nugent's poems and looking at his artwork where he took care to include this fact.

Comprehensive tribute to a remarkable cultural figure
"Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance: Selections from the Work of Richard Bruce Nugent" is edited by Thomas H. Wirth, who also wrote the introduction.Also included is a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.Over 300 pages long, this book offers a comprehensive and compelling look at Nugent (1906-1987).In his foreword Gates writes that Nugent was "boldly and proudly gay" and that he "linked the black world of the Harlem Renaissance with the gay world of bohemian New York."

Wirth's fascinating, 61 page introduction is full of photos and illustrations.Wirth looks at Nugent's life and work; among the topics covered are Nugent's relationships to other Harlem Renaissance figures and his involvement with the periodical "Fire!!".

A note to the reader tell us that the book includes previously unpublished work taken directly from manuscript.Overall there is a rich selection of material.Among the pieces included in this book are the short story "Smoke, Lilies and Jade," an oft-reprinted piece described as "Nugent's most important work"; poems; an essay entitled "On Harlem" which was written for the Federal Writers' Project in the late 1930s; excerpts from an unpublished novel; and more.There are also many reproductions (both color and black-and-white) of Nugent's artwork.

"Gay Rebel" is a superb contribution to both African-American studies and gay studies.But beyond that it's a very moving tribute to a remarkable cultural figure.

Persuasive reestablishment of a formidable artist!
Exciting, thorough, and amazingly generous, Wirth brings to life a most beguiling participant in the Harlem Renaissance.

Move over Langston Hughes!A real diva is here!SNAP!
This book is a mixture of biography and collected works of Richard Bruce Nugent, the most openly gay writer of the Harlem Renaissance.His 1920s story, "Smoke, Lillies and Jade" has been called the first African-American fictional account regarding homosexuality.The book also includes many photos of Nugent and his gay peers as well as Nugent's artwork.

The book is divided into five sections, emphasizing Nugent's fictional and non-fictional work.However, the best part of the book is the historical introduction; it should have been highlighted somehow.This book is a veritable "Who's Who?" of the Gay Harlem Renaissance.Unfortunately, this excellent documentation of the numerous gay Black authors writing in the early 20th century leaves the impression that little is known about Nugent or little is worth saying.Still, I found myself wanting to read every footnote because they show how much material is out there that has yet to be reviewed scholastically.Heads up, gay studies graduate students!

Though the excerpts of Nugent's writings span a fifty-year period, the grand majority of it comes from the 1930s.Nugent, in "Smoke" and most other writings, was a blatant cheerleader for the Renaissance.I found his work challenging, though at times incredibly boring.It's admitted that his artwork is faux Erte, but it's implied homoeroticism must truly be relished.Be warned that it's very campy.I applaud Nugent in his continual inclusion of women in his artwork, non-fiction, and fiction.You would never have to worry about him saying some foolishness like "Hated it!"Besides, if I read this correctly, Nugent never went to college, yet his writing is quite sophisticated.

Surprisingly, this book reminds me of Little Richard's biography, even though that was written during one of Richard's homophobic stages.Both Richard and Nugent were/are frequently X-rated in order to get laughs and push the envelope on societal norms.Like Dennis Rodman, Nugent swears that because Blacks rejected him, he only pursued "Latins."This fetishization may really disturb gay Latino and Italian-American readers.But remember:gay whites of the era like E.M. Forster also celebrated "difference" in ways that we would now deem politically incorrect.

Skip Gates' forward is scant, but it does reprove his commitment to an anti-homophobic, African-American scholarship.The biographer is a white gay man "interested" in Black culture.Shockingly, he never cites Eric Garber, the non-Black scholar who was the first in gay studies to report on the gay underpinnings of the Harlem Renaissance.It's a shame too, because many of Garber's insights are still useful, yet they go unacknowledged.Wirth includes a section in which Nugent remembers Carl Van Vecten, the gay white celebrity-maker who promoted the Renaissance.This section is confusing and says little.It somewhat re-centers Van Vechten and feels slightly Eurocentric.Still, the biographer has a Ph.D. in chemistry from CalTech yet he writes like the most sophisticated gay studies Ph.D.I give him much credit.

Finally, this book has been categorized under "racially mixed persons."Though it is mentioned that Nugent had some Native American ancestors, interracial romantic liaisons and passing come up much more often than multiracial identity matters in this text.

All people who want to challenge the idea that gayness is a "white thing" or "recent phenomenon" need to read this book. ... Read more

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Absolutely brilliant!!! best text on the subject out there.
Professor Ferguson has made a brilliant contribution, this text is in for the long run. ... Read more

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When it was released in 2004, Harlem Stomp! was the first trade book to bring the Harlem Renaissance alive for young adults!Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated, the book is a veritable time capsule packed with poetry, prose, photographs, full-color paintings, and reproductions of historical documents.Now, after more than three years in hardcover, three starred reviews and a National Book Award nomination, Harlem Stomp! is being released in paperback. ... Read more

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An Ideal Resource of Educators and Students
Far from a simple survey of a period, this 150+ page text captures the vitality and vivacity of a time when African Americans made some of the greatest strides toward self-definition and self-determination. Moreover, Harlem Stomp! is especially useful because it does not pave over the tensions and troubles of the period. While the stories, biographies, and images reflect the glitter and glamour of the age, so too do the photographs, content, and tone shed light on the glaring racial inequalities of the time.

Setting the tone for the ways in which the text engages the time period, Chapter 1: The Smoldering Black Consciousness, 1900-1910, latches on to the intellectual back and forth between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois--in the very first major section of the chapter! My students used the opening pages of the initial chapter as part of an exercise to determine points of comparison and contrast between Washington and Du Bois's ideas about the best course of African American efforts to achieve equality. Artwork by Aaron Douglas that often graced the covers of The Crisis provides an aesthetic anchor from the very beginning. The first chapter alone demonstrates the rising African American confidence and acts of self-assertion at the turn of the century.

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, Augusta Savage, Alain Locke, Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb, and countless others all provide stories of passion and pride on each page. What makes this book such a gem is that it does not parade individuals along with little connection to context. Instead, each actor is part of the larger narrative that unfolds. Individual stories in this book provide a starting point for students to create biographies of major figures. (The book was so successful that when I assigned biographies to the class and allowed students to choose the figures they would study, I could invariably hand the book over to any student who expressed initial disinterest in beginning the project. "I don't want to do this, Mr. Smith." Within a few turns of the pages, the initially obstinate student would look up, with figure in mind, inspired by the stories told in the book. Each student was hooked.)

As I read Harlem Stomp! this past spring, I was stunned while reading about real estate and residential struggles that eventually gave way to Harlem as it was in the 1920s and 1930s. A massive power struggle between residents and real estate owners played out on the books pages. Indeed, I was reminded just have prominently conflicts over property influence politics of race and class. Similar topics, like the segregated nature of the Cotton Club, are presented faithfully and honestly on the books pages. In class, we were able to compare and contrast the exclusivity (based on race) of the Cotton Club with the more integrated Savoy Ballroom.

What spoke to me, and my students, so clearly was just how much the period of the Harlem Renaissance was characterized by black hope and pride. In 2010, students and teachers alike could use a strong dose of this same hope and pride.

Harlem Stomp!
This book captures every element that can be used and applied to teach the Harlem Renaissance. I have had to clip parts here and there, but this book is THEE 1 source for understanding every angle of this time period.

Love this book!
This is a great book - well researched with wonderful pictures and stories.I will be using this book in my classroom.

Hill's "Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance"(1900-1930's)
Laban Carrick Hill's "Harlem Stomp" is a fine historic text: with words, as well as, in pictures, photos and paintings .The text supports the idiom "believe half of what you see and even less of what you hear" as the textmakes it clear that photographers like James VanDerZee(Pgs 124-126):"had his subjects look flawless even when in real life that was not the case"(e.g. :as Harlem struggled with purpose and poverty).

Geared for kids but still informative
This seems geared for the junior high school crowd, but there are still great pictures and it's pretty stuffed with information.Worthwhile buy. ... Read more

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A finalist for the 1972 National Book Award, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "brilliant" and "provocative," Nathan Huggins' Harlem Renaissance was a milestone in the study of African-American life and culture. Now this classic history is being reissued, with a new foreword by acclaimed biographer Arnold Rampersad.

As Rampersad notes, "Harlem Renaissance remains an indispensable guide to the facts and features, the puzzles and mysteries, of one of the most provocative episodes in African-American and American history." Indeed, Huggins offers a brilliant account of the creative explosion in Harlem during these pivotal years. Blending the fields of history, literature, music, psychology, and folklore, he illuminates the thought and writing of such key figures as Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, and W.E.B. DuBois and provides sharp-eyed analyses of the poetry of Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes. But the main objective for Huggins, throughout the book, is always to achieve a better understanding of America as a whole. As Huggins himself noted, he didn't want Harlem in the 1920s to be the focus of the book so much as a lens through which readers might see how this one moment in time sheds light on the American character and culture, not just in Harlem but across the nation. He strives throughout to link the work of poets and novelists not only to artists working in other genres and media but also to economic, historical, and cultural forces in the culture at large.

This superb reissue of Harlem Renaissance brings to a new generation of readers one of the great works in African-American history and indeed a landmark work in the field of American Studies. ... Read more

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When Blacks began the slow walk to their last mile of Freedom
With great relish, professor Huggins has penned a gem. He has captured the essence of the spirit and the times of the gilded but still turbulent age of the 1920s. And although they were still far from achieving their full freedom, it was the first time since the "redemption" in the aftermath of the Civil War that the Negro actually could focus on what he would do with his freedom.

And what he did even in his thoroughly segregated circumstances was to explode into a self-conscious flowering of his own cultural instincts. The Harlem renaissance was not just a profound statement of blacks about their arrival on the American cultural scene, a self-conscious tossing away as it were of the final shackles of slavery, but also and more importantly it was the first incubation period of black liberation and cultural and political sophistication.

More than any other period, it was during the Harlem renaissance in which the black community came of age culturally and came together as one united front against racism using cultural tools and its intellectual power and substance on par with its white counterparts. Against all odds, they created a cultural oasis right in the middle of a sea of white hatred and racial recrimination. This flowering was something that was not only unexpected and shocking to the sensibilities of most whites, but shocking also to many blacks outside of New York, around the countryside. And although the flowering occurred across the board, its clearest expression took place in literature, art and music, which itself later was to become America's transformative art form.

Here for the first time we hear all of the clear voices of strong confident accomplished black intellectuals forging a path right down the middle of main street racist America and making their mark have weight equal to their numbers in the scheme of American society.The Harlem Renaissance was inspired by the black soldiers who had returned from WW-I. Having fought for freedom in a world war half way around the globe, they now came home committed to do the same on their own soil. As was to prove to be the case time and time again, theirs was not an easy task, but they did so without looking back and continued until the great depression kick the bottom out of the economy. Until then, they had put a lie to the mean-spirited myth that blacks were uncultured to the point of being less than human.

How they did it is what this book is all about. Why it cannot happen again and why blacks last mile of freedom has stalled in the present period of "so called full equality" is a question this book quietly begs and thus leaves unanswered. Nevertheless, this is still a clear five star effort.

a primary text of 1920s Harlem
In this year 2005, the 1920s may be utterly distant. Yet during that decade, there was a cultural flowering in the American Negro community. Centred at Harlem. Huggins takes us to that place and time. The narrative is enhanced by one key trait. This book was first published in 1971. The research that went into it was done in the late 60s. Several influential persons of 20s Harlem were still around and the text gives their direct experiences, from interviews with the author.

In this way, Huggins provides a primary text for future students and historians. But given the 30 years that have elapsed since publication, that is who current readers are.

The book shows how even with the severe strictures on Negroes throughout much of the US, a spirited culture could still arise and thrive. ... Read more

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It was W.E.B. DuBois who paved the way with his essays and his magazine The Crisis, but the Harlem Renaissance was mostly a literary and intellectual movement whose best known figures include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer.Their work ranged from sonnets to modernist verse to jazz aesthetics and folklore, and their mission was race propaganda and pure art.Adding to their visibility were famous jazz musicians, producers of all-black revues, and bootleggers.

Now available in paperback, this richly-illustrated book contains more than 70 black-and-white photographs and drawings.Steven Watson clearly traces the rise and flowering of this movement, evoking its main figures as well as setting the scene--describing Harlem from the Cotton Club to its literary salons, from its white patrons like Carl van Vechten to its most famous entertainers such as Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter, Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong among many others.He depicts the social life of working-class speakeasies, rent parties, gay and lesbian nightlife, as well as the celebrated parties at the twin limestone houses owned by hostess A'Lelia Walker.This is an important history of one of America's most influential cultural phenomenons. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A competent primer on the era, but more is needed
The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930, by Steve Watson, part of the "Circles of the Twentieth Century" series, presents an easy-to-follow crash-course to the neighborhoods and decade.Watson allows readers to glimpse the lively streets of Harlem, where people of various colors and sexual orientation mingled in wild dance clubs or sat together at extravagant performances (although some of the more chic places still catered to a white only or partially segregated clientele).White New Yorkers would venture "Uptown" to sample black culture in Harlem in a relatively accepting environment, enjoying the shows of some of the best jazz musicians and performers of the time.Of course, racism and exploitation still played a role in many of these relations.Nevertheless, it was an improvement from previous eras when the black community was mostly resented and ignored.

The movement is best told through the works of its literary elite, and it is on these figures that Watson concentrates his efforts.These young writers, most notably Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Countee Cullen, were nurtured and guided by the previous generation's intellectuals and various rich, influential Harlemites.Among these was W.E.B. Du Bois, who through his magazine, The Crisis, hoped to guide the next generation, showcasing young talents' select work in the way of propaganda in order to advance blacks in society.Other "Forefathers", as Watson calls them, included blacks and whites, heterosexuals and homosexuals.Among these were Carl Van Vechten, Jessie Fauset, Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, and later, Charlotte van der Veer Quick Mason.Each of these mentors/patrons wished to direct the movement in their own way; however, most of their protégés would break away and find their own paths, defining for themselves the Harlem Renaissance.

Watson never does dive too deep in any single aspect of the Renaissance, instead preferring broad glances at the various aspects of the movement.However, most of his attention is guided by the lives of three of the decades leading writers, mentioned above.Their stories reveal that this was far from a cohesive movement, as each saw their role and obligations differently.Though they all began by embracing their color and culture, they soon diverted from each other.Langston and Hurston embraced vulgarity and broke from the safe propaganda of Du Bois, instead reveling in works of vice and racial pride.Their works refused to conform to white tradition, and even seemed to dare their white audience to read them (Hughes's Fire!!, for example).Cullen, on the other hand, maintained formal verse forms and tried to rise above the identification of a "Negro writer."Regardless of their differences, they represented the first and most influential black artistic movements in the nation's history, up to that time.Their works were enjoyed not only by black readers, but read widely by white audiences as well.Additionally, the Renaissance seems to not only have been a time of exposure for blacks, but also for homosexuals, as most involved in the literary movement seem to have been.These include many high profile figures, such as Carl Van Vechten and Countee Cullen, whose openness in an earlier (and also later) time would have been unheard of.This seems another testament to the tolerance of Renaissance Harlem, punctuated with such gay hangouts as the Clam House that proved popular.

One of the most interesting figures dealt with was Zora Neale Hurston.Most compelling was her anthropological adventure throughout the rural South.Watson allows us to see Hurston weed through her roots and find a black identity that she did not know intimately.We learn of her taking on aliases to become accepted in various black communities to record their rituals and folklore, even lying "facedown, nude, for sixty-nine hours, without food or water, her navel touching a rattle-snake skin" (Watson 149).In essence it is an account of a woman seeking her roots, trying to come to terms with a culture she hasn't fully accepted or understood.This seems to be also the essence of the Harlem Renaissance, artists trying to find their way in a world that has not allowed them into the fold or even showed them truthfully their past.It is a longing most Americans, in a nation of displaced immigrants, can relate to.

With Watson's broad stroke one gets an idea of the Harlem Renaissance, and certainly a decent amount of knowledge about the writers, but it is difficult to really get a feel for what it would have been like for a typical Harlemite to live through it.By concentrating on the writers, he is putting our focus upon those who were exceptional, whose differences made them stand out and be recognized.By their merit, they were not typical of others of their time.For instance, much attention is given to Claude McKay, who wasn't even in Harlem, let alone the country, at the time.Granted, the reader is offered descriptions of rent parties and a few popular venues, yet it is not clear how much the average resident was aware of this literary and artistic movement, went to the venues, or mingled regularly with whites.Just how widespread was the Renaissance?Were there many other writers struggling to be recognized at the time that might not have made it?Or was it limited to a select few who wrote about the energy seen all around during the `Roaring Twenties'?Furthermore, can it be truly called a renaissance, which suggests rebirth, when there was no black American literary tradition to be reborn?This all suggests that Watson views the Harlem Renaissance as mainly involving a small literary circle with a strong black identity, and all else seems something of a coincidence.While the subjects are inherently interesting, the book unfortunately lacks in explaining these other important elements and issues.

It's good
This is a worthwhile and well-researched book.It is more scholarly than I expected, and as a result, it took me a while to get fully engaged in.By the time I got to the section discussing the jazz artists, it was hard to put down.I was familiar with most of the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance to some extent.The book painted a more vivid picture of many of them, and gave keen perspectives on the social and economic milieu that helped to shape the period.It was fascinating to read about some of the interlocking relationships, in particular the relationships between Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Charlotte Mason. Examples such as this changed my notion of writing always being an insular profession. The men and women of the Harlem Renaissance benefited by each other's support as well as competition.

Outlined the experience but no depth
In my journey to explore the Harlem Renaissance, I started with this book.I felt the author gave a good basic view of the era but he left out the soul.He focused on six or seven primary personalities of the time, from Langston Hughes to Zora Neale Hurston, and tied the times into their existence.I was left feeling like there had to be more about the era. The author also chases around issues of major character homosexuality, stating it but not really being clear about it.I was ready for it to end.

This book is informative, entertaining, coherent.
I read this book in hardcover as well as several others for a paper I wrote. The author was able to take the disparate threads of musicians, artists, writers and benefactors who contributed to theRenaissance and weave together a chronology that contained pictures, specific information about the "hotspots" in Harlem and complete, sometimes intimate portraits of all concerned. If the Harlem Renaissance was ever to be depicted in a movie, this book would be a ready-made screen play. The hardcover edition is worth the extra money.

Their Eyes Were Watching God=A Great Book!!
I really enjoyed this book.I had to read it foran english class.At first I thought it was going to be hard to read and dumb due to the dialect, but as I read further into the book, I found out what agreat book it was and why it was on the requiredreading list.I would greatly recommmend reading this book to any one who hasnot.It deals with ablack woman's search for indeoendence over 25 yearsand 3 marriages.It is a great book and gets TWO thumbs up from me!!! ... Read more

Product Description
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COMES TO LIFE

Discover why young people all over the country are reading the Black Stars biographies of African American heroes. Here is what you want to know about the lives of great black men and women during the fabulous Harlem Renaissance:

louis "satchmo" armstrong
eubie blake
thomas andrew dorsey
w. e. b. du bois
duke ellington
james reese europe
jessie redmon fauset
marcus garvey
w. c. handy
fletcher henderson
langston hughes
zora neale hurston
hall johnson
henry johnson
oscar micheaux
philip payton jr.
gertrude "ma" rainey
paul robeson
augusta savage
noble sissle
bessie smith
james van der zee
dorothy west
carter g. woodson

"The books in the Black Stars series are the types of books that would have really captivated me as a kid."
–Earl G. Graves, Black Enterprise magazine

"Inspiring stories that demonstrate what can happen when ingenuity and tenacity are paired with courage and hard work."
–Black Books Galore! Guide to Great African American Children’s Books

"Haskins has chosen his subjects well . . . catching a sense of the enormous obstacles they had to overcome. . . .Some names are familiar, but most are little-known whom Haskins elevates to their rightful place in history."
–Booklist

"The broad coverage makes this an unusual resource–a jumping-off point for deeper studies."
–Horn Book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Low level Reading- High level Star
I actually used this book as a source for a college paper. It is one of few resources out there if you are interested in Augusta Savage. I thought it was fun, but of course would recommend it for late Elemantary School to Junior High in normal situations. ... Read more

Product Description
"Mr. Baker perceives the harlem Renaissance as a crucial moment in a movement, predating the 1920's, when Afro-Americans embraced the task of self-determination and in so doing gave forth a distinctive form of expression that still echoes in a broad spectrum of 20th-century Afro-American arts. . . . Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance may well become Afro-America's 'studying manual.'"--Tonya Bolden, New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Product Description
Of all the images to arise from the Harlem Renaissance, the most thought-provoking were those of the mulatta. For some writers, artists, and filmmakers, these images provided an alternative to the stereotypes of black womanhood and a challenge to the color line. For others, they represented key aspects of modernity and race coding central to the New Negro Movement. Due to the mulatta’s frequent ability to pass for white, she represented a variety of contradictory meanings that often transcended racial, class, and gender boundaries. Portraits of the New Negro Woman investigates the visual and literary images of black femininity that occurred between the two world wars. Cherene Sherrard-Johnson traces the origins and popularization of these new representations in the art and literature of the Harlem Renaissance and how they became an ambiguous symbol of racial uplift constraining African American womanhood in the early twentieth century.

In this engaging narrative, the author uses the writings of Nella Larsen and Jessie Fauset as well as the work of artists like Archibald Motley and William H. Johnson to illuminate the centrality of the mulatta by examining a variety of competing arguments about race in the Harlem Renaissance and beyond. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Women's Studies:American and African American
Cherene Sherrard-Johnson is a remarkably talented young lady who has produced a magnificently written book, Portraits of the New Negro Woman.This should be required reading for American and African American studies.I look forward to her next publication. ... Read more

Product Description
New York City, uptown, the 1920s. Poets, writers, dancers, and musicians came to Harlem to experience the excitement of the jazz age and to see the cabarets and floor shows at the Apollo Theatre and the Cotton Club. People flocked to Harlem to hear the genius of band leader Duke Ellington, thejazz-poetry of Langston Hughes, and the romantic lyricism of Countee Cullen. The Harlem Renaissance produced some of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential artists, figures at the center of the spectacular jazz era. These African American artists created a new American sound and a new American culture. This unique recording tells the Harlem Renaissance story through the spoken word and live music of some of its most famous works. Experience it all yourself in…
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE REMEMBERED

Foreword and Afterword by Jonathan Gross, Ph.D. —
Hear the story of Harlem, told through the words of its poets and the sound of its musicians. Imagine yourself in the Cotton Club where Duke Ellington and his famous orchestra performed their hit song, “Take the A Train”. Listen to Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” recited aloud while the strains of “Mood Indigo” play from a distant radio. Learn what the world was like in the 1920s when the Harlem Renaissance was at its height, and why it is still so important today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Pleasing, interesting, but not profound.
I found this an interesting little compilation of Harlem pieces. There was music and poetry and literature. I really helped give a feel to the time period to hear it all aloud and together.The sound quality is okay and could be better at times. And some of the music choices were questionable, but without a doubt it really helped to illustrate the richness of the artistic pallet that was being used at the time of the Harlem renaissance and hearing thepoems read aloud alongside the music really did a great job of pinpointing the cadence that is hard to pick up on in the written word.

Definitely something useful for say an American Studies class, or American History, Black History month, etc.

This brief (less than an hour) "audio book" is more of a radio play with music.
This product is described as an audio book and, as such, you expect someone to read aloud the text of a book. In this case it's more of a radio script with musical selections included between the narratives. Since it fits neatly into an hour, it might have been made to a public radio broadcast. And if that were what it was, that would be fine. But as a commercial product it falls short. And, as others have said at length, in their reviews here, the "narrator" has a voice that doesn't exactly draw you in.

The concept of narration with full musical excerpts to illustrate the music portion of the Harlem Renaissance is a good idea. With a longer running time and more engaging narrator (or narrators), this could be an interesting project.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

Strange Concoction
I was intrigued by the promise of this CD, which seemed to be an integration of the poetry and music that served as the heartbeat of the Harlem Renaissance.Yet the delivery in the final product falls short of fulfilling that promise.Instead, it is an odd mishmash of music and poetry that doesn't seem to have an easily identifiable place.

The CD begins with an introduction by Jonathan Gross, who does not have the most compelling voice for this sort of work, that glosses briefly over the history of the Harlem Renaissance.The rest of the CD is made up of readings of poems by Langston Hughes and performances of Duke Ellington's music, interspersed with further commentary.While "Mack" Jay Jordan's renditions of Ellington's songs are for the most part very good, the poetry readings seem out of synch - some are read too fast, some are overwhelmed by the music.Not to mention that fact that this project limits the Harlem Renaissance down to only these two artists, forsaking other greats of the time period in both music and literature.

I was hoping to use this CD in my American Literature class, but at over an hour in length, it is too long for the normal class period.Plus, with the additional commentary throughout the CD, there is no good breaking point to use even snipets of it rather than trying to use the whole."The Harlem Renaiassance Remembered" is an intriguing concept, and perhaps would work much better as a series of audio works that feature other artists from the time period.As it stands, it is too narrow in focus and too disjointed to fulfill the promise its title implies.

Loved It!
I did read the reviewer who said this was not "deep" or "wide" enough; I confess, I am no historian, nor have I ever lived in Harlem, so perhaps that is true.But I thoroughly enjoyed this entire thing!I found it uplifting and thought-provoking.It has made me more determined than ever to take a tour of Harlem, next time I am back east.

wow
Fantastic CD! This period in history was so dynamic, groundbreaking...I read/see/listen to everything I can about this era. Everyone should listen to this! ... Read more