Harlem Renaissance | Harlem Renaissance
May.01.2013
The great Ray Charles and the great Ahmet Ertegun.(Reuters photo by Fred Prouser)
“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with...
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Jun.05.2012
Barack Obama and actor Tom Hanks toast Queen Elizabeath II at a 2011 celebration. (photo by Pete Souza)
The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II reportedly quoted the great Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay’s poem “If We Must Die” when he addressed the...
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Jan.24.2012
Cover of Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Life Upon These Shores.
Historian Carter G. Woodson, who during the Harlem Renaissance founded Black History Week––later to become Black History Month––was a powerful visionary able to resist the constant denigration of his people’s humanity as represented...
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Jun.16.2011
The celebration of major historic milestones is a favorite pastime in pretty much every culture. This year, 2011, in the United States many are commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War. That means four years from now numerous festivities will take place to observe the same...
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Mar.02.2011
Each February, when I think of Black History Month, I think of the black artists who have contributed to the making of America through their writing, painting, sculpting, dancing, singing, composing, and acting.
In some ways, the very act of creating was political. Yet I can't help but wonder...
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Feb.22.2011
My novel White Man’s Blues led me to study African-American literature, which Red Room asked us to blog about this week. My study brought me quickly to the Harlem Renaissance, one of those hotspots of brilliance that flash in literature when the stars line up. It was Jean Toomer, from the “...
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Oct.22.2010
As a writer, I have many hopes and dreams for my stories. The biggest hope is that my stories will be read by people from all walks off life, living all around the world.
The most lavish dream, is that one of my stories will be adapted for the stage and/or screen.
So it was a surprise and honor...
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Oct.11.2010
For the first time since the publication of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts On File) in 2003, Google Books has recently added an extended preview to its listing of the title.
The preview includes a full-screen color reproduction of the cover, which features...
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Sep.25.2010
My long-term romance with the idea that literary movements define and bookmark significant heroic moments in cultural history began long before I understood who or what had stolen my heart. Yet it seems to have been there for at least as long as earlier adolescent passions for playing football or...
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May.03.2010
I had the privilege recently of helping celebrate the works of Langston Hughes at an annual National Poetry Month event organized by one of Santa Barbara’s exceptional poets and teachers, Sojourner Kincaid Rolle.
Rolle had asked me to talk about what lessons Hughes’ lifelong work might hold for...
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