Harlem Renaissance
DATABASES
Go to the HFHS Library Homepage*. Here you will find a variety of subscription databases filled with information from published, reliable sources like reference books, magazines and journals, as well as newspapers. The following databases would work best for this assignment:
- Student Resource Center (Hint: Search by KEYWORD instead of subject. Also, once the results list appears, check the left-hand column for additional and more specific topics related to your search.)
Remember: To access our databases at home or at school, you will need to type in a password, username, login, etc. See the librarian for details.
WEB SITES
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Summary: "Romare Bearden, considered one of the 20th century's preeminent American artists, grew up in the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. His primary medium was the collage; melding paintings, fabrics, clippings and other materials, he reinvented the medium that cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque had pioneered." (PBS) Read about Romare Bearden, explore his art in a gallery, and find interviews with a curator and art historian on Romare's influences, early works, and use of collage.
San Fransisco Modern Museum of Art (SFMOMA)
Summary: "This multimedia program explores Romare Bearden's life and work, his roots in the Harlem Renaissance, his relationship to jazz and blues music, and how his art expressed a unique fusion of diverse traditions. Featured in the program are: archival footage of Bearden at work; commentaries on Bearden's relationship to jazz by musicians Wynton and Branford Marsalis; and the story of Bearden's monumental mural collage commissioned for the Berkeley City Hall." (SFMOMA)
Descriptors: African American artists, African American painters, African American painting, Artists, Bearden, Romare (1914-1988), Collage, Harlem Renaissance, Painters, Painting, Printmakers, Prints
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Summary: "Discover the themes and works that emerged when creative and intellectual voices intersected during the Harlem Renaissance." (JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS) Explore the people, places and themes of the Harlem Renaissance and how they intersected through this multimedia site. Watch Earl Tucker dance, listen to Langston Hughes read a piece of poetry, listen to Fats Waller perform, and more.
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia
Summary: Survey Graphic was a monthly illustrated journal published by Survey magazine, the premier journal of social work in America in the 1920s. In November of 1924, the Survey devoted an issue to the African American "Renaissance" underway in Harlem. The result "was the first of several attempts to formulate a political and cultural representation of the New Negro and the Harlem community." (ELECTRONIC TEX CENTER) The actual journal has now been digitized. To read the articles and poetry go to "Contents of the Survey Graphic Harlem Number."
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia
Summary: "Survey Graphic was the monthly illustrated number of Survey magazine, the premier journal of social work in America in the 1920s. In November of 1924, the Survey's chief editor, Paul Kellogg, asked Alain Locke (then a professor of philosophy at Howard University) to design and edit a special issue devoted to the African American 'Renaissance' underway in Harlem. Locke agreed, and the magazine that resulted was the first of several attempts to formulate a political and cultural representation of the New Negro and the Harlem community." (ELECTRONIC TEXT CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA) Read the original published text of this special issue.
Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture
Summary: "Harlem has long symbolized the culture of the African-American experience in 20th-century." (SCHOMBERG) Harlem 1900-1940: covers political movements, education, sports, social organization, and Harlem personalities, including Bert Williams and George Walker, Marcus Garvey, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes. Also included are a timeline, a bibliography, and additional resources.
Descriptors: African American History Month, African American arts, Harlem (New York, N.Y.), Harlem Renaissance, Nineteen forties, Nineteen hundreds (Decade), Nineteen thirties, Nineteen twenties, Social change, Spotlight on Black History
Columbia University
Summary: Harlem is the most famous African-American neighborhood in the United States (though over history it has been host to a number of ethnic groups), and hundreds of its residents have gone on to major positions of prominence in politics, the arts, and a host of other areas. This multimedia website features a number of archival highlights on the history of Harlem and the remarkable people it has produced.
Hayward Gallery
Summary: At the dawning of the Jazz age in the early '20s, African American artists, writers and musicians flocked to a district of Manhattan called Harlem. The area soon became home to a cultural revolution, now known as the Harlem Renaissance. The rich artistic legacy of the Harlem Renaissance includes the music of Bessie Smith, the paintings of Aaron Douglas and the poetry of Langston Hughes. This Web site combines images and text highlighting key themes, including The Harlem Renaissance, Representing the New Negro, Modernism and Modernity, A Blues Aesthetic, and Haiti and Images of Black Nationhood.
~The Art of Romare Bearden