# data[].attributes.headline
Learning for Justice Resources on Teaching Black History

# data[].attributes.subject
Learning for Justice Resources on Teaching Black History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 2019, LFJ (then Teaching Tolerance) rolled out a series of articles challenging teachers to go beyond overused and whitewashed historical narratives when observing Black History Month. In 2020, we expanded that call by recommending that teachers widen their exploration of Black lives while also providing historical context so students will make meaningful connections to current issues.

It's not uncommon for educators to focus on slavery, segregation and other forms of oppression during Black History Month.

But only teaching a Black history steeped in trauma and struggle provides a very narrow view of Blackness and perpetuates the false notion of Black people's inferiority. This limited teaching of history can actually be violent.

Stephanie P. Jones, founder of Mapping Racial Trauma in Schools and an assistant professor of education at Grinnell College, examines the severity of such approaches in " Ending Curriculum Violence."

Jones' research shows that, too often, "the transatlantic slave trade and its resulting horror within the American slavery system are essentialized as all Black history itself."

She found that the hard histories of slavery, the civil rights movement and other traumatic events in Black history are frequently mistaught or introduced with little context. Curriculum violence occurs when, as too often happens, educators ask students to act out this history or empathize with enslavers' and other oppressors' perspectives.

As a result, students come away with a warped understanding of how racial inequity manifests today. And repeated instances of curriculum violence contribute to a larger traumatic experience at school-experiences that can affect Black students' mental health.

This doesn't mean you should skip teaching hard histories for fear of inflicting curriculum violence. Instead, you can take care to teach the truth and avoid harm in the process. Jones' article offers guidance on how to accomplish that. One way to start right away is to tell the whole story-not just a small part-of Black history. A first step is to commit to decentering racial trauma during Black History Month.

We will share some of our favorite resources focusing on aspects of Black history and culture that aren't centered on violence, trauma and struggle. We hope you'll use them to help your students recognize the many ways in which Black people have contributed to, inspired and created American culture while also leading the way in advocating for civic participation, inclusion and equitable spaces.

Teach the History of Liberation Movements

The fight for Black liberation has always been an integral part of U.S. history, but too often we don't explore that narrative. Black liberation in the United States is much more than a fight to defeat slavery or Jim Crow. It's also exemplified in efforts to reject anti-Blackness: the refusal of Black people's humanity, dignity, agency and voice. People perpetuate anti-Blackness in the degradation of Black aesthetics, denial of Black people's grievances and pain, and the erasure or discrediting of Black culture.

There are numerous ways to tell the story of Black liberation movements. In addition to revolts by enslaved people in the U.S. and beyond, educators can learn and teach more about the everyday and revolutionary ways in which enslaved people fought for liberation. You can start with the episode " Resistance Means More Than Rebellion" on the Teaching Hard History: American Slavery podcast. And students can watch historian Tera Hunter describe the life and escape of Henry "Box" Brown here.

You can also work with students to examine other efforts and movements in which Black people resisted subjugation. These efforts include the work of the Black Panther Party and the Black Power and "Black Is Beautiful" movements. Students can learn more about Black queer liberation and womanism movements, which provided a template for activism today, such as Black Lives Matter.

Honor Black Civic Engagement

The civil rights movement is perhaps the example of Black activism that is most commonly taught in schools. Students should see that advocacy for Black civic engagement-although often attributed to individual figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-was a collective effort that required the sacrifices of everyday people. For example, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because Black communities united and pooled resources for a common cause and attacked segregated busing from multiple angles. This campaign required information sharing, volunteering and political engagement.

From the fierce activism and organizing of Ida B. Wells to the creation of the NAACP, Black people and organizations have a long history of uplifting their communities through civic engagement.

This Black History Month, educators can introduce students to those who aren't always highlighted, such as Francis Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker. Show students how their intersectional identities both helped and hindered their causes.

Recognize Intersectional Black Identity

Students must understand that, like other marginalized groups, Black people have identities that intersect, creating complex lived experiences and compounding the effects of oppressive systems.

Scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality in 1989 to study the social, economic and political ways in which identity-based systems of oppression and privilege connect, overlap and influence one another.

But recognizing intersectionality doesn't mean educators have to focus only on oppression when acknowledging intersecting identities. Show students that the overlapping of identities helps inspire and influence culture, activism and the consciousness of our society. Intersecting identities lend empathy and an appreciation for all human experiences, as shown in the activism of James Baldwin and Maya Angelou.

To start, some resources you can share with your students might be those that amplify the perspectives of the Black LGBTQ community, Afro-Latinx people and Black Muslims.

Celebrating Black Literature

Because literature is so central to the ways in which children learn about the world, Black History Month is a great time to recommit yourself to studying and teaching works by Black authors who can offer authentic depictions of what it means to be Black in the U.S. and beyond-as opposed to canonical texts that either ignore these perspectives altogether or tell them from the outside looking in. Works by authors like Ralph Ellison, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor can provide more accurate pictures of Black life and perspectives, even in the science fiction worlds of Butler's work.

Students can also delve into the biographies of authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni to explore how their activism influenced their work and vice versa.

This exploration doesn't have to be limited to older literature. Examine the works of contemporary writers such as Elizabeth Acevedo's " Hair," which delves into the politics of Black hair. Eve Ewing's " Electric Arches" provides a magical look into Black girlhood while Ta-Nehisi Coates' body of work -from essays to graphic novels-offers a Black male perspective on topics such as history, politics and fatherhood.

This exploration also shouldn't be limited to U.S.-born writers. Help students connect the common threads among Black people across the globe. The works of writers such as Chinua Achebe, Jamaica Kincaid and Wayétu Moore center Black lives throughout the African diaspora in historical narratives.

There is plenty of history to uncover. Studying these four areas of Black life-liberation, civic engagement, intersectional identities and Black literature-can help move classroom discussions past trauma toward enlightenment and empowerment. This doesn't suggest that the realities of racism and racialized violence aren't worthy of discussion. However, students deserve to learn more accurate, balanced and humanizing accounts of Black experiences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month: Teaching the Complete History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 2019, LFJ (then Teaching Tolerance) rolled out a series of articles challenging teachers to go beyond overused and whitewashed historical narratives when observing Black History Month. In 2020, we expanded that call by recommending that teachers widen their exploration of Black lives while also providing historical context so students will make meaningful connections to current issues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Latinegras

Basic Information on the Afro-Latino Culture

The term Afro-Latino was adopted as a response to the invisibility of Latin American and Caribbean blacks while discussing issues of ethnicity. Below are some useful resources to learn more about Afro-Latinos.

Afro-Latino Book Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
LibGuides: Latinx Heritage Month Resource Guide: Afro-Latinx Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Skip to main content It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

# data[].attributes.headline
National Museum of African American Culture: Oral History Project

# data[].attributes.subject
National Museum of African American Culture: Oral History Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
National Museum of African American History and Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Oral History, or the practice of recording and preserving memories and experiences, enables us to capture the wisdom of our living libraries before they pass away and "burn to the ground." Unlike other methods, oral histories provide a personal account of pivotal events from those who experienced them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The mission of the Museum's Oral History Initiative is to document, preserve, and interpret African American stories through the art and practice of oral history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
La La Anthony Celebrates Afrolatinidad | Black, Latino and Proud | Netflix

# data[].attributes.headline
National Gallery of Art: Harlem Renaissance

# data[].attributes.subject
National Gallery of Art: Harlem Renaissance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How does visual art of the Harlem Renaissance relate to current-day events and issues? How do migration and displacement influence cultural production?
"I believe that the [African American's] advantages and opportunities are greater in Harlem than in any other place in the country, and that Harlem will become the intellectual, the cultural and the financial center for Negroes of the United States and will exert a vital influence upon all Negro peoples." -James Weldon Johnson, "Harlem: The Culture Capital," 1925

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of rich cross-disciplinary artistic and cultural activity among African Americans between the end of World War I (1917) and the onset of the Great Depression and lead up to World War II (the 1930s). Artists associated with the movement asserted pride in black life and identity, a rising consciousness of inequality and discrimination, and interest in the rapidly changing modern world-many experiencing a freedom of expression through the arts for the first time.

While the Harlem Renaissance may be best known for its literary and performing arts-pioneering figures such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington, and Ma Rainey may be familiar-sculptors, painters, and printmakers were key contributors to the first modern Afrocentric cultural movement and formed a black avant-garde in the visual arts.

Aaron Douglas (1899-1979) is known as the "father of African American art." He defined a modern visual language that represented black Americans in a new light. Douglas began his artistic career as a landscape painter but was influenced by modern art movements such as cubism, in which subjects appear fragmented and fractured, and by the graphic arts, which typically use bold colors and stylized forms. He and other artists also looked toward West Africa for inspiration, making personal connections to the stylized masks and sculpture from Benin, Congo, and Senegal, which they viewed as a link to their African heritage. They also turned to the art of antiquity, such as Egyptian sculptural reliefs, of popular interest due to the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb. Printmakers James Lesesne Wells(1902-1993) and Hale Woodruff (1900-1980) also explored a streamlined approach that drew from African and European artistic influences.

Sculptor Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) worked in a realistic style, representing his subjects in a nuanced and sympathetic light in which black Americans had seldom been depicted before. Painter Archibald John Motley Jr. (1891-1981) began his career during the 1920s as one of the first African American graduates of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the early part of his career, he created intimate and direct portraits, such as Portrait of My Grandmother of 1922.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How do visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance explore black identity and political empowerment? How does visual art of the Harlem Renaissance relate to current-day events and issues? How do migration and displacement influence cultural production?

# data[].attributes.headline
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.

# data[].attributes.subject
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.

# data[].attributes.body
Member of the Chicago Black Panther party, was the Chairman of the party in Chicago until his assassination. He believed at 22 that the only way to beat racism was with each others help.

# data[].attributes.body
Theater company working to promote Black voices and dismantle police brutality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
AWARENESS * ACCOUNTABILITY * ADVOCACY * ACTION

"As members of the Black theatre community, we stand together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country. Our voices are united to empower our community through activism in the pursuit of justice and equality for the betterment of all humanity. We will not be silent. We will be seen. We will be heard. We are here. Join us."

This call to action is just the beginning. It was the latest manifestations of police brutality that galvanized Black Theatre United into being. With roots reaching into all 50 of the United States this coalition can harness invaluable political scope and influence. To elevate a cause or to overturn policies that target black people in any one state or community, the group will draw on members with local connections to use their visibility and influence for good in theater and on the national stage.

Passionate and committed, this founding group of actors, directors, musicians, writers, technicians, producers and stage management includes: Lisa Dawn Cave, Darius de Haas, Brandon Victor Dixon, Carin Ford, Capathia Jenkins, LaChanze, Kenny Leon, Norm Lewis, Audra McDonald, Michael McElroy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Wendell Pierce, Billy Porter, Anna Deavere Smith, Allyson Tucker, Tamara Tunie, Lillias White, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Schele Williams and Vanessa Williams.

Black Theatre United (BTU) releases the new song and video, "Stand for Change," in partnership with the Republic Records Action Committee (R2AC) and HunterPark Productions. The incredibly powerful and emotional song is brought to life by 13 acclaimed and award-winning veterans of the Broadway stage. Created as the theme song for BTU, 100% of net proceeds from the sale of the record will support the ongoing social justice efforts of the organization.

Directed by - Michael Cooke || Music & Lyrics by - Phil Galdston, Dave Schroeder || Music Producer - Swagg R'Celious, Phil Galdston || Production Agency - HunterPark Productions || Produced by - Bethanie Schwartz, Liz Curtis, Lauren Tuttman || Music Consultant - Ramon Hervey || Photography by - Richard Corman Line || Producer - Liam Christoffers || Production Manager - Ameer Bilal Kazmi || Cinematography by - Valentina Caniglia || 1st AD - Gary De Jesus || 2nd AD - Amanda Rodirguez || Wardrobe by - Deborah Medeiros || Make Up by - Laramie, Shannon Young, David Kalahiki || Hair by - Daniel Koye, Yancey Edwards, Ro Morgan || G&E - Mastershot Films || Gaffer - Tom Chaves || Key Grip - Amine Mihoubi || Steadicam - Kyle Fasanella || Editor - Zeus Sepulveda || Color & Finishing - Nice Shoes, Jason Farber Colorist: Lenny Mastrandrea, Glenn Weidlich Conform: Artie Dorrington || Sound Design - Ryan Hobler VFX by - Rob Bischoff || BTS Director - Ahmad Simmons || BTS Videographer - Xavi Portillo || BTS Sound - Donny Tam || Locations - NJPAC, Shubert Organization, The Fox Theatre, Hollywood Pantages Theatre || Special Thank You - NYU Steinhardt, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, American Family Insurance Recorded at -Kessler Media || Recorded by - Nicholas Wells || Drums - Quinton Robinson || Bass - Michael Olatuja || Guitar - Bernd Schoenhart || NYU Orchestra - Rindsay Taylor, Brandee Younger

Help us to influence widespread reform and combat systemic racism by donating. Black Theatre United harnesses the power of its collective voice to create substantive change within the theatre industry and throughout our country and we need your partnership.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
AWARENESS * ACCOUNTABILITY * ADVOCACY * ACTION "As members of the Black theatre community, we stand together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Aja Monet 's poetry offers us textures of feeling and radical shifts of meaning that expand our capacity to envision and fight for new worlds. From Brooklyn, USA to Hebron, Occupied Palestine, we take a feminist journey through rage and serenity, through violence and love, through ancient times and imagined futures. This stunning volume reminds us that conflict and contradiction can produce hope and that poetry can orient us toward a future we may not yet realize we want."
-Angela Y. Davis
"We who follow the dynamic poetry of Aja Monet know her to be a wizard of optimism and musicality. My Mother Was A Freedom Fighter reminds us of her wisdom. These poems are made of the black woman genius they praise: "the ghost of women once girls," "mothers who did the best they could," and "daughters of a new day." Monet is a child of old school black power and a daughter of the myriad political traumas of today. Her poetry is indispensable. These poems are fire."
-Terrance Hayes, author of How to Be Drawn
"Thank you, Aja Monet." --Ava Duvernay "Interesting, powerful, at times challenging poetry." --Roxane Gay "A triumphant collection." "Stunning and evocative... fierce and revolutionary." --Publishers Weekly Starred Review "A bold, intimate and powerful collection of poems." --Ms. Magazine "Aja Monet's writing blazes in these breathtakingly fierce poems." "Generations of women, fighters all, live and breath in Monet's poetry... this book is a torch in the dark." --Frontier Poetry "A testament to the brilliance of Black women, from the South Side of Chicago and beyond." --Bitch Magazine "This might be THE single poetry collection I am most excited about this year." "Aja Monet's poetry, like her activism, is one of resistance and reimagining. It resists simplicity, instead opening up new vistas for the reader and new points of entry into perspectives that are largely ignored; she gives voices to the marginalized and forgotten and imagines worlds in which those voices can ring out." --The Los Angeles Review "My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter turns bodies that have been used as weapons into weapons of liberation. We cannot be contained." --Courage Renewal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter is poet Aja Monet's ode to mothers, daughters, and sisters--the tiny gods who fight to change the world. Textured with the sights and sounds of growing up in East New York in the nineties, to school on the South Side of Chicago, all the way to the olive groves of Palestine, these stunning poems tackle racism, sexism, genocide, displacement, heartbreak, and grief, but also love, motherhood, spirituality, and Black joy.

# data[].attributes.body
Sinan Ednan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-Colonial Period*

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ousmane Diakhaté** and Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh*** Ousmane Diakhaté Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh Theatre is one of the cultural elements that best exemplifies Africa. It is at the crossroads of the sacred and the …

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-Colonial Period*

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Messy Girl book. Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. messy girl is a chapbook of poems about depression, heartbreak, femininity, & h...

# data[].attributes.body
Elizabeth Acevedo

# data[].attributes.body
A series of interviews following the Rodney King riots turned into monologues

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"He was trying to get me to come inside
and away from the scene,
but I said, "No."
I said, "We have to stay here
and watch
because this is wrong."

"I said, "Los Angeles burned but Los Angeles is but one city experiencing this kind of hopelessness and despair," I said, "and we need a job program with stipends ..." I said, "These young people really, ya know, are not in anybody's statistics or data. They've been dropped off of everybody's agenda. They live from grandmama to mama to girlfriend." I said, "We now got young people who are twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two years old who have never worked a day of their lives." I said, "These are the young people in our streets and they are angry and they are frustrated."

More quotes...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"He was trying to get me to come insideand away from the scene,but I said, "No."I said, "We have to stay hereand watchbecause this is wrong." "I said, "Los Angeles burned but Los Angeles is but one city experiencing this kind of hopelessness and despair," I said, "and we need a job program with stipends ..."

# data[].attributes.body
Spoken word that is affirming for Black identity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in his His Largeness and Laws."

"Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me. Don't you think it ever crossed my mind to want to know other men? That I wanted to lay up somewhere and forget about my responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You not the only one who's got wants and needs. But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams...and I buried them inside you. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn't take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn't never gonna bloom."

More quotes...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Геллее Салахов Авбакар

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"When the sins of our fathers visit usWe do not have to play host.We can banish them with forgivenessAs God, in his His Largeness and Laws." "Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me.

# data[].attributes.body
Also on Netflix!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Was this question asking for an essay type explanation or do you really not understand what has caused him to feel the way he does? If this is a true Was this question asking for an essay type explanation or do you really not understand what has caused him to feel the way he does? If this is a true question, I recommend a re-read and imagine you are Levee. Try to stand in his shoes. ...more (less)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Was this question asking for an essay type explanation or do you really not understand what has caused him to feel the way he does? If this is a true Was this question asking for an essay type explanation or do you really not understand what has caused him to feel the way he does?

# data[].attributes.body
Guion Bluford, who flew on the eighth space shuttle mission in 1983, was the first Black NASA astronaut to reach orbit

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20613761-citizen

# data[].attributes.headline
Library of Congress -- Harlem Renaissance

# data[].attributes.subject
Library of Congress -- Harlem Renaissance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history from the 1920s and 1930s. During this time, many African-Americans migrated from the South to Northern cities, seeking economic and creative opportunities. Within their communities creative expression became an outlet for writers, musicians, artists, and photographers, with a particular concentration in Harlem, New York. This guide provides access to selected Library of Congress digital and print resources as well as links to external websites on the Harlem Renaissance:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history from the 1920s and 1930s. During this time, many African-Americans migrated from the South to Northern cities, seeking economic and creative opportunities. Within their communities creative expression became an outlet for writers, musicians, artists, and photographers, with a particular concentration in Harlem, New York.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Great Migration

The northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighborhood in the 1880s, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them.

In the early 1900s, a few middle-class Black families from another neighborhood known as Black Bohemia moved to Harlem, and other Black families followed. Some white residents initially fought to keep African Americans out of the area, but failing that many whites eventually fled.

How Did the Harlem Renaissance Start?

Outside factors led to a population boom: From 1910 to 1920, African American populations migrated in large numbers from the South to the North, with prominent figures like W.E.B. Du Bois leading what became known as the Great Migration.

In 1915 and 1916, natural disasters in the south put Black workers and sharecroppers out of work. Additionally, during and after World War I, immigration to the United States fell, and northern recruiters headed south to entice Black workers to their companies.

By 1920, some 300,000 African Americans from the South had moved north, and Harlem was one of the most popular destinations for these families.

Langston Hughes

This considerable population shift resulted in a Black Pride movement with leaders like Du Bois working to ensure that Black Americans got the credit they deserved for cultural areas of life. Two of the earliest breakthroughs were in poetry, with Claude McKay's collection Harlem Shadows in 1922 and Jean Toomer's Cane in 1923. Civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man in 1912, followed b y God's Trombones in 1927, left their mark on the world of fiction.

Novelist and du Bois protege Jessie Redmon Fauset's 1924 novel There Is Confusion explored the idea of Black Americans finding a cultural identity in a white-dominated Manhattan. Fauset was the literary editor of the NAACP magazine The Crisis and developed a magazine for Black children with Du Bois.

Sociologist Charles Spurgeon Johnson, who was integral in shaping the Harlem literary scene, used the debut party for There Is Confusion to organize resources to create Opportunity, the National Urban League magazine he founded and edited, a success that bolstered writers like Langston Hughes.

Hughes was at that party along with other promising Black writers and editors, as well as powerful white New York publishing figures. Soon many writers found their work appearing in mainstream magazines like Harper's.

Zora Neale Hurston

Anthropologist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston courted controversy through her involvement with a publication called FIRE!!

Helmed by white author and Harlem writers' patron Carl Van Vechten and filled with works from prolific Black writers including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Aaron Douglas, the magazine exoticized the lives of Harlem residents. Van Vechten's previous fiction stirred up interest among whites to visit Harlem and take advantage of the culture and nightlife there.

Though Van Vechten's work was condemned by older luminaries like DuBois, it was embraced by Hurston, Hughes and others.

Countee Cullen

Poetry, too, flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullen was 15 when he moved into the Harlem home of Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, the pastor of Harlem's largest congregation, in 1918.

The neighborhood and its culture informed his poetry, and as a college student at New York University, he obtained prizes in a number of poetry contests before going on to Harvard's master's program and publishing his first volume of poetry: Color. He followed it up with Copper Sun and The Ballad of the Brown Girl and went on to write plays as well as children's books.

Cullen received a Guggenheim fellowship for his poetry and married Nina Yolande, the daughter of W.E.B. DuBois. Their wedding was a major social event in Harlem. Cullen's reviews for Opportunity magazine, which ran under the column "Dark Tower," focused on works from the African-American literati and covered some of the biggest names of the age.

Harlem Renaissance Musicians

The music that percolated in and then boomed out of Harlem in the 1920s was jazz, often played at speakeasies offering illegal liquor. Jazz became a great draw for not only Harlem residents but outside white audiences also.

Some of the most celebrated names in American music regularly performed in Harlem- Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller and Cab Calloway, often accompanied by elaborate floor shows. Tap dancers like John Bubbles and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson were also popular.

Cotton Club

With the groundbreaking new music came vibrant nightlife. The Savoy opened in 1927, an integrated ballroom with two bandstands that featured continuous jazz and dancing well past midnight, sometimes in the form of battling bands helmed by Fletcher Henderson, Jimmie Lunceford and King Oliver.

While it was fashionable to frequent Harlem nightlife, entrepreneurs realized that some white people wanted to experience Black culture without having to socialize with African Americans and created clubs to cater to them.

The most successful of these was the Cotton Club, which featured frequent performances by Ellington and Calloway. Some in the community derided the existence of such clubs, while others believed they were a sign that Black culture was moving toward greater acceptance.

Paul Robeson

The cultural boom in Harlem gave Black actors opportunities for stage work that had previously been withheld. Traditionally, if Black actors appeared onstage, it was in a minstrel show musical and rarely in a serious drama with non-stereotypical roles.

At the center of this stage revolution was the versatile Paul Robeson, an actor, singer, writer, activist and more. Robeson first moved to Harlem in 1919 while studying law at Columbia University and continually maintained a social presence in the area, where he was considered an inspirational but approachable figure.

Robeson believed that arts and culture were the best paths forward for Black Americans to overcome racism and make advances in a white-dominated culture.

Josephine Baker

Black musical revues were staples in Harlem, and by the mid-1920s had moved south to Broadway, expanding into the white world. One of the earliest of these was Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle's Shuffle Along, which launched the career of Josephine Baker.

White patron Van Vechten helped bring a more serious lack of stage work to Broadway, though largely the work of white authors. It wasn't until 1929 that a Black-authored play about Black lives, Wallace Thurman and William Rapp's Harlem, played Broadway.

Playwright Willis Richardson offered more serious opportunities for Black actors with several one-act plays written in the 1920s, as well as articles in Opportunity magazine outlining his goals. Stock companies like the Krigwa Players and the Harlem Experimental Theater also gave Black actors serious roles.

Aaron Douglas

The visual arts were never welcoming to Black artists, with art schools, galleries and museums shutting them out. Sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, a protégé of Auguste Rodin, explored African American themes in her work and influenced Du Bois to champion Black visual artists.

The most celebrated Harlem Renaissance artist is Aaron Douglas, often called "the Father of Black American Art," who adapted African techniques to realize paintings and murals, as well as book illustrations.

Sculptor Augusta Savage's 1923 bust of Du Bois garnered considerable attention. She followed that up with small, clay portraits of everyday African Americans, and would later be pivotal to enlisting black artists into the Federal Art Project, a division of the Work Progress Administration (WPA).

James VanDerZee 's photography captured Harlem's daily life, as well as commissioned portraits in his studio that he worked to fill with optimism and separate philosophically from the horrors of the past.

Marcus Garvey

Black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica but moved to Harlem in 1916 and began publishing the influential newspaper Negro World in 1918. His shipping company, Black Star Line, established trade between Africans in America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada and Africa.

Garvey is perhaps best known for founding the Universal Negro Improvement Association, or UNIA, which advocated for "separate but equal" status for persons of African ancestry with the goal of establishing Black states around the world. Garvey was famously at odds with W.E.B. DuBois, who called him "the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America." His outspoken views also made him a target of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Harlem Renaissance Ends

The end of Harlem's creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression. It wavered until Prohibition ended in 1933, which meant white patrons no longer sought out illegal alcohol in uptown clubs.

By 1935, many pivotal Harlem residents had moved on to seek work. They were replaced by the continuous flow of refugees from the South, many requiring public assistance.

The Harlem Race Riot of 1935 broke out following the arrest of a young shoplifter, resulting in three dead, hundreds injured and millions of dollars in property damage. The riot was a death knell for the Harlem Renaissance.

Why Was the Harlem Renaissance Important?

The Harlem Renaissance was a golden age for African American artists, writers and musicians. It gave these artists pride in and control over how the Black experience was represented in American culture and set the stage for the civil rights movement.

Sources

Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. Laban Carrick Hill.
The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930. Steven Watson.
The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary For The Era. Bruce Kellner, Editor.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Harlem Renaissance - Definition, Artists & How It Started | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in NYC as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture.

# data[].attributes.headline
7 Ways the Afro-Latinx Community has Influenced Latin American Culture

# data[].attributes.subject
7 Ways the Afro-Latinx Community has Influenced Latin American Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During Latin America's colonial period around 15 times as many slaves from Africa were taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies than to the U.S.

Presently, there are about 130 million people of African descent in Latin America alone. This is accounting for about a quarter of the total population in the region according to research by Project Ethnicity and Race in Latin America at Princeton University.

Today, the Afro-Latinx community is known to have contributed to the origin of some of the most beloved aspects of Latin American culture by infusing African traditions with Latin American culture. Here are a few of the cultural contributions made by the community that you probably didn't know about:

1. Mofongo (Puerto Rico)

Mofongo is a popular Puerto Rican fried plantain dish with roots in West Africa.

2. Merengue (Dominican Republic)

Merengue, Dominican Republic's famous musical genre, is influenced by African Rhythms.

3. El Cajon (Peru)

Afro-Peruvian slaves recycled boxes that were usually used to store fruit into a musical instrument. Now the cajon contributes to Peru's signature sound in their music.

4. Samba (Brazil)

Brazil's internationally known Samba music has roots in the Afro-Brazilian community.

5. Candombe (Uruguay)

Within Uruguay's annual carnaval, Afro-Uruguayan drum beats fill the streets, especially during "Las Llamadas."

6. Punta (Honduras)

Punta is the traditional dance in Honduras. The word is a Latinization of an ancient West African rhythm called bunda. Belize, Guatemala, and parts of Nicaragua, also practice the dance.

7. Rondón (Nicaragua)

This Afro-Caribbean traditional dish is very popular in Nicaragua's coast; however, it's often served in Latin American countries that share a coast with the Caribbean Sea. It's a soup consisting of seafood with coconut milk.
You Might Also Like These 5 Online Stores Are All About Celebrating Melanin 5 Websites And Apps That Make It Easy To Support Black-Owned Businesses

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Ways The Afro-Latinx Community Has Influenced Latin American Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During Latin America's colonial period around 15 times as many slaves from Africa were taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies than to the U.S. Presently, there are about 130 million people of African descent in Latin America alone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Who is Faith Ringgold?

Faith Ringgold, painter, writer, speaker, mixed media sculptor and performance artist lives and works in Englewood, New Jersey. Ms Ringgold is professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where she taught art from 1987 until 2002. Professor Ringgold is the recipient of more than 75 awards including 22 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Faith Ringgold - If One Can Anyone Can All you Gotta Do Is Try

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Faith Ringgold, painter, writer, speaker, mixed media sculptor and performance artist lives and works in Englewood, New Jersey. Ms Ringgold is professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where she taught art from 1987 until 2002. Professor Ringgold is the recipient of more than 75 awards including 22 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Basquiat's life and work continue to inspire discussion, influence generations of artists and art in all its forms and make history worldwide. "Jean-Michel lived like a flame. He burned really bright. Then the fire went out. But the embers are still hot" - Fred Braithwaite

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. From Harriet

# data[].attributes.headline
Our Latinidad Includes our Black Community

# data[].attributes.subject
Our Latinidad Includes our Black Community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Over the last couple of weeks, I've had many conversations with our Afro-Latino and Black Latinx community members, expressing their pain around the reality of racism in the Hispanic/Latino community. As mentioned in a previous statement, HACE stands in solidarity with our Black community. We must recognize this comradeship includes our Afro-Latino and Black Latinx communities. In 2016, a quarter of U.S. Hispanics identified as Afro-Latinos, according to the Pew Research Center.

The U.S. Hispanic/Latino population is diverse. Within the U.S. Hispanic/Latino community, some of us identify as Latinx, Latino, Hispanic, Tejano, Nuyorican, Afro-Cuban, Mexican-American, Quisqueyano, Chicana, among many other terms. We represent over 27 countries of origin, with individual preferences on how we self-identify. Some of us speak Spanish, some of us are immigrants, etc., and this intricacy is best understood as intersectionality. Intersectionality is the way all of our multiple identities or diversity dimensions intersect. The consideration of intersectionality allows for awareness in not considering groups singularly but in various classes and as individuals.

In 2019, HACE's national theme, Beyond Latinidad: Identity, Intersectionality, Inclusivity, shed light on this diversity of Latinidad. And a resounding issue arose: We have failed to address the anti-blackness that exists in our own Hispanic/Latino community.

As Josy Laza Gallagher, HACE National Board Member and Global Inclusion Consultant, stated in her blog, You Don't Look Latinain February 2019, "As a black Latina, I struggled with a constant state of acceptance from both groups.... You speak Spanish but may not be fully accepted in the Hispanic community. You are brown but you speak Spanish and may not be fully accepted in the African-American community. Skin color, facial features, and hair texture constantly come up during conversations within the Latino community. You are pretty if you have good hair (straight and long) instead of bad hair (tight curls, kinky), thin lips vs thick lips, straight nose vs wide nose. Lighter and brighter is constantly being reinforced in the Latino community sometimes through sayings we heard growing up: 'To improve our race, you should marry someone lighter than you,' 'Stay out of the sun or you'll become black like tar.'" Learn more about this and its historical context here. Josy proudly identifies as a Cuban-American, Black Latina.

These are a few examples of how within our own intersectional identities, we may experience colorism or marginalization within our own communities, starting, at times, in our nuclear families, where White or White-presenting Latinos oppress Black Latinos. Members of dominant social groups privileged by birth or acquisition must become aware of knowingly or unknow ingly exploiting and reaping unfair advantage over members of the "minority" groups, those who are discriminated against, disenfranchised, abused, and exploited by an oppressor and oppressor's systems and/or institutions. As stated by Gentefied's Julissa Calderon, "We need to unlearn all of the problematic things we have been taught for so long...We grew up feeling negative feelings not just toward other Black people, but ultimately, ourselves." Of the quarter of Hispanics that identify as Afro-Latino, only 18 percent identify as Black.

Part of fighting racism in the workplace and society as a whole begins at home, within our very own communities and neighborhoods. We must step out of our comfort zone, come to terms with our own biases, and have courageous conversations with one another.

Take action by:

1. Sharing your own stories of having experienced or witnessed anti-Blackness/racism,

2. Educating yourself by accessing resources and articles that shed light on the historical context and solutions for addressing racism and micro-aggressions, and;

3. Speaking up when you witness racist behavior.

HACE will host a Townhall for all HACE program alumni and current participants to 1) Share their experiences from both White Latino and Black Latino perspectives, 2) Learn ways to respond to micro-aggressions and understand White privilege, and 3) Identify ways to become a better ally.
What will you commit to doing? And as we celebrate Juneteenth, may we reflect on that we are not free until we are free of racism and injustice...for our #BlackLivesMatter, for our #Dreamers, for our #LGBTQ community.
May we each take action towards fully realizing Our Collective Power and build a more just and inclusive society. It starts with each of us and collectively, we have the power to make a difference!

Published By

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Our Latinidad Includes our Black Community: The Latinx Role in Addressing Racism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Over the last couple of weeks, I've had many conversations with our Afro-Latino and Black Latinx community members, expressing their pain around the reality of racism in the Hispanic/Latino community. As mentioned in a previous statement, HACE stands in solidarity with our Black community.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Oh myyyy... Why did I wait too long and let other books occupy me and procrastinate to have my special meeting with those amazing characters!

I'm telling you my friends defining this book as the sweetest, loveliest, coziest read is not enough!

I fell hard for this book because of many reasons which are:

One of the most inspirational, powerful MC:

There are lots of things to tell about Liz. She truly knows how challenging and hard to be a young black and queer girl in small town Indiana and how it...more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Nenia ✨️ Socially Awkward Trash Panda ✨️ Campbell

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oh myyyy... Why did I wait too long and let other books occupy me and procrastinate to have my special meeting with those amazing characters! I'm telling you my friends defining this book as the sweetest, loveliest, coziest read is not enough!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read 20.6k reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this aston...

# data[].attributes.body
Spoken word poem

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
WATCH: Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb'