This piece is in 4/4, in the key of C, and has a characteristic swing, becoming one of the main examples of this technique. It is a fun, energetic song, greatly driven by the Ellington Orchestra's playing and the swing.

It was written by Billy Strayhorn for Ellington, after raised radio broadcast licensing fees made it so that the Ellington Orchestra wasn't able to play its signature song (at that time it was "Sepia Panorama")

The A train is one of the main subway lines running through New York City, and is an important transportation method for Harlem.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

This poem that was written by Langston Hughes he decided on the name I,Too, because he was tired of being discriminated against. So his title is referring to being the same as every else and how he could represent America just like anyone else. he still holds hope in that they will do the right thing and not make him have to be ashamed about being a different skin color. he wants all the people who shamed him for being different to be ashamed of there actions as he is just lie them.

Langston Hughes wrote I, Too as a response to Walt Whitman’s poem I Hear America Singing, which talks about America as one big, happy nation. Hughes points out that Black people have been left out of that picture and says, "We are part of America too!" His poem is a strong reminder that Black voices and experiences matter and that the fight for equality is important.

Strayhorn was born in 1915 in Dayton, Ohio. He moved to Harlem in 1939.

The piece was composed by Strayhorn when Ellington hired him and had him move to Harlem. He mailed Strayhorn directions and the first thing it said was to take the "A" train, referring to the New York City subway line.

This piece is full of energy and excitement, hope and opportunity, about not only working with Duke Ellington, but also moving to Harlem. As was common during this period, the song was written for a full jazz orchestra. The trumpets are light and staccato, while the saxophones are woody, full, and legato. The trumpets and sax trade the melody with the low register wind instruments such as the trombones creating a piece with movement, direction, and excitement.

Strayhorn was of the generation after the first wave of the Great Migration and thus was moving to the big city not to flee the lynch mob, but to chase the cultural explosion of the Harlem Renaissance.

Hughes wrote Harlem in 1951 as part of a book length sequence that was intended to be read as a single poem. It was written in the aftermath of the 1935 and 1943 Harlem riots that were a direct response to the problems the black community was facing at the time.

It explores the lives of the black community in Harlem. And how the dreams of racial equality that Harlem residents had are being postponed and asks the question for what the future for African American residents will be. "What happens to a dream deferred?"

In the song it shows off Armstrong's special sound by combining jazz with his warm singing, and the soft background music supports his trumpet and voice, making the song feel emotional. In this song, you can hear Trumpet, piano, strings, woodwinds, and percussion, these are all used to create a smooth and emotional feeling.

Louis Armstrong was an important jazz musician who showed the strength and creativity of African Americans during a hard time with social problems and racism. While "Moon River" isn't a protest song, it talks about hope and dreams, which are important for the African American experience. The song shows how black artists use music to share their stories in a beautiful way and express who they are. Armstrong became famous during the Great Migration when many African Americans moved from the rural South to cities like Harlem to find better lives. "Moon River" reflects the hopes and dreams of these people and their search for a place to belong during that time.

This song is more than just a nice song, it shows the bigger story of African Americans, including their dreams, struggles, and important contributions during a key time in American history.

This poem (Harlem By Langston Hughes) is a very short but deep and insightful piece that showcases the struggles of Black Americans specifically during the Harlem Renaissance and other events. He uses a lot of metaphors to describe the scenery and situation he is in with all the other Black Americans. I noticed that Hughes provides us with vivd imagery by comparing a deferred dream to a dried up raisin, a festering store, rotten meat, and more. Throughout the poem he also tends to ask questions instead of statements which creates tension because the answers weren't very easy to find during the Harlem Renaissance.

Shocked by the racism and segregation he faced in the south, and inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois's book The Souls of Black Folk, he moved to Harlem in 1914 to become a poet.

He became a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance through his poetry reflecting on racial discrimination, hope, and the right for self-determination of all people, as well as the co-editor of the influential Harlem art and political magazine, The Liberator.

It was in The Liberator where he would publish one of his most famous poems, "If We Must Die," in reaction to the "Red Summer" of 1919, a period of extreme racial violence inflicted upon Black communities across the country.

In "If We Must Die," McKay encourages the Black community never to submit to the racial violence, to always fight back, to fearlessly assert their humanity in the face of death. "If we must die," he intones, "let it not be like hogs/Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot...O let us nobly die,/so that our noble may not be shed/in vain"(1-7). He also calls for a unified movement against racism and segregation. "O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!/Though far outnumbered let us show us brave/and for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!"(9-11).

At the time in which this poem was written, there were only the first seeds of a civil rights movements, and as the Black community was being overwhelmed with violence with the goal of splintering the communities resources and suppressing any organizing against segregation. Claude McKay urges his community to not give up out of fear or weariness - to unite in the face of death and even if the only outcome is death, to die as human beings, not give in to the animal image which white people try so hard to instill in the psyche of Black people.

Hughs was a very prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, through publishing poems, novels, and essays to contribute to the Harlem Renaissance.

In this poem, Hughs draws a connection to the way that American Society treats Black people and the Black man who is shewed away when company arrives through poetic devices. He draws the connection by showing that it's a side of America that Society wants to hide, but that he too is America whether they hide it or not.

This painting shows several silhouettes of people working in the background doing physical labor with different tool. As well as buildings and a pharol head looking down. Along with that the added color of light pink,purple, and red which represents hard labor and the sense of struggle and working through the struggle by community helping each other. On top of that the painting also captures the intellectual, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem through the representation of the people in the background doing hard labor.

The most important details of this painting are the silhouettes of people which represents every single person who works hard and the pharol head at the top represents those who are in charge. The main themes of the painting are self-determination and cultural pride that was vital to the Renaissance.

This work will helps us better understand black life during this era by showing a depiction of how they were able to persevere through the struggles and hard work through community. On top of that it shows cultural pride in the work they are doing as well as self determination depicted through the silhouettes of the people doing hard labor.

This was the first time that I listened to this song and based off of my first time I could tell that this piece was filled with pain and emotion. The way Holiday sang the song was powerful and she was able to convey a lot of emotion due to the slow and emphasis on certain words.

Strange Fruit is a protest song depicting the brutality and lynching of Black People. She uses the metaphor of "Strange Fruit" to show the violence and mistreatment towards Black people. As one of her lyrics say, "Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck". This is because the lynched bodies of Black people were often left in the open. This song helps us understand the black experience more because of how it exposes us to the brutality.

This poem begins with the speaker saying, "I've known rivers," and continues by explaining the importance of rivers in different times of history. The artist mentions the Nile, Euphrates, Congo, and Mississippi rivers. This symbolizes the long history that African Americans have had that connects them to the world. He uses imagery of rivers as well as symbolism to touch on many themes such as pride of heritage and resilience. Hughs uses these rivers to show how the history of African Americans is not defined just by their slavery but also their deeper connection to there own cultural heritage.

In addition, this poem also comments on the current social and political climate at the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was very inclined at the idea of having racial pride and asserting respect for African Americans in the form of humanity. This work shows how the Harlem Renaissance was not just an artistic movement, but it was also a cultural reclamation of black identity. African Americans being able to create their own narrative of who they were, as well as moving away from the stereotypes given to them by white society. Hughes was a leading figure in this very movement, and he used his poetry to reflect the importance of African heritage In doing so, he challenged how white Americans viewed Black Americans.