Harlem Renaissance...

Published: February 20 2008 on Helium
 

The Harlem Renaissance, of the 1920's to 1930's in the U.S., celebrated the fact that Harlem existed. Harlem symbolized a concept: the exciting birth of a black cultural space, inspiring other black artists to join. Harlem was, in reality, a city within a city; spiritually, it was a black world within a white world. It was a cultural and psychological oasis. It was an inspiring space, particularly for writers. The Harlem Renaissance symbolized a concept too. It was like a collective consciousness called Harlem, producing a bank of writing and a community of black writers well beyond Harlem.

After years of bondage as slaves, followed by the uncertain times of Civil War, the real Harlem neighborhood evolved as a place in New York City where black people could come together as a community in their own right and say, "We exist. We are proud to exist. We have an identity now. We can be ourselves, free to live, be educated and speak freely". Literature, art, theatre, dance and music (especially jazz) were a means of expressing that newly shaping identity; "a new era of literary and political awareness began: the celebration of blackness. Authors of the Harlem Renaissance broke with earlier ethnic writers whose work mimicked white standards." www.artandculture.com Black writings symbolized a pride in blackness, unbeholden to and unconditioned by white traditions.

The Harlem Renaissance was fostered by The Negro Literary Movement which emerged earlier in the 20th century. This was a time when there was a notable outpouring of novels by black women, such as Pauline Hopkins. Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and essayists W.E.B. Du Bois and Anna Julia Cooper were legends in their own lifetimes. But the Harlem Renaissance went further. It grounded the movement, offering a sanctuary, a place to for all black artists to be in the company of kindred spirits. And most artists were writers.

Laban Carrick Hill, (in "Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance") mainly credits the "come to Harlem" phenomena to the impassioned activities of historian and socialist, W. E. B. Du Bois.
"The story of the Harlem Renaissance is also the story of Du Bois's life. He really set the stage and brought out the issues of what African American's should expect from American society. He was instrumental in bringing people to Harlem. He was instrumental in the founding of the N double ACP. He was instrumental in supporting people who came to Harlem, and getting their work and music published. He was at the core of everything that happened in Harlem." www.voanews.com Du Bois directed the publicity and research of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1910 to 1934 and was the editor of "Crisis", its monthly magazine.

Du Bois was part of a group of elite, well-educated black professionals, who collectively contributed chapters in a book called "The Negro Problem," published in 1903. They had a common philosophy that blacks would best secure political, social and economic respect through the arts and letters. Chapter 2 was Du Bois' chapter entitled "The Talented Tenth". The title referred to the percentage of black people who left (or could/should leave) a social or literary mark on the world.

A number of women were notable activists, stirring a Harlem creative spirit. Jessie Fauset hosted evening gatherings for black intellectuals in Harlem and arranged for the first publication of poetry by black poet, Langston Hughes. Fauset also led by example. She was literary editor for "Crisis" and wrote novels. Regina Anderson organized events in the Harlem public library, where she was an assistant librarian.

However, it was Alain Locke's, "The New Negro", published in 1925, which drew public attention to an evolving, very active Harlem Renaissance. It was an anthology of rising black writers, (particularly poets), who were centered in New York's Harlem.

These are just a sample of the community "organizers". Harlem was the hub, the heart, the pulse of the broader black writing community. But the real substance of the Harlem writing community was the "members" themselves. You did not have to live in Harlem to be part of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance, with its crowd of educated black professionals, inspired a whole new community of black writers with exciting, fresh ideas and a sense of viable identity.

Claude McKay was a prominent inspiration for black writers. He was a Jamaican born grandson of a West African slave. He migrated to the States in 1912; but he continued roaming the world, and was not even a U.S. citizen till 1940. Harlem seemed to be more his spiritual home rather than his actual home. Ballads, sonnets, stories, novels, memoirs and political commentary poured from his pen. His "Harlem Shadows" (1922), is often credited with launching the Harlem Renaissance while "Home to Harlem" (1928), a challenging novel, is often valued as the first best-selling novel by a black man. In his poem "America" he tossed out the confronting words, "I love this cultured hell which tests my youth." Did he refer to America or Harlem? Or both?

"No other writer is as closely linked to the invention of 20th century black literatures across the Atlantic world, from Harlem, to the islands of the English-speaking Caribbean, to Francophone Africa and its New World relations," Maxwell wrote in his introduction to "The Complete Poems" of Claude McKay (University of Illinois Press).

The homey vernacular in McKay's writing inspired Harlem Renaissance writers such as James Weldon, Johnson, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. (In many ways, these three writers represent the diversity of writing presented in the Harlem Renaissance). McKay was "the light" inspiring the break from Victorian, white writing traditions.

James Weldon Johnson's added his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance with three outstanding anthologies: "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922), "The Book of American Negro Spirituals" (1925), and "The Second Book of Negro Spirituals" (1926). His work inspired others to be part of collections of black writing. But he did publish his own poetry in 1927 with "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse".

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) "visited" Harlem for a period of time during the Harlem Renaissance, but did not choose to live in Harlem till 1942. He was a very "local" writer. He wrote about what he knew, not what he was told to know. "Through his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and children's books, he promoted equality, condemned racism and injustice, and celebrated African American culture, humor, and spirituality." www.americaslibrary.gov.com Interestingly, he found inspiration for the form of his poetry in the free verse of white poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967).

Zora Neale Hurston (1891?-1960) offered a different angle to the Harlem Renaissance community of black writers. She combined literature and anthropology. Her four novels and two books of folklore are invaluable insights into Afro-American oral traditions. For her, Harlem was a spiritual concept that could be transposed/mirrored in reality elsewhere. Her "elsewhere" was Eatonville, Florida. "At age three her family moved to Eatonville, Fla., the first incorporated black community in America, of which her father would become mayor. In her writings she would glorify Eatonville as a utopia where black Americans could live independent of the prejudices of white society." http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/hurs-zor.htm

The Harlem Renaissance was closed by the sharp economic downturns of the Great Depression. But many believe it closed in 1934 with the death of A'Lelia Walker, often regarded as the energetic patron of the Harlem Renaissance. "A'Lelia Walker used part of her inheritance to fuel her interest in Harlem's cultural life. She renovated her brownstone on 136th Street, filled it with posh furniture, and invited black and white artists, writers, patrons, scholars, bohemians, and Harlem high society to dance, drink, and converse." www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes numbered among her famous guests. One wall of a room, called the Dark Tower Room, was adorned with Langston Hughes' poem "Weary Blues".

But the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance lives on. Aaron Douglas created two murals for the 125th Street library. The murals are a living history, tracing Afro-American life from African roots to Harlem Jazz Age. He wrote his thoughts in art. They are on public view to all who visit there.

And there is now a national community of black artists, who often draw on the "bank of Harlem" for inspiration. Another spurt of black writing, fired with the a need for civil rights, occurred in post World War II era; it reflected the fresh energy of the Harlem Renaissance. Writers such as James Baldwin with "Go Tell it on the Mountain" continued the pride, determination and sense of creative black identity born in the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem community did not end. It is still alive and growing.

And over the 20th century, Harlem became a distinguished place of pilgrimage for luminaries such as Carl Jung, Max Weber, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and even Fidel Castro. Renowned black writer Langston Hughes commented, "Harlem was like a great magnet for the Negro intellectual, pulling him from everywhere. Once in New York, he had to live in Harlem." In short, "Harlem was not so much a place as a state of mind, the cultural metaphor for black America itself." www.inva.org.com Many believe Harlem is the "heart of darkness" of the U.S.

The Harlem Renaissance continues to spread inspiration to a community of black writers. But it also awakens the inspiration of all creative spirits, black or white. Laban Hill quotes writer Ralph Ellison as saying, "whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black." www.voanews.com In the literary world, black writers spurred on by the Harlem Renaissance, are now vital threads in the fabric of being American.

Sources

www.news.uiuc.edu.com

www.voanews.com

www.inva.org.com

www.womenshistory.about.com

Emily Dickinson...

Published: August 1 2007 on Helium
 



"The soul has moments of Escape
When bursting all the doors
She dances like a Bomb, abroad,
And swings upon the Hours,"
With just a brush of metaphor, simile or personification, Emily Dickinson, born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, can create a sense of divine reality, etched with a hint of a smile. There is a wholesome liveliness in the words that is almost magnetic.

For some critics, the only way to find Emily Dickinson is to experience her poetry. Her inner life IS her life. Others have attempted to find another persona behind the poetic page, but the complete, "outer" reality of that other person tends to be a mystery.

Standard facts include some understanding of the community of Amherst, where Emily was born. Features of 19th century Amherst included a railroad and Amherst College, founded by Emily's grandfather, Samuel Dickinson and then her father became treasurer of the college. Of further interest, Amherst was a hub of Puritanism. It has been recorded that by the latter 19th century, Amherst had more ministers per capita than elsewhere in the U.S.

Some biographers claim the Puritanical nature of the community, its "separateness" and the high profile of her family in the community may have driven Emily to the life of a recluse. But her poetry has the answer:
How happy is the little Stone
That rambles in the Road alone,"
The lilt of the lines suggests that Emily, perhaps, was simply happy in her own company.

It is known that her father Edward was a successful lawyer and her mother lived out her final years as an invalid. Austin was Emily's older brother and Lavinia was her younger sister. These are just basic facts. Many biographers have tried to find some family relationships in Emily's world, but most comments are little more than speculation. Emily's home was on the road to the Amherst cemetery. She could have had the opportunity to view many a funeral procession. This may explain the many threads of Death in her poetry.

Information on Emily's childhood is almost non existant. An image of a young 10 year old, shy, and often seen wearing or carrying some flowers, is about all we have. It appears she received formal education at Amherst College and then spent about a year at Mount Holyoke Seminary for Girls. The brevity of her stay here is explained by homesickness. Or was she really baulking at "regimented" knowledge and needed the space of the world of her soul?

It is at this point, when Emily was in her 20's, speculation lapses further into the mists of mystery. She attempted to publish a few poems, but met rejection. She stayed in the family home, for the rest of her life. It seems impossible. There must be more. Many biographers have tried to find more. But there is just the echo of rumour and possibility. Some have tried to find romantic links, even with her sister in law Susan. Some depict her receiving friends to the house and conversing behind a slightly ajar door. Strange behavior! But is it true?

One last fact in her life relates to death. Emily died of Bright's Disease in 1886, 12 years after her father's death and just 6 years after her mother died. And after her death, her sister Lavinia found her poems, about 1700 of them, without order, title or date. They were first published in 1890. The facts of death in her life seem cold. But her poetic lines on death say so much more.
"This World is not Conclusion
A Species stands beyond-
Invisible, as Music-
But positive, as Sound,"


Somehow, it seems Emily did not feel the events in her life were what she was all about. They were not what she wanted for the public memory. She left her poetry, almost like some treasure, waiting for anyone to find the wealth they needed in her "penned" voice. Emily represented a unique woman leading her own revolution for the right to be anyone, anywhere, even in a Puritanical world.
Her poetry explains:
"The Soul selects her own Society-
Then shuts the Door-"



Sources
Poetry quotes from "A Choice of Emily Dickinson's Verse" ed. Ted Hughes. Faber & Faber. 1968.
www.neuroticpoets.com
www.academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu

Folk Music and the Civil Rights Movement...

Published: July 21 2007 on Helium



The traditional folk singer was a traveller, sharing old, timeless stories in music. His companion was often the guitar, strumming the murmurings of a wistful soul. With the advent of the American Civil Rights Movement, from 1954-1968, (with the death of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act is passed), the folksinger voiced the heartaches, the questions, the pleas of minority groups. The folksinger became the musical champion of the oppressed; the "mascot" of the civil rights movement.

1954 marked the time when the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation in schools as illegal. However, not till the 1960's was there a vibrant movement to halt discrimination in all social sectors. In 1962, Bob Dylan released "Blowin' in the Wind". His song symbolized the pain of those who waited for answers to racial, cultural and political injustice.
"How many years must some people exist,
Before they're allowed to be free?"
The small voices were rising against the oppressors. And they were doing it in folk music.

Some emerging folk songs were derived from existing, traditional ones. "We shall Overcome" was derived from Charles Tindley's gospel song "I'll Overcome Some Day" (1900). Pete Seegar added new lines including "black and white together". Ray Charles' "Hit the Road Jack" was re-titled "Get Your Rights, Jack".

After "Bloody Sunday" of 1965, when police attacked marchers in Alabama, Julius Lester formerly offered his voice as the dialogue for, and the tangible expression of, the civil rights movement. He left Nashville in the South for New York, so he could get "a taste of freedom". He believed that discrimination was rampant in both North and South. The South involved blatant segregation in all forms of life, but he believed that segregation was better hidden in the North. Economically, Blacks were oppressed, so were forced to live in ghettos. Economics forced them to be segregated.

And so Lester was one of many folk singers, daring to sing out "freedom" songs, daring to suggest that white society was guilty of biased, dictatorial, moral and social codes.

While Martin Luther King uttered the political injustice of white law, Joan Baez sang Afro-American spiritual folk sings of freedom. Her experience with discrimination for her Mexican heritage drew her towards the civil rights movement.

Pete Seegar was both a folk singer and a political activist.
"If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening ... all over this land,
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between all of my brothers and my sisters
All over this land."
For Pete Seegar, there was no "soft" message. His words in music had all the power of an inflamed, political speech. Peter, Paul and Mary performed this song when Martin Luther King presented his famous "I have a Dream" speech in 1963.

Finally, there was Odetta, herself a Black American, singing out her Afro-American heritage. In 1961, Martin Luther Ling declared her the Queen of American folk music. Perhaps her most renowned song would have to be:
"This little light o' mine
I'm gonna let it shine".

The civil rights movement became a platform for folk singers. Interestingly, while the civil rights movement itself highlighted the huge divide between blacks and whites, the folk music, the voice of the movement, the mascot, quietly drew blacks and whites together in a bid for universal freedom. In the words of Julius Lester,
"Folk was also attractive because it was a racially integrated scene," says Lester. "It was still a very innocent time for the civil rights movement, a time when young blacks and whites 'discovered' each other without a sense of self-consciousness."

Folk music gave political hope that there would indeed be "a new world in the morning".



Sources
www.socialistreview.org.uk
www.afroamhistory.about.com
www.folkmusic.about.com

Underground Railroad's Role in Slavery's End...

Published: February 16, 2008 on Helium

The role of the Underground Railroad (UGRR) in terminating slavery in the U.S. is comparable to the impact of a full scale, long running drama production. Imagine a cast of thousands, an orchestra with a rotating musical score, and a stage crew with names that didn't always make the drama programme. Take this drama production on the road; many roads. But then imagine this amazing production is never advertised. It's not on billboards, it's not in bright lights, but you may find a hint of something happening in a church newsletter or from the occasional rebel, drawing a curious crowd round a soap box. Eventually, such a drama, secretive or not, touches the souls of everyone and even can be instrumental in overturning old slave laws.

The Underground Railroad, (or the Liberty Line, or Freedom Line), operated sporadically as early as the 1500s (when the first Africans were brought to the New World Spanish colonies), and gathered momentum about 1800 with Gabriel's Rebellion in Virginia. But it reached a peak of high traffic from 1831, spanning 29 states, when a Virginian enslaved preacher, Nat Turner, and 70 followers went on a rampage, murdering 50 people and destroying property over a 24-hour period. The Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 added more complications. It was illegal to keep freed slaves in the northern U.S. By 1860, the U.S. was facing a Civil War (with slavery a large cause of tension).

The Railroad was a network of humanitarians and rescuers (Indians, whites, but mainly runaway or free blacks) intent on fighting social injustices. They helped black slaves from the South find freedom in the North, and then further north across the border into Canada. Some slaves took the Underground south to Texas, Florida and the Caribbean. "It is believed that as many as 100,000 enslaved persons may have escaped in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War, using this network of aid and assistance." www.u-s-history.com The operation was illegal, but continued to the advent of the Civil War, and not politically satisfied until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865, declaring, "[N]either slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist within the United States." www.history.com

Slavery may have been a grim side of U.S. history. But in the midst of that darkness emerged some heroic, memorable moments. It was as if a bad light on some parts of humanity had the role of turning a good light on others.

There are so many stories attached to this Railroad; many have travelled through oral traditions before being recorded. But here are some, representing the many roles the Underground Railway played in bringing slavery to an end in the United States.

1. The Underground Railroad Network gave freedom to those who desperately wanted to escape a life of bondage, but the thousands who used its services highlighted to the world just how poor and even cruel conditions were for black slaves. Without the existence of the Railroad, many would have perished with their stories unknown. The U.S. drama was now being played on a stage for the world to see.

2. The role of individuals associated with the Railroad
So many amazing people gave their life to freeing slaves. They came from all backgrounds, including shopkeepers, farmers, ministers and runaway slaves.

One amazing woman, in the latter category, kept returning to the South to help free more than 300 slaves. Her name was Harriet Tubman. And William Lloyd Garrison daringly published the abolitionist newspaper "Liberator" in 1831. Even though so many blacks were illiterate, to even know that someone supported their cause so publicly must have inspired many to keep fighting for freedom via the Railroad.

And "In 1838, the Underground Railroad became formally organized with black abolitionist Robert Purvis at the helm." www.u-s-history.com His tour of England in 1834 had assured that the slavery situation in the U.S. attracted world attention and world disdain. His tour involved presenting speeches and raising funds for the anti-slavery cause. He was then able to orchestrate the Railroad without too much formal political opposition. Through Robert Purvis' efforts, a short future for slavery in the U.S. was assured.

3. The role of the Seminoles
The Seminoles were a group of native Americans living in Florida who refused to align with the U.S. So, by default, runaway slaves from the South found no hostility with the Seminoles. The Seminoles even helped the runaways build houses and plant crops. Even though these times of the Underground Railroad were fractured with several Seminole Wars with the U.S., slaves were attracted to Florida as preferable to bondage in the South. The Railroad, leading here, became a key voice to the world, highlighting further the deplorable conditions of U.S. slaves to world eyes and ears.

4. The role of religious groups
A number of religious groups supported the freedom of slaves at the peak of the Underground Railroad, but the Quakers in particular had a long history of anti-slavery. As early as 1786, Quakers were using their own homes (with hidden staircases and rooms) to help runaway slaves escape. Runaways were moved along from one Quaker house to the next.

Many believe this was the real beginning of the Underground Railroad. The heart of the Quaker community was in Pennsylvania. And it was here that many slaves running from the Maryland plantations were helped on their journey further north to Philadelphia, Lancaster County or New Jersey.

Interestingly, all Quakers denounced slavery, but not all supported the notion of the Underground Railroad. Directly breaking the law threatened the spirit of the Quaker community, even though most agreed that slavery was immoral. Many wrestled with this anomaly. But it was the sacrifice of so many discordant faiths, banding together in the Underground project, that gave the Underground a spiritual strength in numbers.

5. The role of key cities such as Rochester, New York
Many cities had a role to play in the Underground Railroad. Even cities in the south, such as Baltimore, quietly absorbed black runaways with free. But maintaining anonymity in such a hot spot was quite difficult, especially when the runaways sought work to survive. But Rochester, in the far north, was literally the last city in the U.S. before freedom was tasted for real. It had a leading role to play in the Underground movement.

Communities here openly banded together to raise funds for the Underground. Bazaars and dinners were conducted to raise funds; clothing and furniture were donated. And, of course, some simply made large and small donations of money. Rochester helped keep the dream of freedom alive for runaways. But, in some ways, Rochester (and other cities like her) symbolized far more. They gave hope that white and black people respected each other's identity. There was a hope that equality could be possible. Slavery had to end!

6. The role of music
Many songs are associated with the Underground Railroad. But interestingly, they were not so much about the Railroad as they were the Railroad. Songs became a secret code of communication. For example, many of these slave songs talked about "going home" or "being bound for the land of Canaan."

If you just heard the song, you might think the people were singing about dying and going to heaven. However, the people who sang were very clever. They were actually singing about going north to Canada and freedom." Harriet Tubman used the song "Wade in the Water" to warn runaways that slavecatchers were close and they should get off a main trail. www.pathways.thinkport.org So, the songs were a means of warning and inspiring the spirit to keep going.

In summary, the Underground Railroad's role in bringing slavery in the U.S. to an end was huge. It represented social, cultural and spiritual players in the drama of slavery and anti-slavery. Running from slavery was a dangerous business, best done furtively in the dark of night or in holiday periods. But the Underground Railroad ensured the reasons for running were seen, world-wide, in the light of day.

Unity in the face of adversity!
Humanity at its best when confronted with the worst!
Heroes like Robert Purvis ensured the world watched.
And music bound the runaways together in a bond of hope.
Slavery had to end!



Sources
www.history.com
www.slaveryinamerica.org
www.nps.gov
www.mdoe.org