In the early 1900s, particularly in the 20s and early 30s, African American literature, art, music, and dance began to flourish in Harlem, a section of New York City. Variously known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end ...

Elizabeth Catlett is a famous African American artist. Catlett was born in 1919 in Washington D.C. Her grandparents were former slaves. Catlett's grandparents were freed from slavery, and after they were freed they decided that they wanted better lives for their children. Catlett created artwork...

"Whose Art Is It?," an essay by Jane Kramer, talks about John Ahearn, an artist living in the South Bronx. Kramer describes John as a white male living in a predominantly African American and Hispanic community. His artworks sparked a great controversy not only in the town but the entire city of N...

Langston Hughes is often considered a voice of the African-American people and a prime example of the magnificence of the Harlem Renaissance. His writing does embody these titles, but the concept of Langston Hughes that portrays a black man's rise to poetic greatness from the depths of poverty and ...

To Kill a Mockingbird (1965) is a character-driven story about moral courage. Atticus Finch is an attorney in Makem, Alabama in the 1930s, called up to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. Because he has integrity he has to truly defend the man, which goes against what most of the p...

Faith Ringgold's "God Bless America" is an expression of the emotional and physical torment of black Americans prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement. This piece of art movement had a lot of cultural ties to the population during the 1960's that also can be applied today in the year...

The Black slaves of colonial America brought their own culture from Africa to the new land. Despite their persecution, the "slave culture" has contributed greatly to the development of America's own music, dance, art, and clothing. Music It is understandable that when Africans were torn from their h...

The Harlem Renaissance The neighborhood of Harlem was the place to be in the 20's. It was the jazz age and in New York City, Harlem was the site of an explosion of African-American literature, art, music, and culture. This would become known as the "Harlem Renaissance" or "The New Negro ...

Affirmative Action Under Attack by Initiative 200? Affirmative action is under heavy attack by initiative 200, and it should not be. It should not be under fire because it serves as an act of restitution for the discrimination and hurt that we have caused African-Americans and other minorities th...

Affirmative Action Under Attack by Initiative 200? Affirmative action is under heavy attack by initiative 200, and it should not be. It should not be under fire because it serves as an act of restitution for the discrimination and hurt that we have caused African-Americans and other minorities th...

August Wilson's play, "The Piano Lesson", has nothing to do with piano lessons. The lesson learned in this play is one of African American history. Wilson gives his audience a profound look at the past and how it influences the present. The basic theme of the play is universal for both blacks an...

During my visit to the University Museum of Texas Southern, I encountered on many interesting quilts containing lots of history of our culture. It surprised me that the quality of the quilts was so good, it showed how durable the quilts have been after so many years. It was amazing in how the qui...

It is no mystery to modern man that African-Americans have long been subjected to the prejudice of the contemptuous white man. Let's face it: the roots of racism can be traced back to the infancy of a nation which boldly claims "liberty and justice for all." Even following the alleged emancipati...

Working with the Past No one knows with certainty what really happen to African-Americans during , in my opinion, the worst historical moments of our American culture. The deliberated effort to intentionally destroy the African culture was insidious, yet only through the "creative spirit&q...

Throughout the centuries many artists have constructed works of art to illustrate significant events, important people and beliefs of cultures. The Littlefield Memorial Fountain and Martin Luther King sculpture were both erected to convey the significant events of their time period. The location...

The American Dream, as the phrase is usually tossed around, is about specific, subjective things unique to each person who dreams it. Reading Goin'a Buffalo: A Tragifantasy the characters had just that in mind. The dreams to go away and have a prospect live but when reality struck the street pe...

CORA UNASHAMED Certain prejudices pass through all perceptions of time. Today's issues are arguably the same as those featured in "Cora Unashamed," and characters such as Cora, Jessie, Art, Willie and Josie are still encountered today. "Cora Unashamed" by Langston Hughes ...

Dry September Individually none of the men would have attack the black man, but the crowd mentality caused them to take actions that they normally wouldn't have. The client, McLendon, and the youth are three prime examples of men who b...

OUR AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN African American women have excelled in virtually every arena of the world's spectrum. Born of a desire to succeed, Maggie L. Walker, Shirley Chisolm, Corretta Scott King and Mya Angelou, to name only a few, are sisters that have paved the way towards excell...

More controversial than one might think, Art was one of the most influential expressions of black culture during the era of the Harlem Renaissance. Constantly torn between whether they should return to African routes for inspiration or pull from the American culture they had assimilated into, Africa...

JACOB A. LAWRENCE Artist I. Background A. Early years 1. Born September 17, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the oldest of three children living with a single mother. 2. His mother enrolled him in an after-school program run by painter Charles Alston, who had great influence on his ...

The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously. It was also the first time that African American literature and art attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement,...

The Harlem Renaissance was a period for blacks to engage in life. Life, which consists of good, evil, happiness, sadness, communication and expression, was more like a prison built on a foundation of hardship, suppression and all the counter parts of the good things, the things worth living for. Bu...

"The Portrait of a Farmer's Wife," the work of artist Robert Gwathmey, has been housed at the Dallas Museum of Art since around 1951. The overall size of the painting is 23 x 19 3/8 inches, composed on canvas with oil paints. Gwathmey's painting depicts an old black woman sitting on a chair. She l...

Harlem Renaissance During the 1920's, the spiritual, social, and literary eagerness that raced through Harlem could be called the most important period of self-discovery in African-American history after the Civil War. Black literature went through a tremendous outbreak in Harlem, which is a d...