Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Class Definition of the Harlem Renaissance

Think about "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," "I, Too," "Theme for English B," and the two paintings we looked at today in class. Based on these pieces, what is the essence or the purpose of the Harlem Renaissance?

Try to form your response in the format of a good thesis statement (clear and eloquent, specific, debatable, and provable). Make your ideas original; go a little beyond what we've discussed in class...push a little further past the ideas that have already been posted.

29 comments:

  1. The Harlem Renaissance is really about trying to get black people out of this oppression that they have lived through in America and to show that they can do things just like white people can.

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  2. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was the transformation of slaves becoming part of society, part of America.

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  3. The Harlem Renaissance is a time when African Americans took a stand and started to be who they truly are instead of trying to be white.

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  4. The Harlem Renaissance is about the struggle the African Americans had to face when they got freedom.

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  5. The Harlem Renaissance recreates the idea of freedom and shows how people black and white reacted to that change, wanted to be a part of the new change, and changed themselves to fit that new standard.

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  6. The purpose for the Harlem Renaissance is for people to be proud of who they are no matter how different they are.

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  7. African Americans have struggled for many years trying to rise up and to be someone. The Harlem Renaissance gave them a chance to chase their dreams, to express themselves, to be someone, and to gain a taste of freedom.

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  8. I think that the purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was for the African American people to get their race to stop following the whites and be who they really are. They want themselves to be proud of the way they are and don't lead into the typical stereotype the white people gave them.

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  9. The Harlem Renaissance is about African American people standing up for themselves and being proud of who and what they are, not wishing to be white.

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  10. The purpose of the harlem renaissance was help the newly freed slaves gain confidence to pursue what they really want to do such as be a writer.

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  11. The Harlem Renaissance is an era in which ethnic people started trying to prove that they could do everything that white people could do as well as they could if not better.

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  12. To me, the purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was to be who you are. In every reading we have done, it speaks not so much about freedom, but specifically about who the blacks are as people and who the whites are as people, and if we can all learn to get along, then the world would be just fine.

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  13. I think that the purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was that it was a time when blacks were finally really fighting to make something of themselves.

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  14. The Harlem Renaissance is the expression of ones self through art and music. Art and music were binding factors during slavery for other slaves and the Harlem Renaissance celebrates the brilliance of the art and music of African Americans and the power they hold on our society.

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  15. the Harlem Renaissance is really about the age of jazz, youth, and freedom. when black people can finally express themselves freely.

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  16. The Harlem renaissance main focus was to bring pride to the black community

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  17. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of change that began to blend races together with equality and freedom. It is interesting how it was just the beginning of what was in store for black americans. Through all the hard work that it required, the Harlem Renaissance was a giant step for our country that makes it what it is today.

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  18. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was for African Americans to move past the "mountain" that was in the way of their desires and dreams. It was for them to express themselves and make a living.

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  19. The Harlem Renaissance is a social change in the United States where African American's "desired to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization" through art, music, and literature.

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  20. African Americans sought equality and unity during the Harlem Renaissance because even though they wanted the same civil rights as whites, they also wanted to develop their own unique culture.

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  21. The major part of the Harlem Renaissance was to to put pride back into the black community

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  22. The Harlem Renaissance was time for African-Americans to take pride in being themselves. A time for them to grow as a culture and become American.

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  23. The Harlem Renaissance was the natural reaction to oppression; artistic expression and celebration of life. When you take a persons freedom away they turn to intangible things to hold on to, such as music, hope, dreams etc. The Harlem Renaissance came out of jubilation at newfound freedom, and mourning over those lost during slavery and remembrance of the trials endured by all those oppressed.

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  24. The Harlem Renaissance was a time when African Americans could start to bloom and expand there culture.

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  25. The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that helped black people regain their pride. To not be ashamed of their nationality.

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  26. The Harlem Renascence during the early 20th century was in response to the conforming of African-Americans to the style of many white white collar Americans that consisted in the expression of heritage, social, and political status in the form of art, poetry, writing, and music.

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  27. The Harlem Renaissance is the culminating point at which African American culture entered society.

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  28. The Harlem Renaissance showed how African Americans struggled to get respect, and really become part of America.

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  29. The essence of the Harlem Renaissance is the African-American society rising up to express itself as a whole as well as to overcome their preceding oppressions by the white community. It was all about the Negro community transcending the views that they held and their wants to be more 'white'.

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