Voices from the Harlem Renaissance

Jacket Description/Back: The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s symbolized black liberation and sophistication - the final shaking off of slavery from the minds, spirits, and characters of African Americans. It was a period when the African American came of age - when the "New Negro" was born - with the clearest expression of this transformation visible in its remarkable outpouring of literature, art, and music. In Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, Nathan Irvin Huggins provides more than 120 selections from the political writings, literature, and art of this watershed period. Bringing together the most trenchant works from such writers as Langston Hughes, Nancy Cunard, Alain Locke, and Zora Neale Hurston, this fascinating collection depicts the impact of Harlem and New York City on those who lived there. While focusing on the youthfulness and exuberance of the period, Huggins attends to the voices of alienation, anger, and rage - whether softly intoned or stridently voiced - so widely reflected in the writing of poets such as George S. Schuyler and Gwendolyn Bennett. Also included are over twenty paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance period by such artists as Aaron Douglas, Sargent Johnson, and Hale Woodruff. The vitality of the Harlem Renaissance served as a generative force for all New York - and the nation. Offering all those interested in the evolution of African-American consciousness and art a link to this glorious time, Voices of the Harlem Renaissance illuminates the African-American struggle for self-realization. Table of Contents: Introduction 1. "New Negro" Radicalism2. Harlem Renaissance: The Urban Setting3. Reflections on the Renaissance and Art for a New DayReview Quotes: "Huggins' 'Voices from the Harlem Renaissance' is a masterly achievement. It is an indispensable text, one that any teacher or student who is even remotely focusing on the Harlem Renaissance cannot affort to be without. Huggins has culled and compiled the very best that has been thought and saidby the giants of the Renaissance, and by those often neglected minor luminaries of that movement."--Earle V. Bryant, University of New Orleans"An excellent collection -- all the sources we reach for in one comprehensive volume."--Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Colby College"'Voices' remains the single most important volume about the period."--Joe Benson, Ph. D., North Carolina A&T State UniversityReview Quotes: "Huggins' 'Voices from the Harlem Renaissance' is a masterly achievement. It is an indispensable text, one that any teacher or student who is even remotely focusing on the Harlem Renaissance cannot affort to be without. Huggins has culled and compiled the very best that has been thought and said by the giants of the Renaissance, and by those often neglected minor luminaries of that movement."--Earle V. Bryant, University of New Orleans "An excellent collection -- all the sources we reach for in one comprehensive volume."--Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Colby College "'Voices' remains the single most important volume about the period."--Joe Benson, Ph. D., North Carolina A& T State University Review Quotes: "Huggins' 'Voices from the Harlem Renaissance' is a masterly achievement. It is an indispensable text, one that any teacher or student who is even remotely focusing on the Harlem Renaissance cannot affort to be without. Huggins has culled and compiled the very best that has been thought and said by the giants of the Renaissance, and by those often neglected minor luminaries of that movement."--Earle V. Bryant, University of New Orleans "An excellent collection -- all the sources we reach for in one comprehensive volume."--Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Colby College "'Voices' remains the single most important volume about the period."--Joe Benson, Ph. D., North Carolina A&T State UniversityReview Quotes:"Huggins' 'Voices from the Harlem Renaissance' is a masterly achievement. It is an indispensable text, one that any teacher or student who is even remotely focusing on the Harlem Renaissance cannot affort to be without. Huggins has culled and compiled the very best that has been thought and said by the giants of the Renaissance, and by those often neglected minor luminaries of that movement."--Earle V. Bryant, University of New Orleans"An excellent collection -- all the sources we reach for in one comprehensive volume."--Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Colby College"'Voices' remains the single most important volume about the period."--Joe Benson, Ph. D., North Carolina A&T State UniversityBiographical Note: The late Nathan Irvin Huggins was W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of History and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. His books include The Harlem Renaissance. Publisher Marketing: The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s symbolized black liberation and sophistication - the final shaking off of slavery from the minds, spirits, and characters of African Americans. It was a period when the African American came of age - when the "New Negro" was born - with the clearest expression of this transformation visible in its remarkable outpouring of literature, art, and music. In Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, Nathan Irvin Huggins provides more than 120 selections from the political writings, literature, and art of this watershed period. Bringing together the most trenchant works from such writers as Langston Hughes, Nancy Cunard, Alain Locke, and Zora Neale Hurston, this fascinating collection depicts the impact of Harlem and New York City on those who lived there. While focusing on the youthfulness and exuberance of the period, Huggins attends to the voices of alienation, anger, and rage - whether softly intoned or stridently voiced - so widely reflected in the writing of poets such as George S. Schuyler and Gwendolyn Bennett. Also included are over twenty paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance period by such artists as Aaron Douglas, Sargent Johnson, and Hale Woodruff. The vitality of the Harlem Renaissance served as a generative force for all New York - and the nation. Offering all those interested in the evolution of African-American consciousness and art a link to this glorious time, Voices of the Harlem Renaissance illuminates the African-American struggle for self-realization. Publisher Marketing: The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s symbolized black liberation and sophistication - the final shaking off of slavery from the minds, spirits, and characters of African Americans. It was a period when the African American came of age - when the New Negro was born - with the clearest expression of this transformation visible in its remarkable outpouring of literature, art, and music. In Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, Nathan Irvin Huggins provides more than 120 selections from the political writings, literature, and art of this watershed period. Bringing together the most trenchant works from such writers as Langston Hughes, Nancy Cunard, Alain Locke, and Zora Neale Hurston, this fascinating collection depicts the impact of Harlem and New York City on those who lived there. While focusing on the youthfulness and exuberance of the period, Huggins attends to the voices of alienation, anger, and rage - whether softly intoned or stridently voiced - so widely reflected in the writing of poets such as George S. Schuyler and Gwendolyn Bennett. Also included are over twenty paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance period by such artists as Aaron Douglas, Sargent Johnson, and Hale Woodruff. The vitality of the Harlem Renaissance served as a generative force for all New York - and the nation. Offering all those interested in the evolution of African-American consciousness and art a link to this glorious time, Voices of the Harlem Renaissance illuminates the African-American struggle for self-realization.

Contributor Bio:  Huggins, Nathan I The late Nathan Irvin Huggins was W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of History and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. His books include The Harlem Renaissance.