Harlem Renaissance, 28 Oct., ENGL 2248

• 1865: End of the American Civil War and Slavery.

  • 1861-1865, 1865 marks the beginning of the Reconstruction Period.

    • Reconstructing not only society and government but also the actual physical repair of buildings.

    • Making room for former, now freed slaves, who were now legal citizens—African Americans appointed to positions of political representation.

    • Black-owned businesses popping up, especially where they hadn’t been allowed before, like in the south.

    • Individual polling stations came up with rules to circumvent allowing Black voters to cast a ballot, lineage rules, literacy tests, fees, etc.

      • Black codes: restricted the abilities of black people to buy and sell land, move, etc. Preventing them from marrying or having relationships with white people. Preventing African Americans from testifying against white people in court. Separated schools, doctors, facilities. “Separate but equal” = Yea there’s a school for white kids but there’s also one for black kids so they’re separate but equal (they weren’t).

    • Police officers often enforced rules that weren’t even laws, but just individual segregation rules against African Americans.

• Lynching

  • Before the Civil War, lynching was largely used as a way of punishing criminals, livestock swindlers, etc.

  • After the Civil War, it became a way of punishing largely African American men, under the guise that it was to punish the “raping of white women”.

  • Self defence on part of an African American man against white men, was seen as violence, and therefore lynching was seen befit.

  • Lynching was seen as a family event, families dressed up, brought food. African Americans were tortured, burned, and castrated while being lynched. They often had souvenirs of the lynching.

  • A young man, found guilty of raping a white woman, was dragged out of court by a white mob, who were unhappy with the verdict, and lynched him. Post cards were sent to a spectators mother, celebrating the event.

  • Lynching began to decline, not because it was seen as racially problematic, but because the government deemed the public taking it upon themselves to lynch people was outside their authority, but was rather the job of the government. Due to this, when lynching began to decline, executions by the state began to rise.

• Normalization

  • Michelle Fouceaux (?): multiple ways of enforcing power, threat of violence, actual violence, offering rewards and punishments.

    • This idea extends to thing like beauty. During this time, whats seen as whats beautiful or good, is whats white. This is not a goal someone can work towards. So, if you are constantly bombarded with this message, you internalize an idea that you are less.

  • Booker T. Washington & DuBois:

    • One of the first freed slaves to try to break African Americans into society.

    • Believed that African Americans should not go into politics, but should rather go into business, as that is how he saw power being held, and the political rights came after.

      • Many white people liked this idea because it did not necessarily challenge their ideas.

      • However, many African Americans believed this was more harmful than good.

    • Washington did not want to address Black Codes, lynching, or anything, he bought into the idea of the American Dream, and believed that through hard work freed slaves could achieve prosperity, DuBois disagreed.

  • ‘The New Negro’ by Alain Locke.

    • How to exemplify black art and culture without making it less than white art.

• 1919: Harlem Renaissance.

• If We Must Die (Claude McKay)

  • Sonnet.

  • An octave a volta, and a sestat.

    • There is something presented to you, then a change, then a solution.

  • We’re gonna die anyways so let’s do it this way.

  • Line 1:

    • Hogs are seen like dirty, like animals.

    • If we are gonna die, let’s not die like animals.

    • Wanting to ensure African Americans do not accept the role of cattle that was given to them as slaves.

  • Line 2:

    • Hunted like animals, captured like animals, held like animals. Let us not be that.

  • Line 3:

    • Connection to the hunting part. Dogs were used to hunt escaped slaves.

    • The dogs aren’t just the hunting dogs, but are also white people.

    • Let us not be like animals, while we are surrounded by animals.

  • Line 5-8:

    • If you die nobly, it forces the dogs to change the way they honour you. It is a more aspirational idea rather than one based in reality.

    • To die unlike a farm animal, your death must be significant.

  • Line 9-12:

    • To die unlike an animal, you must maintain your dignity and fight back.

    • To appeal to the dogs humanity.

    • You’ve got one shot, make it count, take someone out with you.

    • A sacrifice for your community.

  • Line 13-15:

    • Once you’ve accepted the reality of the situation, you must accept death. So take someone with you.

• Mother to Son (Langston Hughes)

  • She feels the need to prepare her son, because many people feel the urge to give up due to the deeply engrained racism.

  • Whereas in other poems, giving a character an accent may attempt to put them as less than. This attempts to use the accent and language as art and poetry.

  • Their struggle is not one obstacle, its a continual climb to overcome.

  • She’s still talking to herself as well, she’s reassuring her son just as much as she’s reassuring herself.

  • There is two sorta messages, one of keeping on going, but also using the language and conditions of African Americans to communicate that point.

  • Uplift: Racial uplift is the idea that African Americans, especially post slavery, that thought they needed to be lift up. Well meaning white people, and others, thought they were doing right by African Americans by trying to “uplift” them.

  • Just because things are bare, does not mean you give up.

Next Class: Presentation!!!