Postbellum Literature
Who wrote about lynchings in many of her texts and spoke against assumptions of black men being predators of white women?
Who is Ida B. Wells?
Mention a character in the book and explain their significance.
Answers will vary.
What was the Harlem Renaissance and when was it?
What is...Harlem Renaissance after/ around WWI and ending around great depression (or 1937). Black social, political, and artistic movement (dance, fashion, music, art, literature).
What is Double Consciousness?
a source of inward “twoness” putatively experienced by African-Americans because of their racialized oppression and devaluation in a white-dominated society. The concept is often associated with W.E.B. Du Bois.
What are the three parts to close reading that we've discussed in class?
CONTEXT (This might include…Who is the author? When was he/she born and when did he/she pass away? When and where text was published? Who did he/she write this text for? Where is the author from? When is the text set? What was happening in America during this time?
How is the text written? STRUCTURE
TECHNIQUE: from first word to last word, who is telling the story and how do they tell the story?
Who is a poet we studied that wrote during the Postbellum period and what stands out his poetry?
Who is Paul Laurence Dunbar? He writes in different dialects
What lesson does Belton learn after desiring to kill his roommate?
The university president talks about the importance of forgiveness
What conflict did Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen have?
What is Cullen wanted to viewed as a poet first, then as a black man. Hughes wanted to celebrate working class black life, which Cullen thought he used "too many Negro themes."
DOUBLE JEOPARDY!
Who wrote this poem and what is its title?
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
AND: What is something important about the author's writing style?
"America" by Claude McKay
Claude McKay, born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica in 1889, was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His work ranged from vernacular verse celebrating peasant life in Jamaica to poems that protested racial and economic inequities.
Studied British masters
Often wrote in sonnets
Why did Viola kill herself?
She wants to be patriotic towards the black race and refuses to marry a mixed race man.
The postbellum is also called the ___________ era. Why?
Nadir. Racial low point due to influx of violence against black people.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY!
Provide an example of power and control in the story.
Schooling, Belton kicked off train, Belton lynched and shot, forbidding AA from voting, church scene, etc.
What is The Burden of Representation and how does it apply to an author we studied in the Harlem Renaissance?
What is the pressure on the individual to represent the whole group? Hughes is expected to present a view of black life from the upper-class perspective instead of the working class.
The following lines are an example of
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
What is consonance?
What are at least two things you should do while reading a poem?
Underline words or phrases that stand out to you
Circle and look up words you don't know
Read the poem out loud
Find figurative language present in the poem
Try to unearth meaning about the poem
Take your time
What is a difference between the New Negro and the Old Negro of the postbellum era?
Old Negro- Submissive with ways of the Old South (Antebellum Era)
New Negro- Advocated for social change and equality through respectability politics.
Pick a theme or political view from Imperium in Imperio and explain how it is relevant to the text and postbellum era.
Answers will vary.
Themes: patriotism (to race and nation), black and white relations, schooling for African Americans, revenge and forgiveness, control and power, racism
Political Views: Treatment of black women; black peoples’ place in America after slavery (Negro Question); patriotism (to race and nation); miscegenation; violence against black people; racial uplift (views on how to advance...education, hard work, etc.)
Based on our readings of McKay, Cullen, and Hughes, how might their works fit in with the literary criticism presented during the Harlem Renaissance?
Hughes: critiqued American standardization and any suppression of racial difference.
McKay and Cullen: embraced classic British writing styles
Who said this and why?
"I am a traitor. I have violated an oath that was solemn and binding as any ever taken by man on earth. I have trampled under my feet the sacred trust of a loving people, and have betrayed secrets which were dearer to them than life itself."
Berl Trout after he betrays the imperium.
Select any author that we’ve studied so far and provide a basic summary regarding her (or his) writing style. What do we know about this author? How does the author fit (or not fit) into her period? Think elements of context, structure, and technique.
Answers will vary.
Who are at least two social leaders we read about and what did they stand for?
Who is DuBois's Talented Tenth; Washington's industrial education; Garvey's Back to Africa?
What was Sutton Griggs's political view and how does this relate to Imperium in Imperio?
Mixture of assimilation, emigration, and own black community
Griggs believed in the need of cooperation with white people (Coleman viii).
White people would step forward to assist when black people show that they are deserving (Griggs 34, Coleman 49).
Empower and uplift black people and warn white people of impending crisis (Coleman 41).
“Some vacillation in Griggs’s positions has been observed—from writing radical novels and tracts, to presenting positions that seem accommodationist…Because of this shifting…Griggs has been labeled ‘uncertain’…(Verdelle ix).
What is the Great Migration and why is it relevant to the Harlem Renaissance and the "New Negro" of the 1920s.
Movement of AA from the N to S. Influx of black arts in various northern cities across U.S. Celebration of black culture separate from white culture.
Who said the quote below and what is its significance?
The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.
W.E.B. DuBois--He argues that the black race needs 10% of the "best" men to guide black people into integration and equality in America.
Provide at least one example of how the social realities of a period is reflected in a text we read.
Ex. Lynching---Wells, Griggs
Jim Crow
Racism
Double Consciousness---Dunbar
Washington, Du Bois, Griggs
System Racism---Hughes, Mckay