Langston Hughes
Birthplace of Langston Hughes
Joplin, Missouri
Where the Harlem Renaissance took place
The Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
Harlem was set up to be a predominantly white middle-class neighborhood in the 1880s, but overdevelopment forced landlords to lease vacant buildings to African American renters. In the early 1900s, white community members tried to drive them out and failed.
True or False: Jim Crow laws varied from state to state.
True
When was the first juvenile court of law created?
1899. After 1899, for the first time juveniles were treated differently from adults in the eyes of the law.
Name three genres that Langston Hughes wrote
Poetry, novels, musicals, short stories, essays, plays, children's lit, memoirs, lit criticism
When the Harlem Renaissance took place
1918-1937
Why were Jim Crow laws in place?
To ensure the dominance of white people in society, the workplace, and politics
Where was the first juvenile court of law created?
Cook County, Chicago Illinois
Number of cities Langston lived in before the age of 12
12 cities (one of which was Lincoln, Illinois!)
What was the Harlem Renaissance
An explosion of artistic expression in the form of literature/writing, theater, music, and visual art, focused on African American culture and heritage produced BY African Americans.
Where did the name "Jim Crow" come from?
A character created by Thomas Dartmouth Rice, an actor in minstrel shows. He wore blackface to mock African Americans. The point of his act—and of the Jim Crow laws—was to disenfranchise and belittle African Americans
Name two (supposed) causes of rising juvenile delinquency in the 1950s.
Comic books, Elvis Presley and rock and roll, increased access movies and television featuring rebellious teenagers
To whom did Langston address much of his writing?
To the people, specifically to black people, during a time when most writers were turning inward instead. Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes, attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability to read.
The historical event that preceded the Harlem Renaissance
The Great Migration (1916-1970)
Beginning in 1916 more and more African Americans began coming from the South, escaping Jim Crow laws, to settle up north.
Name two examples of Jim Crow laws.
Prohibiting interracial marriage, limiting hiring of Black people, poll taxes, literacy tests, "separate but equal"
What is the difference between a status offense and delinquency?
Status offenses are things that wouldn't be criminal for adults (smoking, drinking, skipping school).
Delinquency offenses are things that would be criminal if committed by an adult (burglary, assault).
Potential inspiration for "Thank You Ma'am"
His unstable childhood (unhappy parental marriage, divorce, moving) and the grandmother he lived with as a teenager until age 13
Impact of the Harlem Renaissance on African American literature's syntax and diction
Greater expression of self can be seen in the dialect, or regional- or cultural-specific language, of characters, as well as the jazz-like rhythm of speech
Name one example of Jim Crow etiquette.
Honorifics (Miss, Mr) used only for greeting white people, African Americans called by their first name, African American men must take off hats when speaking to whites, separate entrances
Until what year were juveniles still subject to the death penalty in the United States?
2005.
In the case of Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to execute minors