What was the significance of the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an outpouring of creative expression. African Americans proudly
exulted in their black culture, and argued for a "New Negro" who was a full citizen and a social
equal to the whites. It gave the blacks a voice and integrated their culture into the American
culture through music and literature.
Who were some of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance, and what were they
famous for?
Zora Neale Hurston: Actress and prominent writer; mostly wrote about the African American
experience in the South
Louis Armstrong: Trumpet player, the most important musician in jazz music
Duke Ellington: Jazz pianist and one of the greatest composers Of American history
Bessie Smith: Female blues singer and the highest paid African American artist at the time
Langston Hughes: A prominent poet during the Harlem Renaissance; wrote about the African
American experience from his perspective
James Weldon Johnson: Leader of the NAACP, which was a group of African America an
lawyers
Thurgood Marshall: becomes the first back supreme justice and a large figure in the civil rights
movement
In the poem, "Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes, What is the message?
The message of this poem is that the son that the mother is referring to shouldn't give up the
fight. Her staircase of life isn't the crystal staircase she imagined, but she tells her son that Just
because life gets hard, Anne shouldn't give up. She has weathered so many storms of life,
taxes, uncarpeted floors, and splinters and torn up boards, that what her son is going through is
nothing compared to the life before. She's been in the dark, blindly climbing the stairs, and she's
been in the light, do she tells her son, that her life has been no crystal staircase, where she can
see where she's going next. But for him, his future is bright and clearer than hers. He shouldn't
give up because she's still climbing, and so should he.
The Harlem Renaissance was an outpouring of creative expression. African Americans proudly
exulted in their black culture, and argued for a "New Negro" who was a full citizen and a social
equal to the whites. It gave the blacks a voice and integrated their culture into the American
culture through music and literature.
Who were some of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance, and what were they
famous for?
Zora Neale Hurston: Actress and prominent writer; mostly wrote about the African American
experience in the South
Louis Armstrong: Trumpet player, the most important musician in jazz music
Duke Ellington: Jazz pianist and one of the greatest composers Of American history
Bessie Smith: Female blues singer and the highest paid African American artist at the time
Langston Hughes: A prominent poet during the Harlem Renaissance; wrote about the African
American experience from his perspective
James Weldon Johnson: Leader of the NAACP, which was a group of African America an
lawyers
Thurgood Marshall: becomes the first back supreme justice and a large figure in the civil rights
movement
In the poem, "Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes, What is the message?
The message of this poem is that the son that the mother is referring to shouldn't give up the
fight. Her staircase of life isn't the crystal staircase she imagined, but she tells her son that Just
because life gets hard, Anne shouldn't give up. She has weathered so many storms of life,
taxes, uncarpeted floors, and splinters and torn up boards, that what her son is going through is
nothing compared to the life before. She's been in the dark, blindly climbing the stairs, and she's
been in the light, do she tells her son, that her life has been no crystal staircase, where she can
see where she's going next. But for him, his future is bright and clearer than hers. He shouldn't
give up because she's still climbing, and so should he.