The Harlem Renaissance

 1.Choose a writer; indicate his/her contribution to the Harlem Renaissance.2.Identify a theme associated with that writer.  You may choose from those listed below or finda theme on your own.3.Provide a poem, fictional piece, or non-fiction piece (or excerpt) by your author. Choose a work not discussed in class. 4.Formulate a thesis statement about your author’s presentation of the theme.5.Establish at least three main points to develop your discussion of the author’s effective presentation of the theme.6.Use at least six illustrative quotes to support your discussion.  

 WRITERS:Claude McKayGwendolyn BennettArnaBontempsSterling A. BrownCounteeCullenW. E. B. Du BoisRalph Waldo EllisonJessie Redmon FausetRudolph FisherLangston HughesZora Neale HurstonCharles S. JohnsonGeorgia Douglas JohnsonJames Weldon JohnsonNella LarsenAlain LeRoy LockeClaude McKayRichard Bruce NugentJoel Augustus RogersGeorge S. SchuylerWallace ThurmanJean ToomerCarl Van VechtenDorothy Wes 

 SOME COMMON THEMES:•pride in African ancestry•influence of the experience of slavery  •emerging African-American folk traditions on black identity •the effects of institutional racism •the dilemmas inherent in performing and writing for elite white audiences•the question of how to convey the experience of modern black life in the urban North