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North American Literature - Coggle Diagram
North American Literature
Harlem Renaissance
shaped by migration of Black Americans from S to N - The Great Migration
concentrated Black cultural life - transformation in how Black identity was conceived and represented
"New Negro"
Alain Locke
departure from older stereotypes + imposed identities, now self-respect, + definition + active participation in life
process of psychological + cultural transformation - not internalizing limiting representations, Black individual rejected imposed identities + asserted their own
older stereotypes - minstrel shows, reduced Black people to caricatures that reinforced racial hierarchies
sought to dismantle old representations by producing alternative images grounded in lived experience + creative expression
a move from defensive posture shaped by need to counter prejudice to a more generative + forward-looking engagement w/ culture + society
redefinition of relationship between Black + white Americans - mutual understanding + cooperation rather than strict separation/relying on paternalistic support
Black artists began to get recognised - challenged existing hierarchies + expanding scope of what was considered valuable cultural production
"coming of age" - Black identity no longer defined primarily by oppression or external categorization, but by internal development
resistance, transformation, creation
James Weldon Johnson
head of NAACP in 1920s
led campaigns to remove legal + social obstacles hindering Black achievement
Langston Hughes
honest portrayal of working-class Black lives w/out resorting to stereotypes
intersection of race + American identity
"The Negro Artist + the Racial Mountain" - asserted intention of younger artists to express themselves w/out fear/shame, regardless of outside approval
allow black people to be complex + human, not just expectations
don’t matter about upsetting white audience, building own traditions for their communities