carefreeblackboy

#blackbookadaychallenge #Day5 Dr. John Henrik Clarke is who I look up to as an educator and as a writer. I read a lot of his non fiction work on pan-Africanism and how history informs much of the world around us. I also am appreciative of his fictional anthropology. He literally brought to the forefront texts that are not taught in most secondary schools or colleges. I was lucky to attend an HBCU where this book was required reading. Some of my favorite short stories in this book are “The Lynching of Jube Benson” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, “A Summer Tragedy” by Arna Bontempts and “The Homecoming” by Frank Yerby. All three texts vividly depict Black life during segregation. “The Homecoming” is about a Black soldier returning from WWI and having to submit to segregation and prejudice after he risked his life for his country. These stories are not found in our schools but give stories to Black people. If you are a high school teacher or parent or a high schooler, this book can give your students so much to discuss while simultaneously building their pride in their culture. A must have in any book collection. The Dr. John Henrik Clarke quote I try to live by? “I debate my equals; all others, I teach”. #blackhistorymonth #keenainthecity https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MWU1Gljyy/?igshid=f8imbnitg70q

The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman, 1929. The novel is considered a groundbreaking work of fiction because of its focus on intra-racial prejudice and colorism within the black community, where lighter skin has historically been favored. Cover design by Aaron Douglas, who designed many magazine covers, invitations, and book jackets during the Harlem Renaissance.

Source: Beinecke Library

Now Open… A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration.📍

New York City—and particularly Manhattan—became home to hundreds of thousands of Black Americans, who left their homes in the South as a result of racial terror during the post-Reconstruction period between 1915 and 1970. 

This remarkable movement of people caused a radical shift in the demographic, economic, and sociopolitical makeup of the United States. In New York City, for example, this influx of new residents catalyzed the start of the artistic and cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. The extension of the A train line in the 1930s later prompted a mass local migration between Manhattan and Brooklyn, establishing the latter borough as a key site of the Great Migration.

In #GreatMigrationBkM, you’ll find a departure from traditional accounts of the Great Migration, which are often understood through a lens of trauma. Here, the movement is reconceptualized through stories of self-possession, self-determination, as well as critique. While honoring the layered hardships, the exhibition further expands this narrative by introducing those individuals, families, and communities who stayed in the region during this time and created their own legacies.

Discover more and plan your visit through June 25: https://bit.ly/GreatMigrationBkM

William H. Johnson

Street Musicians

1939-1940

War Series: Prayer, Jacob Lawrence, 1947

Tempera on composition board 15 ⅞ x 20 1/16 in. (40.3 x 51 cm) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, USA

"Knitting Party" by William H. Johnson, c.1941-1942. Tempera and pen and ink on paper. The painting depicts Red Cross nurses knitting for the war effort.

Aaron Douglas (American, 1899-1979) • Aspirations • 1936

An Idyll of the Deep South• 1934

Xavier Avila as 'Alex' & Ernesto Reyes as 'Beauty' SMOKE, LILIES AND JADE (2021) · Short Film · LGBTQ+ · Period Drama dir(s). Deondray Gossfield · Quincy LeNear Gossfield

The 306 Workshop Group in front of 306 West 141st St., late 1930s.

The 306 Workshop Group, also known as the Harlem Art Workshop, was founded by artist Charles Alston. This group served to bring together Black artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Augusta Savage, and Langston Hughes, just to name a few. Located at 306 West 141st Street in Harlem, the Harlem Art Workshop provided these artists with both a meeting and work space. In the 1920s, Harlem became a coveted address. The neighborhood in New York City was synonymous with an outpouring of production in the visual arts, music, literature, theater, and dance that some began referring to the creative era as the Harlem Renaissance.

Famous artists of the Harlem Renaissance included: sociologist and historian W.E.B. Du Bois, writers Claude McKay, Langton Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, musician Duke Ellington, and entertainer Josephine Baker. These artists strove to express their racial identity and pride.

Jacob Lawrence, an artist of the Harlem Renaissance, believed his paintings were “a portrait of myself, a portrait of my community.” The community he grew up around included artist and mentor Charles Alston and leading philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke.

The people of Harlem and their rich heritage were constant sources of inspiration for Lawrence. The community experience—its triumphs and tragedies, its dreams and disappointments, its pleasures and humility, collectively forged by the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Depression era—lives on in his paintings.

Photo & text: Phillips Collection

Charles Alston (American, 1907–1977). Girl in a Red Dress, 1934

Cab Calloway circa 1933 ✨🤍

A girl act from the Harlem in Havana revue, 1940s, photographed by Garbo photography studio in Chicago.

Aweng Chuol x Raven B. Varona

— Alfonsina Storni