Teaching the Harlem Renaissance
Jazz, poetry, painting, and dancing. What could be more
exciting than that? I’ve always loved the allure and razzle dazzle of the 20’s
and 30’s, and I always knew my students would relish learning about this time
period. As a new teacher in 2012, I really looked forward to teaching the
Harlem Renaissance since I knew that it was a way to share a passion for poetry
with my students. I did in February, since, you know—it was Black History
Month.
It went okay.
Actually, it went really well. One of my toughest classes
read The Bronx Masquerade by Nikki
Grimes, and the students transformed before my eyes. They were engaged and
sharing stories from their own lives. I felt that I had finally connected with
that class—mostly students of color from the low-income neighborhood the
school was in. One of my favorite days of my first year of teaching was our
Poetry Slam. Here’s the poem I shared:
Dorky, I know, but it gave voice to some of my insecurities
from that time period. But as I reflected on that year and grew as a teacher, I
wondered if I had really given them my “all”. As I began to get better informed,
I wondered if I was guilty of glitzing up an era without addressing any of the
systemic racism that spurred the Harlem Renaissance.
Fast forward to this year as I’m planning how to bring
the Harlem Renaissance to life for a new batch of students. I’m inviting you,
Coffee Shop friends, to come along on the journey with me today as I figure out
how to serve my students better during Black History Month and every month.
I’m older now, and wiser. What can I do for my students
to elicit conversation? I want to provide rigorous lessons and resources that
don’t present just the “glossy images” or a list of inventors. I want to share
real stories, real struggle, and real success with my students. I see this as
my biggest responsibility in being an honest educator. As TNTP Bridge Fellow
Zay Collier puts it, “Our kids are missing stories that can inspire them and
remind them of who and what they can be.” Without hearing crucial voices, our
students of every color won’t get a full picture of what it means to be an
American.
I decided to build an Escape Room to introduce the Harlem Renaissance, and I thought long and hard about how to draw in elements
for later, deeper discussions with students. I spent weeks on this, doing
careful research and drawing in authentic source material. The result is one of
my favorite Escape Rooms yet! I didn’t want to minimize any struggle by gamifying
the introduction—that would be a gross injustice on my part as the teacher. Instead,
I worked to achieve a balance between rigor and fun that would still be
truthful in every aspect.
It’s time to get real with students, all year round. How
can we teach Black History in a meaningful way, now and every day? Here are
some steps I took, and some resources I used to get informed.
1. Acknowledge the hard road.
As English teachers, it’s easy to focus on the teaching the
Harlem Renaissance as just a series of awesome products [poems, art,
literature]. Leave it to the Social Studies teachers to talk about the justice
issues leading up to the art, right? Wrong. When teaching the Harlem
Renaissance, it’s important to recognize that this outburst of expression was
the waters breaking through the dam of oppression. This artistic era was a
weapon against centuries of silencing and abuse.
The Goin’
North Project by West Chester University is a collection of oral histories
from people who came to Philadelphia in the Great Migration. You can share
snippets of these with your students (the full interviews are about an hour
apiece) and discuss what people were living through in the Jim Crow South.
Students can work in pairs and present one of the histories to another group or
to the whole class. This is an excellent primary source for helping students
understand the background for the Harlem Renaissance.
2. Acknowledge the barriers.
As part of my research for developing my Escape Room, I
read and learned much more about the Cotton Club and other speakeasies than I’d
ever known. As a first-year teacher, I’m not sure I dug much deeper than “this
place was where Duke Ellington got his start.” Now, I know I’d be remiss not to
let students discover the barriers that existed, even as Black artists took the
stage. It wasn’t until Duke Ellington had a hundred successful songs that he
was able to convince the club to admit Black patrons (instead of just profiting
from Black performers)!
Also, I want students to recognize that Black artists
still face many similar struggles as those in the Harlem Renaissance. We
still see instances of industry racism and cultural appropriation. Now, I’ll
tie in pop culture and non-fiction as we discuss connections to today’s music
and art scene. One instance I’ll bring up is Katy Perry’s own bouts of
appropriation, as discussed in this
Huffington Post article.
Want more inclusive teaching ideas?
3. Discuss in-fighting and disagreements.
As teachers, we face a constant shortage of time. As a
consequence, we can paint eras with a broad brush. This would be a huge mistake
when teaching the Harlem Renaissance since so many artists and activists
disagreed! Whereas some artists saw any publicity as good publicity (e.g., The
Cotton Club), others did not. Langston Hughes gave a harsh critique of the
environment he saw at The Cotton Club (remember, white patrons coming to watch
Black artists), saying “strangers were given the best
ringside tables to sit and stare at the Negro customers—like amusing animals
in a zoo.” He would have preferred musicians not to perform at all rather than at the Cotton Club.
Black leaders had different
ideas about the future of race relations in the United States. You can download this free Close Reading passage about the Cotton Club and Prohibition to get these
conversations started with your students.
4.
Celebrate the art and
progress.
Once you’ve provided your
students with context and some lenses through which to view the era, teaching
the Harlem Renaissance can definitely include a celebration. There was
definitely glitz and glam and music and dance, and you should celebrate those things! I did a lot of swing dancing
in college, so I love sharing dance moves with students. We watch some videos
of pros [this video ofsome vintage Lindy Hop is AWESOME] and then we get up and do a few steps
together.
And then, of course, we dig deep into some poetry and
literature. I like to have my students do a short biographical research project about the Harlem Renaissance and present a clip of a song or read some
poetry out loud for the class.
5. Extend and enhance your thinking.
We continue to read The
Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes as a class read aloud. I did a whole unit with my 8th graders back in 2012, but I like to at least read
the novel with older students. It’s a short book, so we can get through it
quickly, even if we read it all together.
A teacher friend also directed me to an online archive of
W. E. B. DuBois’ magazine, TheCrisis. She uses an article from the September1917 issue to talk about the Red Summer with students. This source,
contemporary to the events described, is priceless.
And even as you extend your own unit, challenge yourself
to learn more. What books and articles are you reading to help you integrate
history in your English classroom? How are you growing as an advocate for all
students and their stories?
You can also grab a free QR Reference Sheet with Discussion & Research Questions for you and your students.
Final words
And so, friends, as I think about my young teacher self
from 2012, I try to have a little grace with her. However you’ve celebrated
Black History Month in the past, have some grace with yourself. Celebrate your
victories, and aim to improve the weaker elements. And even as we talk about
teaching the Harlem Renaissance in February, recognize that we can amplify voices
of people of color all year-round.
Further reading:
*Ten
Ways to Teach Black History All Year-Round (TNTP Blog)
*Why Cultural
Competence? (Article from the NEA)
*Dos
and Don’ts of Teaching Black History (Article from Tolerance.org)
