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Analysing Works From The Harlem Renaissance

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Analysing Works From the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a time when African-Americans began to defy the stereotypes that they were only good in the arts at being a laughing stock or not being taken seriously. They started creating art, musical theatre, and literary works that really represented who they were and their culture. There are three pieces of art created by African-Americans that demonstrate the theme of using the power of dreams to motivate people and bring a sense of purpose to life. Specifically, in the sense of using the past to influence and drive the future. “Lift Every Voice and Sing”; which originally was a poem written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900. It was then turned into a song. It is a very important part …show more content…

Directly after, it goes: “Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us”. This shows that they then used that motivation to change the future. Other pieces that show the theme of using the power of dreams to motivate people to bring a sense of purpose to life are The Migration Series by Jacob Lawrence. There are 60 paintings in this series, but we’re focusing on 33 and 34. (Photos of these are on the last page) The caption for 33 is, “Letters from relatives in the North told of the better life there.” The caption for 34 is, “The Black press urged people to leave the South”. The people of the Great Migration (1910-1970) dreamed of a better life up North. These captions show that communities pushed each other for the migration to happen. This idea of a better life gave them a sense of purpose in life. Instead of the same old risky, unpurposeful life every day they had something new to look forward to by going up

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