Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance

How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?

Know (knowledge):

• The defining characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance
• Alain Locke’s notion of the “New Negro”
• An overview of the life and work of Langston Hughes
• Connections between Hughes’ poetry and conventions in the Blues
• Examples of the Black vernacular traditions

Mastery Objective:

• Students will be able to understand the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance by drawing connections between the work of Langston Hughes and Blues music.

In this lesson, students will examine how Langston Hughe's poetry recounted the development and ideals of the Harlem Renaissance by examining historical documents, watching video clips, and reading Hugh's writings, as well as Blues lyrics.

From 1910 to 1940 over 1.5 million people in the Black Community migrated from Southern states to the North. Fleeing the terror of racism, and drawn to the employment opportunities offered in the industrialized North, Black people arrived in thousands to cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. This Great Migration, as it has been termed by historians, reshaped the cultural landscape of Northern cities - for with Black laborers soon came Black musicians, performers, and artists, seeking new patrons and audiences for their creative work.

The flourishing of Black culture during this time is no more famously exemplified than in Harlem. Until the early 1900s, this area in Manhattan consisted mostly of farm land, far north from the bustling New York City downtown. But in 1904, the Lenox Avenue subway was completed, allowing easy access to the area. Expecting that the train line would bring more to the area, developers built hundreds of tenement houses-- but they over speculated, and many houses remained empty. Seeing an opportunity, Black real estate entrepreneur Philip A. Payton Jr. suggested that landlords open the buildings to Black tenants, and offered his services in bringing the Black community into the area. Payton’s plan worked, and by the 1920s Harlem became known as the “Black Mecca.” Black culture and artistic accomplishments flourished, and the “Harlem Renaissance” was born.

What fueled the Harlem Renaissance in many ways was the idea of the “New Negro,” a term created by Black philosopher Alain Locke (whose use of the word “Negro” was common vernacular of the time.) As Locke wrote, this figure refuses to accept the notion historically propagated in the United States that Black people are an inferior race. Rather, the "New Negro" demands that Black cultural achievements, past and present, be considered equal to white cultural achievements.

Perhaps no figure better exemplified the ethos of the "New Negro" than poet Langston Hughes. Born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes moved to New York City after high school to study at Columbia University, and soon became a principal figure of the Harlem Renaissance. True to Locke’s concept of the "New Negro," Hughes was a tireless champion of Black arts and culture - not only the work of his colleagues, but also the vernacular and popular traditions of the Black community in general. Hughes had a  fondness for Black popular music especially, regularly composing his own Blues verses and replicating the rhythms of jazz in his poetry. With an inarguable mastery of language, he nonetheless wrote his poems for the everyday people whose music and art always inspired him. As critic Donald B. Gibson wrote, Hughes ”addressed his poetry to the people, specifically to black people. During the twenties when most American poets were turning inward, writing obscure and esoteric poetry to an ever decreasing audience of readers, Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes, attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability simply to read.”