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The Harlem Renaissance Poets

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The Harlem Renaissance Poets
Assignment 2: Project Paper: Harlem Renaissance Poets
Karron Scott
Prof. Josiah Harry
HUM 112: World Cultures II
11/27/2012

The Harlem Renaissance was a wonderful allotment of advancement for the black poets and writers of the 1920s and early ‘30s. I see the Harlem Renaissance as a time where people gather together and express their work throughout the world for everyone to see the brilliance and talent the black descendants harness.
The two authors I picked were W.E.B Du Bois and Langston Hughes. The reason why I picked these two is because of the dedicated work they have flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. W.E.B Du Bois was one of the most famous black political leaders during that time. Du Bois had a lot of talent to bring during this fine time as he was the editor of an inspiring magazine called “The Crisis”. In this particular magazine Du Bois expressed that blacks were on the same level and mentally and physically capable of achieving social equality, as so some say, by following white standards and ideals. W.E.B Du Bois stood for the black racial pride and increased its focus on African culture and heritage.
Langston Hughes, which I am about to go into now, was another writer of the Harlem Renaissance, which of whom I admire very much and consider an icon in history, he is known and widely remembered for his works during the movement of racial equality throughout America. I can say that Langston greatly praised his work with dedication and portrayed his own experiences of being an actual African-American.
The poem I would like to write about from W.E.B Du Bois is called “The Song of the Smoke”. This particular poem relates to double-consciousness in a myriad of ways, I say this because the double-consciousness, in Du Bois, pointed in a direction to the African American person itself, you can say, who was both conscious of their African heritage and his American heritage. While W.E.B Du Bois wants to be both, the two parts clashes against



References: Kansas heritage. (2004, 02 01). Retrieved from http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html Chambers, V. (2010, June 09). Poetry foundation.org Sullivan Harper, D. (2010, 12 09). Black history month Van Vechten, C. (2011). Du bois: A concise biography

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