All artists, writers included, are inspired to one degree or another by the life taking place all around them. Zora Neale Hurston and writers of the Harlem Renaissance (known at the time as the “New Negro Movement”) paid attention to many dimensions of life and based their work on what they saw and felt. They, in other words, allowed culture to serve as their muse.
With this in mind, we've put together a Power Point presentation called "Drop Me Off In Harlem," named after a once-popular jazz tune written by Duke Ellington and Nick Kenny. Our presentation features images drawn from the New Negro Movement/Harlem Renaissance. We'd like for you to study the images, and then select one that you like best. Try not only to explain what you see happening within the frame, but imagine and create a scene or story based on what it brings to mind and makes you feel.
Write no more than one thousand words, roughly three pages. Post an excerpt of about 250 words from your essay/creative response as a comment beneath this blog entry. Also, be sure to include your e-mail address. The first ten posts will be automatically win a Harlem Renaissance-related book or Learning and Tutoring Center gear such as book bags and umbrellas.
Keep in mind that we are not judging essays, as such. We just want you to flex the muscles of your imagination.
Have fun and good luck!
Above image of three flappers strolling on Seventh Avenue taken by unknown photographer
The PowerPoint presentation that I chose to post an excerpt on is slide 8 "Elegant apartment interior" . This slide displays and tells a story of hard work and tough times of going through despair. It is a symbol of someone finally making it to that place in life where they can see an accomplishment, even through the long suffering that they and their ancestry endured. To that place in life where they longer have to work and be enslaved to physical,brutal uncivil labor. I can imagine someone walking through that room admiring the elegance, nice carpet, clean funiture, china, curtains, glass windows, and beautiful merchandise; and saying to themselves, "Finally".
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