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Harlem
Unit
This five-lesson curriculum unit for grades 3–4 (adaptable
for higher or lower grades) introduces students to Harlem,
starting with black migration from Africa and from the American
South to the North, to the Harlem Renaissance (including jazz
musicians, visual artists, writers, and poets), and on to
aspects of daily Harlem life (then and now) such as family
storytelling and street games. The multiple lessons, which
can be taught independently from one another, include a wide
array of maps, research and analytical skills, and writing
exercises, as well as student activities such as creating
visual artworks, oral presentations, and dance pieces.
Harlem
Renaissance: A Living Museum
In this lesson, students listen to a reading of the book
Harlem by Walter Dean Myers to learn more about the
places and people that figured prominently in the Harlem Renaissance.
Students research the lives of famous African Americans of
the Harlem Renaissance era. They will write short monologues
in the voice of these individuals, and present them as part
of a living museum exhibit. Students will also create backdrops
to correspond with the figures they have studied, and to complement
the performance of the monologue.
The
Harlem Renaissance Births a Black Culture
This unit is designed for at-risk high school students.
An excellent example of an arts-integrated curriculum, it
allows students to explore the Harlem Renaissance through
the prism of Language Arts, History, and Art. (The author
recommends a team-teaching approach.) This unit also creates
many opportunities for student-collaboration through art,
research presentations, and a culminating school celebration.
Jacob
Lawrence and Langston Hughes: Traveling from Harlem to Los
Angeles (Art Activity 1)
This activity is a comparative analysis of the Harlem experience,
viewed through the lens of two different projects produced
during the Harlem Renaissance. Students compare the images
of The Sweet Flypaper of Life, a photographic essay
about Harlem produced by Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes,
to the images contained in Jacob Lawrence's The Migration
Series. This comparison enables students to gain a more
comprehensive sense of the social and artistic climate of
the Harlem Renaissance.
The
Art Institute of Chicago: Art Access
These lesson plans have been designed to help teachers
plan classroom activities that will enhance their students'
understanding of objects in The Art Institute of Chicago.
This portion of the series focuses on the work of Aaron Douglas.
While designed around a museum visit, the vast online exhibit
of African-American
Art provides a wealth of resources, including those mentioned
in the lessons.
Rudolph
Fisher and the Harlem Renaissance in Short Story Units
This lesson, from The Givens Foundation, is an exploration
of a short story that tells the story of a woman who migrates
to Harlem. Through literature, students learn about the culture
of Harlem.
Deep
like Rivers: Four African-American Poets of the 1920s and
1930s
Also from The Givens Foundation, this lesson introduces students
to the works of important Harlem Renaissance poets, including
Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, and Margaret
Walker.
VanDerZee
Photography
This Givens Foundation lesson teaches students about the
life and work of Harlem Renaissance photographer James VanDerZee.
In a final project, students create their own black-and-white
portraits, using techniques employed by VanDerZee.
"Taint
Nobody's Bizness": Bessie Smith, Blues and Socioeconomic
Conditions
This lesson, produced by The Givens Foundation, explores
the social, economic, and political conditions embedded in
the music of the legendary "Empress of the Blues."
Black
Film Study in the Harlem Renaissance Period
This lesson from The Givens Foundation guides high school
students through an exploration of racial stereotyping in
early American cinema.
Study
of The Emperor Jones, Play and Film
This Givens Foundation lesson explores the groundbreaking
play The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill. One of
the first theatrical works to feature African Americans in
leading roles, the play was later made into a film.
MarcoPolo is a consortium of seven top educational Web sites
for teachers and students, including ARTSEDGE. The MarcoPolo
partners have accumulated many lessons and resources related
to the Harlem Renaissance. These resources provide valuable
information about central figures of the Renaissance, such
as Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten, James Weldon Johnson,
Countee Cullen, William H. Johnson, and others, as well as
themes and topics central to a study of Harlem in the 1920s
and 1930s.
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