Literature

Zora Neal Hurston - //Their Eyes Were Watching God// 1937

-(1891- January 28, 1960) -Was an African-American foklorist and author of the Harlem Renaissance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston

Langston Hughes - "The Nigger Speaks of Rivers" "A Dream Deferred"

-Published more than three dozen books in his life. -He started with poetry and progressed to novels and plays. -Wrote poetry, books, and articles through the 60s -Wrote about the lives of “ordinary black people” – earned him a reputation as a major black voice of the 1900s.

http://who2.com/ask/langstonhughes.html

W.E. B. Du Bois - //-The Souls of Black Folk// (1903)

-Name: William Edward Burghardt DuBois -Scholar and political activist -First African American to receive doctorate from Harvard University -Helped found NAACP in 1909 -Favored separatism over integration -Strong public voice of the 1900s

http://who2.com/ask/webdubois.html

James Weldon Johnson – //Tolosa// //Negro Americans, What Now//// // - (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) - Leading African America poet, early civil rights activist - Graduated Atlanta University (1896) - He was the first African American accepted to the Florida bar. - Secretary of the NAACP - //The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man// (1912)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Weldon_Johnson

Black Literature was gaining popularity and was being considered by the white community. Books by authors such as W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington debated whether to confront or appease racist attitudes in the United States. During the American Civil Rights movement, authors like Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation and black nationalism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_literature The Harlem Renaissance was a moment in history in which African American culture was revived in a way. New styles of literature, art, and other things were being established. Not only was music, and art a way of trying to combat prejudice, but literature was also a way of encouraging the end of racial prejudice. Many of these works of literature consisted of the language known as Harlemese. Better described as slang, this kind of language allowed pride to be taken by these African Americans. The message that was brought out by there works of literature allowed people to become united. The ability of writing books and poems, allowed everyone to see that blacks are capable of achieving the same things that an ordinary white person could achieve.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761587467_1/African_Americans.html African American literature greatly influenced Hurston to write, //Their eyes were watching god//. Just like literature during the Harlem Renaissance, and individualistic ideas during this era, the book consists of self realization, and the quest for independence