Prologue
Harlem Renaissance Learning Program Outline
Submitted by Haywood Fennell, Sr.
Sponsored by the Oscar Micheaux Family Theater Program Company, (Boston, MA.)
Contents
Mission
Historic Significance:
The African Diaspora
Scattering in the Western Hemisphere
Connecting Variables
The Harlem Renaissance
Pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance
Media Technology
Conclusion
Budget
Bibliography
Mission Statement
The mission of the Harlem Renaissance Learning Program is to improve education.
Prologue
One of the most defining ERAs in the development of cultural significance in the United States along with the attitudinal changes of a People that were the descendants of a once enslaved People was the Harlem Renaissance. The Emancipation Proclamation was announced by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1st 1863.
“By the end of 1862, things were not looking good for the Union. The Confederate Army had been overcome by Union troops in significant battles and Britain and France were set to officially recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation. In an August 1862 letter to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, Lincoln confessed “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” Lincoln hoped that declaring a national policy of emancipation would stimulate a rush of the South’s slaves into the ranks of the Union army, thus depleting the Confederacy’s labor force, on which the southern states depended to wage war against the North.”
“Lincoln waited to unveil the proclamation until he could do so on the heels of a Union military success. On September 22, 1862, after the battle at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863. Lincoln and his advisors limited the proclamation’s language to slavery in states outside of federal control as of 1862, failing to address the contentious issue of slavery within the nation’s border states. In his attempt to appease all parties, Lincoln left many loopholes open that civil rights advocates would be forced to tackle in the future.”
“Republican abolitionists in the North rejoiced that Lincoln had finally thrown his full weight behind the cause for which they had elected him. Though slaves in the south failed to rebel in very large numbers; with the signing of the proclamation, they slowly began to liberate themselves as Union armies marched into Confederate territory. Toward the end of the war, slaves left their former masters in droves. They fought and grew crops for the Union Army, performed other military jobs and worked in the North’s mills. Though the proclamation was not greeted with joy by all northerners, particularly northern white workers and troops fearful of job competition from an influx of freed slaves, it had the distinct benefit of convincing Britain and France to steer clear of official diplomatic relations with the Confederacy.”
“Though the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation signified Lincoln’s growing resolve to preserve the Union at all costs, he still rejoiced in the ethical correctness of his decision. Lincoln admitted on that New Year’s Day in 1863 that he never “felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper.” Although he waffled on the subject of slavery in the early years of his presidency, he would thereafter be remembered as “The Great Emancipator.” However, to the Confederate sympathizers, Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation reinforced their image of him as a hated despot and ultimately inspired his assassination by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.”
OBJECTIVE
To introduce this learning plan into the Public and private school system(s) as a learning tool based on American History. To integrate this plan into curriculum that focus on the importance of cultural diversity with the outcomes being more knowledgeable and sensitive. Develop two distinct core curriculum, the Harlem Renaissance and a thematic curriculum for our theater program. To perform annually in schools and other Public venues, “The Harlem Renaissance Revisited With a Gospel Flavor” and other productions formatted in our History where such History is lagging. We will organize workshops, do readings and one man/woman presentations on the Ancestors of the Harlem Renaissance and its’ descendants to build a presence and teach the importance of our cultural values
To collaborate with Public Schools and to seek the partnering of institutions for higher learning, e.g. UMASS Boston’s Trotter Institute and other institutions with strong theater as part of their respective curriculum. We will use the principle of collaboration to work with other community based cultural arts entities to strengthen our mission to entertain and to educate for the purpose of empowerment
Targeted Population
| The purpose of this alternative education strategy is to provide and to support school districts with high concentrations of students at-risk in the Middle school grades who have not found an interest in learning literacy arts as a way for sparking their creativity to become learners. These students may have risk factors such as: having weak family structures, having family members with drug or alcohol addiction, where little or no reading is done in the home, infrequent visits to the library, prime targets for juvenile courts based on gang recruitment, limited social interpersonal skills development. Being a distraction in class with rude behavior and having high absenteeism or chronic truancy. |
There are Funds that can be used by districts and schools for costs associated with the implementation of research-based programming targeted to students at-risk of dropping out of school. Allowable uses include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Other costs related to creative, innovative and effective programs and initiatives addressing one or more of the risk factors exhibited by students in danger of dropping out of school.
| Priorities: | We will submit for grants using proposals. The priority of the grant will be to promote comprehensive, developmentally-appropriate approaches to early literacy using theater education and relative teaching and learning material, e..g. Harlem Renaissance Era. We will develop and through implementation research-based practices and structures for center-based learning, defined as; a response to how young children think and learn independently, collaboratively and successfully through open-ended and purposeful, hands-on, active learning that engages children of all levels in thinking, problem solving, decision-making and choice. |
Introduction to Learning Activities
The African Diaspora
“The Scattering of a People”
African Diaspora is the term commonly used to describe the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trades, from the 1500s to the 1800s. This Diaspora took millions of people from Western and Central Africa to different regions throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.We will examine the African Diaspora in segments to increase the accessibility and connection to the Harlem Renaissance Era to further enrich and understand American cultural values.
The Connecting Variables
The Arts are the only pure vehicle we have in today’s society that cross cultural and ethnic barriers and allow people to transcend their differences.
The Music of the Diaspora
Open Discussion in Class
Music of the African diaspora was mostly refined and developed during the period of slavery. Slaves did not have easy access to instruments, so vocal work took on new significance. Through chants and work songs people of African descent preserved elements of their African heritage while inventing new genres of that many years later would term as Gospel, Spirituals, Blues, etc.
The Frogs, African American Theatrical Organization[edit]
At the beginning of the twentieth century theatrical clubs were formed to provide a sense of fraternity for members of the entertainment community in New York. This brotherhood was not inclusive. While there were black Broadway and vaudeville entertainers, no blacks were allowed in the membership of these theatrical clubs. In response to the need for such a fraternal organization for blacks, on July 5, 1908, a group of Black vaudevillian entertainers formed what may be the first African Americanorganization for theater professionals.
Eleven men, including such famous names as the show business team of Bert Williams and George Walker, J. Rosamond Johnson (composer of “Lift Every Voice and Sing“), and famed band leader/composer Lt. James Reese Europe created an organization they called The Frogs. The founding members of The Frogs were very respected by the citizens of Harlem. They were described as, “… very aristocratic looking gentlemen, all very distinguished…a bunch of doers.”1 According to Eric Ledell Smith in his book, Bert Williams, A Biography of the Pioneer Black Comedian, the organization chose to call themselves “The Frogs” in honor of a play by Aristophanesduring which, “…the character Charon makes reference to ‘our minstrel frogs’.” 2
Although formed by actors, singers, dancers and musicians; membership was not limited to theater professionals. African American physicians and attorneys participated in the organization which raised money for charity by sponsoring an annual ball and vaudeville review called The Frolic of the Frogs. Members of the Frogs also donated enough funds to build a clubhouse in which they housed archived materials related to the African American Theater Community. 3
Sources[edit]
1 Ann Charters, Nobody: The Story of Bert Williams (New York: Macmillan Company, 1970), p. 94
2 Eric Ledell Smith, Bert Williams: A Biography of the Pioneer Black Comedian (North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1992) pg. 106 ISBN 0-89950-695-X
3 Ibid.
See also[edit]
- Organizations established in 1908
- Theatrical organizations in the United States
- 1908 establishments in New York
History of the Harlem Renaissance
When what is called “The Great Migration” that was sometimes called “The Black Migration” when millions began to leave the rural South around 1916 to seek a better life. These once captured People and their children would travel and settle in different parts of the United States with many coming together to New York City. There was organized resistance by some Whites for Blacks/Colored to move into Harlem, but the property values had declined to the point of panic. Later there would be an influx in a place called Harlem that was populated predominately by Blacks to share their respective talents and discuss how to get their talents exposed. Jim Crow and other forms of discriminations were ever present, but these pioneers were not afraid, but determined to take their places and be heard. They were more than performers, some were intellectuals, advocates for social justice with folks that were artist, all encased in the explosive Era known first as the Black Renaissance and later as the Harlem Renaissance, a time of the exposure to Black thoughts and Black Art.
Soon after blacks began to move into Harlem, the community became known as “the spiritual home of the Negro protest movement.”[55] The NAACP became active in Harlem in 1910 and Marcus Garvey‘s Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1916. The NAACP chapter there soon grew to be the largest in the country. Activist A. Philip Randolph lived in Harlem and published the radical magazine The Messenger starting in 1917. It was from Harlem that he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. W. E. B. Du Bois lived and published in Harlem in the 1920s, as did James Weldon Johnson and Marcus Garvey.
***Wikipedia
Never before in the annals of American history has there be such an Era as the Harlem Renaissance, a time when the descendants of a formerly captured People along with People from the Caribbean united and shared their talents with each other before facing the social and cultural barriers to keep them from realizing their respective dreams to be performing on stage. This planned cultural enrichment project that would “erupt like a volcano” sparking the World with their once hidden talents to take their place.
Project One
The Art Form(s) of the Diaspora and the Harlem Renaissance
A Study and Research Exercise
The Arts/Artist
Will be chosen by the Educators and the students
Ancestors and Descendants
There were many voyages from West Africa beginning and spreading its captured human cargo in many places in the Western hemisphere. They were taken from their nations in chains and subdued by their then captors. Their talents were hidden, but from time to time, would be used in woodwork or iron on the plantations and other edifices. There were glimpses of the brilliance of the colors remembered were seen from different times, but not like the explosion that many would see as the artist gave shape, colors and form to their respective creations.
There were far too many standout artisans for this article to mention them all, but suggest that the reader go on line to see that even though the artist using different mediums there was a spiritual connection.
The Other Components Harlem Renaissance Learning Plan:
Project Two
A Research and Education Collaborative
Harlem Renaissance Festival
Sponsored by the Oscar Micheaux Family Theater Program Company
“Our History is Not a Mystery”
As a way of educating the Public, an annual festival in the late part of summer is planned using the Principle of Collaboration that includes Youth, music performances, Youth art exhibit(s) on the Harlem Renaissance, Spoken Word, and lectures along with panel discussions that relate to the earlier Harlem Renaissance Era and to the Humanities and Performing Arts of today and the relevance. One of the most culturally significant times in American History is the Harlem Renaissance or the Black Renaissance as it is sometimes identified. It is a story of a once captured People and their descendants moving from beyond the whips and chains to liberation by using their respective GOD loaned talents.
Although Oscar Micheaux was a little ahead of the uniting to the intellectual, the music and art forms that would eventually become the “Harlem Renaissance,” his films would become important in further identifying our determination for positive group identity. It was a time of “flowering” according to Alain Leroy Locke sometimes referred to as the “Father of the Black Renaissance Movement.”
The goal of the regarding this event is to recognize the importance of an almost omitted History that speaks to triumphs over social and racial injustices by uniting and using our talents. We seek to connect our communities to their History and to our greatness as a People and our triumphs over social adversities.
Open Discussions
Fashions
Hair styles were natural, but would later change with women having their hair pressed either at home or in the beauty shops.
Festival Features:
Honoring ceremony for contributing Artist, who are Harlem Renaissance Descendant
Harlem Renaissance Lecture and Art Exhibit
Showing of Two Films by Oscar Micheaux
Timed Discussion
Program Break to Visit Vendors
Poetry Recital(s)
Selected Poets
Performance by the Oscar Micheaux Family Theater Program Company
Comments: “Education and Interpretation on the Harlem Renaissance and its’ Importance Today”
Closing Performance:
Oscar Micheaux Family Theater Program Company
Conclusion
The Harlem Renaissance Learning Program is a cultural enrichment education continuum that seeks to ensure that this important Era in American History will be taught and learned through understanding the music genre, e.g. Spiritual, Gospel, Rag Tag and Jazz Theater, Art and Dance as methods to educate and to empower. This particular Era in America History involves talented people, the direct descendants of the African Diaspora who were scattered over the Western Hemisphere. Yet, in less than sixty years after the Emancipation Proclamation find themselves on stage of the World.
During the early part of the 20th century and in the United States of America these descendants of a once captured People and their Caribbean counter parts sought upward social movement as intellectuals and artist. They refused to give up on themselves despite the social barriers in place at that time. “The Niagara Falls Movement” was founded in 1905 and would fight for civil rights and for the changing of discriminatory laws was formed a few years before the birth of the Harlem Renaissance Era. It would later become The Niagara Movement was considered the precursor to the NAACP the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and many of its members, such as W.E.B. DuBois, were among the new organization’s founders.
Today, in many colleges and schools those that struggled to overcome during the Harlem Renaissance Era became famous artist, intellectuals, writers, poets, musicians and entertainers that have enriched the American culture, but there was a significant and discriminatory set of unfair practices that kept these talented ancestors from getting paid. Through collaborations with educational and artistic institutions the Harlem Renaissance Learning Program is a work in progress with a continuum of research and development to create an education curriculum of cultural values to build social skills and to better understand the importance of human dignity using the Harlem Renaissance lesson Plan and its’ performance(s) of “The Harlem Renaissance Revisited With a Gospel Flavor,” and other related productions to further entertain and educate with a cast that includes youth and families. It has become a testament to noble struggle and triumph over social injustice and other impediments based on skin color and serves to remind folks today of our contributions and tenacity to be. Also, it gives source to present day music as an extension for telling our History. It serves in a way that People can and should challenge each other to overcome adversities in their processes to become artist and performers.