Curriculum unit
The Harlem Renaissance
In 1920s Harlem, a generation of Black writers, musicians, and artists declared a "New Negro" and remade American culture.
Students identify the key figures and works of the Harlem Renaissance and explain how art became a vehicle for Black pride and political claim-making.
- Lesson 1 · 1 class period
The "New Negro"
ObjectivesExplain what the Harlem Renaissance was and why it emerged when and where it did.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; the Harlem Renaissance theme; Crash Course #26.
Set the scene: the Great Migration, a Black cultural capital in Harlem, and a generation determined to define itself.
Teach from these momentsDiscussion questionsHow did the Great Migration make Harlem possible? What did "New Negro" mean?
- Lesson 2 · 1–2 class periods
Words and music
ObjectivesIdentify major writers and musicians of the Renaissance and their works.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston biographies.
Read Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and listen to Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, to see Black art claim the American mainstream.
Teach from these momentsDiscussion questionsHow did Hughes put the blues into poetry? How did jazz cross over without losing its roots?
- Lesson 3 · 1 class period
Art and legacy
ObjectivesAssess the visual art of the era and the Renaissance's lasting influence.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series.
Study Jacob Lawrence and Augusta Savage, and weigh the Renaissance's legacy for later Black arts movements.
Teach from these momentsDiscussion questionsWhat did the movement achieve, and what were its limits? How does it echo today?