You will be reading the poem "Harlem" by Walter Dean Myers. Before you read the poem, please look over the "Listening Guide" you have received. It is important that you make note of these things (jot down additional things as well) because a complete understanding of the poem and its references will help you as you continue on with these activities.
Harlem: A Poem
By Walter Dean Myers
They took the road in Waycross, Georgia
Skipped over the tracks in East St. Louis
Took the bus from Holly Springs
Hitched a ride from Gee’s Bend
Took the long way through Memphis
The third deck down from Trinidad
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
To a place called
Harlem
Harlem was a promise
Of a better life,
of a place where a man
Didn’t have to know his place
Simply because
He was Black
They brought a call
A song
First heard in the villages of
Ghana/Mali/Senegal
Calls and songs and shouts
Heavy hearted tambourine rhythms
Loosed in the hard city
Like a scream torn from the throat
Of an ancient clarinet
A new sound, raucous and sassy
Cascading over the asphalt village
Breaking against the black sky over
1-2-5 Street
Announcing Hallelujah
Riffing past resolution
Yellow, tan, brown, black, red
Green, gray, bright
Colors loud enough to be heard
Light on asphalt streets
Sun yellow shirts on burnt umber
Bodies
Demanding to be heard
Seen
Sending out warriors
From streets known to be
Mourning still as a lone radio tells us how
Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
Sugar Ray
Is doing with our hopes.
We hope
We pray
Our black skins
Reflecting the face of God
In storefront temples
Jive and Jehovah artists
Lay out the human canvas
The mood indigo
A chorus of summer herbs
Of mangoes and bar-b-que
Of perfumed sisters
Hip strutting past
Fried fish joints
On Lenox Avenue in steamy August
A carnival of children
People in the daytime streets
Ring-a-levio warriors
Stickball heroes
Hide-and-seek knights and ladies
Waiting to sing their own sweet songs
Living out their own slam-dunk dreams
Listening
For the coming of the blues
A weary blues that Langston knew
And Countee sung
A river of blues
Where Du Bois waded
And Baldwin preached
There is lilt
Tempo
Cadence
A language of darkness
Darkness known
Darkness sharpened at Mintons
Darkness lightened at the Cotton Club
Sent flying from Abyssinian Baptist
To the Apollo.
The uptown A
Rattles past 110th Street
Unreal to real
Relaxing the soul
Shango and Jesus
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Squares
Blocks, bricks
Fat, round woman in a rectangle
Sunday night gospel
“Precious Lord…take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand…”
Caught by a full lipped
Full hipped Saint
Washing collard greens
In a cracked porcelain sink
Backing up Lady Day on the radio
Brother so black and blue
Patting a wide foot outside the
Too hot Walk-up
“Boy,
You ought to find the guys who told you
you could play some checkers
‘cause he done lied to you!”
Cracked reed and soprano sax laughter
Floats over
a fleet of funeral cars
In Harlem
Sparrows sit on fire escapes
Outside rent parties
To learn the tunes.
In Harlem
The wind doesn’t blow past Smalls
It stops to listen to the sounds
Serious business
A poem, rhapsody tripping along
Striver’s Row
Not getting it’s metric feel soiled
On the well-swept walks
Hustling through the hard rain at two o’clock
In the morning to its next gig.
A huddle of horns
And a tinkle of glass
A note
Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm
To a brother
Too bad and too cool to give his name.
Sometimes despair
Makes the stoops shudder
Sometimes there are endless depths of pain
Singing a capella on street corners
And sometimes not.
Sometimes it is the artist
looking into the mirror
Painting a portrait of his own heart.
Place
Sound
Celebration
Memories of feelings
Of place
A journey on the A train
That started on the banks of the Niger
And has not ended
Harlem.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Step Two--Second Listen of "Harlem"
Read "Harlem" again. This time, as you read, jot down about 10 references to people or places with which you are unfamiliar.
Keep this list of unfamiliar references near you as you continue this activity today so you can add notes to the things you started out not knowing about. These notes will help you when you get to the final activity, and they will help you better understand the Harlem Renaissance movement.
Here is the text of the poem again:
Harlem: A Poem
By Walter Dean Myers
They took the road in Waycross, Georgia
Skipped over the tracks in East St. Louis
Took the bus from Holly Springs
Hitched a ride from Gee’s Bend
Took the long way through Memphis
The third deck down from Trinidad
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
To a place called
Harlem
Harlem was a promise
Of a better life,
of a place where a man
Didn’t have to know his place
Simply because
He was Black
They brought a call
A song
First heard in the villages of
Ghana/Mali/Senegal
Calls and songs and shouts
Heavy hearted tambourine rhythms
Loosed in the hard city
Like a scream torn from the throat
Of an ancient clarinet
A new sound, raucous and sassy
Cascading over the asphalt village
Breaking against the black sky over
1-2-5 Street
Announcing Hallelujah
Riffing past resolution
Yellow, tan, brown, black, red
Green, gray, bright
Colors loud enough to be heard
Light on asphalt streets
Sun yellow shirts on burnt umber
Bodies
Demanding to be heard
Seen
Sending out warriors
From streets known to be
Mourning still as a lone radio tells us how
Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
Sugar Ray
Is doing with our hopes.
We hope
We pray
Our black skins
Reflecting the face of God
In storefront temples
Jive and Jehovah artists
Lay out the human canvas
The mood indigo
A chorus of summer herbs
Of mangoes and bar-b-que
Of perfumed sisters
Hip strutting past
Fried fish joints
On Lenox Avenue in steamy August
A carnival of children
People in the daytime streets
Ring-a-levio warriors
Stickball heroes
Hide-and-seek knights and ladies
Waiting to sing their own sweet songs
Living out their own slam-dunk dreams
Listening
For the coming of the blues
A weary blues that Langston knew
And Countee sung
A river of blues
Where Du Bois waded
And Baldwin preached
There is lilt
Tempo
Cadence
A language of darkness
Darkness known
Darkness sharpened at Mintons
Darkness lightened at the Cotton Club
Sent flying from Abyssinian Baptist
To the Apollo.
The uptown A
Rattles past 110th Street
Unreal to real
Relaxing the soul
Shango and Jesus
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Squares
Blocks, bricks
Fat, round woman in a rectangle
Sunday night gospel
“Precious Lord…take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand…”
Caught by a full lipped
Full hipped Saint
Washing collard greens
In a cracked porcelain sink
Backing up Lady Day on the radio
Brother so black and blue
Patting a wide foot outside the
Too hot Walk-up
“Boy,
You ought to find the guys who told you
you could play some checkers
‘cause he done lied to you!”
Cracked reed and soprano sax laughter
Floats over
a fleet of funeral cars
In Harlem
Sparrows sit on fire escapes
Outside rent parties
To learn the tunes.
In Harlem
The wind doesn’t blow past Smalls
It stops to listen to the sounds
Serious business
A poem, rhapsody tripping along
Striver’s Row
Not getting it’s metric feel soiled
On the well-swept walks
Hustling through the hard rain at two o’clock
In the morning to its next gig.
A huddle of horns
And a tinkle of glass
A note
Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm
To a brother
Too bad and too cool to give his name.
Sometimes despair
Makes the stoops shudder
Sometimes there are endless depths of pain
Singing a capella on street corners
And sometimes not.
Sometimes it is the artist
looking into the mirror
Painting a portrait of his own heart.
Place
Sound
Celebration
Memories of feelings
Of place
A journey on the A train
That started on the banks of the Niger
And has not ended
Harlem.
Keep this list of unfamiliar references near you as you continue this activity today so you can add notes to the things you started out not knowing about. These notes will help you when you get to the final activity, and they will help you better understand the Harlem Renaissance movement.
Here is the text of the poem again:
Harlem: A Poem
By Walter Dean Myers
They took the road in Waycross, Georgia
Skipped over the tracks in East St. Louis
Took the bus from Holly Springs
Hitched a ride from Gee’s Bend
Took the long way through Memphis
The third deck down from Trinidad
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
A wrench of heart from Goree Island
To a place called
Harlem
Harlem was a promise
Of a better life,
of a place where a man
Didn’t have to know his place
Simply because
He was Black
They brought a call
A song
First heard in the villages of
Ghana/Mali/Senegal
Calls and songs and shouts
Heavy hearted tambourine rhythms
Loosed in the hard city
Like a scream torn from the throat
Of an ancient clarinet
A new sound, raucous and sassy
Cascading over the asphalt village
Breaking against the black sky over
1-2-5 Street
Announcing Hallelujah
Riffing past resolution
Yellow, tan, brown, black, red
Green, gray, bright
Colors loud enough to be heard
Light on asphalt streets
Sun yellow shirts on burnt umber
Bodies
Demanding to be heard
Seen
Sending out warriors
From streets known to be
Mourning still as a lone radio tells us how
Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
Sugar Ray
Is doing with our hopes.
We hope
We pray
Our black skins
Reflecting the face of God
In storefront temples
Jive and Jehovah artists
Lay out the human canvas
The mood indigo
A chorus of summer herbs
Of mangoes and bar-b-que
Of perfumed sisters
Hip strutting past
Fried fish joints
On Lenox Avenue in steamy August
A carnival of children
People in the daytime streets
Ring-a-levio warriors
Stickball heroes
Hide-and-seek knights and ladies
Waiting to sing their own sweet songs
Living out their own slam-dunk dreams
Listening
For the coming of the blues
A weary blues that Langston knew
And Countee sung
A river of blues
Where Du Bois waded
And Baldwin preached
There is lilt
Tempo
Cadence
A language of darkness
Darkness known
Darkness sharpened at Mintons
Darkness lightened at the Cotton Club
Sent flying from Abyssinian Baptist
To the Apollo.
The uptown A
Rattles past 110th Street
Unreal to real
Relaxing the soul
Shango and Jesus
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Asante and Mende
One people
A hundred different people
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams
Squares
Blocks, bricks
Fat, round woman in a rectangle
Sunday night gospel
“Precious Lord…take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand…”
Caught by a full lipped
Full hipped Saint
Washing collard greens
In a cracked porcelain sink
Backing up Lady Day on the radio
Brother so black and blue
Patting a wide foot outside the
Too hot Walk-up
“Boy,
You ought to find the guys who told you
you could play some checkers
‘cause he done lied to you!”
Cracked reed and soprano sax laughter
Floats over
a fleet of funeral cars
In Harlem
Sparrows sit on fire escapes
Outside rent parties
To learn the tunes.
In Harlem
The wind doesn’t blow past Smalls
It stops to listen to the sounds
Serious business
A poem, rhapsody tripping along
Striver’s Row
Not getting it’s metric feel soiled
On the well-swept walks
Hustling through the hard rain at two o’clock
In the morning to its next gig.
A huddle of horns
And a tinkle of glass
A note
Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm
To a brother
Too bad and too cool to give his name.
Sometimes despair
Makes the stoops shudder
Sometimes there are endless depths of pain
Singing a capella on street corners
And sometimes not.
Sometimes it is the artist
looking into the mirror
Painting a portrait of his own heart.
Place
Sound
Celebration
Memories of feelings
Of place
A journey on the A train
That started on the banks of the Niger
And has not ended
Harlem.
Step Three--"A Place Called Harlem"
For this activity, you will be exploring an interactive map of Harlem. Before you visit the site, please read the instructions carefully so you understand what is expected of you, and what the purpose is for this activity:
As you explore, there are things I want you to think about:
As you explore, think about how these places reveal the spirit of Harlem—the values and interests of its residents during the Renaissance.
As you explore, there are things I want you to think about:
As you explore, think about how these places reveal the spirit of Harlem—the values and interests of its residents during the Renaissance.
1. Begin by locating the places mentioned in Myers' poem "Harlem" (Smalls' Paradise, Abyssinian Church, Lennox Avenue, Strivers' Row etc.).
2. Click throughout the map to visit a sampling of Harlem's churches, businesses, and residences.
After exploring the map, I want you to answer the following questions by posting a comment.
- Which buildings are next to each other?
- What kinds of activities and interactions might have taken place in these locations?
- Who lived in these places?
- How did some of these people inspire creativity and community building?
- Briefly describe the hardships that Harlem Renaissance artists faced in regard to Connie’s Inn and the Cotton Club.
After exploring the map, I want you to answer the following questions by posting a comment.
MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE ENTIRE QUESTION.
Think about whether the renaissance that happened in Harlem could have occurred elsewhere. Why or why not? What physical qualities of Harlem might have contributed to the Renaissance? What aspects of community life (e.g., attendance at church, social life) were conducive to the Renaissance?
Think about whether the renaissance that happened in Harlem could have occurred elsewhere. Why or why not? What physical qualities of Harlem might have contributed to the Renaissance? What aspects of community life (e.g., attendance at church, social life) were conducive to the Renaissance?
And finally, here is the link to the site: "A Place Called Harlem"
Step Four--Respond and Create
Using the understandings you've gained from the previous activities, you will be synthesizing your knowledge to create a product that captures and demonstrates some aspect of Harlem. You might choose to illustrate a scene from Harlem street-life or nightlife; a poetry reading; a dramatization of a rent party, political meeting, soiree, or event; or an expression of the Harlem "vibe" during this time. You may select one of the following options to work with for this:
- Create a poem (Please type your poem as a comment. Your poem should be 15-20 lines long).
- Create a collage of pictures (Please copy and paste the actual pictures into one comment box, or paste the links to the pictures if they don't actually show up. You should have at least six pictures (or six picture links)).
- Write a dramatic scene (Please type your scene as a comment. Your scene should be roughly 200-300 words).
*In addition to the option you select, your comment must also include a brief explanation about how your product demonstrates some aspect of the Harlem Renaissance. See my example as reference.
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