Freedom Facts and Firsts. Jessie Carney Smith
who were integral to the emergence of the New Negro included Charles Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar, who merged oral history and literary art by focusing their work on black folk traditions. Marcus Garvey raised the level of consciousness in black America by emphasizing the importance of African traditions; and James Weldon Johnson, who wrote Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912) and Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), worked for the American diplomatic service, had a career on Broadway, earned a law degree, and taught at Fisk University. Alain Locke edited the 1925 “Harlem Number” of the Survey Graphic, which set forth the ideas and characteristics of this new generation of artist and defined the movement. In the introduction Locke indicated that there was a new spiritual outlook and that in the book “the Negro [will] speak for himself.” This self-definition was one of the characteristics of the “new” artists, whose work represented a new way of responding to the black man’s position in America. Artists in the movement called for change, but they confronted the disparity in the way in which the American system was conducted, and not the system itself.
This artistic demand for action against the political and social situation can be seen in “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay, perhaps the first important writer of the period. It is also evident in periodicals such as The Crisis (the publication of the NAACP), Opportunity (the publication of the National Urban League), and Fire!, which was edited by Wallace Thurman and designed to replace the old way of presenting black life. Writers were attempting to define black art and who should judge it in such essays as Alain Locke’s “The Legacy of the Ancestral Arts” and George Schuyler’s “The Negro-Art Hokum.” The literature of the period addressed urban life and its impact on the new arrivals; the question of color, passing, and responsibility; the response to oppression; identity; Africa in its romanticized view; and cultural heritage.
The New Negro Movement produced playwrights, actors, a black theater (both dramatic and musical) begun in Harlem around 1910, and serious and popular forms of music, painting, drawing, and sculpture. Many consider the end of the movement to be the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. This did lead to difficulty for many and required relocation, often resulting in a different thrust or form in the art, but it did not lead to a cessation of creative output. In fact, Langston Hughes lived and worked until 1967, and Dorothy West, who was considered the youngest member of the movement, was active until 1998.
Helen R. Houston
Bearden’s lifelong achievements covered the range of human experiences intermingled with his own personal experiences.
Artists
Bearden, Romare (1912–1988)
Romare Bearden was one of the most original visual artists of the twentieth century. He experimented with different styles and mediums but is best known for his collages and photomontages. Bearden had spent nearly two decades using abstract subjects when, in the 1960s, he departed from this focus and moved to collages. He joined with twelve other African American artists who called themselves “Spiral.” Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, they sought to explore the identity and images of African Americans through the use of art. Bearden suggested the group participate in a collage project. After little interest from the other members, however, Bearden moved ahead and began to make collages by himself. In 1964, he actively made collages consisting of images of African Americans taken from periodicals such as Ebony, Look, and Life magazine. He went on to reinterpret other forms and methods using African American cultural rituals, events, and history.
Bearden’s work consisted of a grid system that resulted in arrangements that overlapped in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. He first presented his work at an exhibition entitled Projections; later, in October 1964, he had an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Through his exhibits Bearden gained enormous popularity during the 1960s and continued to present collages as a key part of his art. His images explored themes regarding the everyday lives of African Americans in the North as well as the South. Bearden’s lifelong achievements covered the range of human experiences intermingled with his own personal experiences. He received legendary status for his collages, though he was never fully acknowledged in the records of American Art. Bearden died on March 12, 1988.
Lean’tin L. Bracks
Parks, Gordon (1912–2006)
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was born November 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kansas, and died March 7, 2006, in New York City. A renaissance man, Parks was born into poverty but blessed with a mother who taught him to use love and self-respect against racism—a lesson he not only internalized, but passed on through his works. Throughout his career, he opened doors that had previously been closed to black people. He became the first African American photojournalist for Life and Vogue magazines; he was a part of the Life staff from 1948 on into the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, he took some of the most telling pictures of racial strife and personalities in America. These included a Harlem gang, the Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. These and his photograph “American Gothic,” which depicts Ella Watson, a black cleaning woman with a mop and a broom standing in front of an American flag, provided a new way of seeing black people. This vision was reflected not only in his pictures, but also in his work producing and directing Hollywood films. He underscored to the public that race should be no cause for failure, that injustices in life are opportunities for self-help and not destruction, and that the weapons against the disparities in society can include cameras, pens, paintbrushes, pianos, and the desire to achieve.
Helen R. Houston
Entertainers
Belafonte, Harry (1927–)
Born Harold George Belafonte Jr., Harry Belafonte is best known as one of the most successful entertainers in American history. He was born in New York to parents of West Indian heritage and lived in Jamaica from the age of nine until he was thirteen. In addition to his work as an actor, Belafonte is worthy of admiration and respect for participating in and supporting the struggle for civil and human rights. He began participating in protests for civil rights in 1950, including a march in support of integrated schools. In 1956 Belafonte met Martin Luther King Jr. and was impressed by his commitment and sincerity. Using his influence with other entertainers, he encouraged many to perform at concerts to raise funds for civil rights. In 1963 Belafonte used his personal money to bail out workers of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). When Martin Luther King was in the Birmingham jail, it was Belafonte who raised the $50,000 for King’s release and later raised $90,000 when the need arose.
Belafonte worked diligently behind the scenes to raise funds and to serve as an intermediary for the struggle for civil rights. As a skilled mediator, he helped to ease the tension between King and the SNCC, serving as King’s negotiator in many instances. Over the years, he has influenced and supported these causes both in front of and behind the scenes.
Harry Belafonte (Fisk University).
Lean’tin L. Bracks
Cosby, Bill (1937–)
From an early age, Bill Cosby learned through his love of jazz how to take an idea and find new ways to express it. In his role as a comedian, entertainer, and philanthropist he has campaigned for a better world by using this approach. His ability to use comedy to express the common experiences between all persons began in the 1960s, when the Civil Rights Movement was in full force. He revolutionized comedy in 1963, when he came on the television scene with an act that did not use race as a subject. His goal was to talk about the similarities between people