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From Piano to Fortissimo: Jazz Poetry Over the Years

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African Americans have been fighting for rights and equality since 1619. Their art and expression have never wavered, but, alongside the tides of time, have ebbed and flowed to fit each era. Jazz poetry during the time of the Black Arts Movement was more explicitly rage filled in comparison to the Harlem Renaissance, which reads more like an explosion of expression or even a celebration at times. Jazz poetry in both eras was a way to counter the melancholy of blues; however Harlem Renaissance era jazz poetry continued to embrace the themes and constructs of blues while moving in a more exuberant and vibrant direction. In his poem, Cabaret , Sterling Brown interlaces a jarring and powerful story of death and suffering with a musical description of an audience’s perception of a live performance.  “Their corralled mouths; seductive bodies weaving  Bending, writhing, turning My heart cries out for  M U D D Y   W A T E R” This poem sits in a very interesting place between...
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African American Dance : where performance and art intersects

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            In her essay “Characteristics of Negro Expression”, Zora Neale Hurston delves into many art forms as they relate to African Americans, including the rare beauty of African dance. She says that it is a challenge for white individuals to dance in an African style due to their inability to understand the ever changing rhythms and expression. In Hurston’s interpretation African dance is an externalization of an inner emotion or story, yet it leaves room for the audience to impose their own feelings upon it: a mark of true art. This understanding of African American dance is expressed in many works and legacies left behind by the Harlem Renaissance. In his poem “She of Dancing Feet Sings”, Countee Cullen expresses his desire to dance and live an exuberant, passionate life despite the consequence of being seen as sinful. This is the same motivation which illuminated the art of the Harlem Renaissance, whether the consequence of sinfulness was in t...
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Culture Transcending Oppression Throughout African American History

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 Culture Transcending Oppression Throughout African American History Throughout American history African Americans have found themselves squandered under the notion that they weren’t intelligent or civilized enough to partake in “sophisticated” culture. As we can observe in history and through art and writing over the years African Americans developed their own enriching culture and blazed new paths to opportunities in religion, education, and art. When African Americans were brought to America they were often forced to convert to Christianity. This conversion did not represent their true beliefs and was often for the purpose of raising their social status (on the small scale it could be) by fitting in more with their enslavers and therefore being more digestible and “respectable” for white people. “ Slave conversion..represented an infringement on their ‘liberties.’” For them, Protestantism was about freedom and whiteness” (Harvey). Yet, African Americans were degraded on the ...
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