This week (and the last week of the month), my students and I will be celebrating Black History Month by reading a variety of authors from the Harlem Renaissance. Committing to this venture is important because Black History Month is important. As a White American, I can’t feign completely understanding the traumas of Black Americans…but I can try.
And, as I know is true from literature (and from other aspects of writing for that matter), while I can’t always gain the experiential learning I need from a given study, I can always research the heck out of experiences I’ve never had to build understanding and empathy for those that have gone through those traumas. Authors have a fantastic ability which allows them to convey their feelings and beliefs through the written word, and there are so many Black writers that have taken the pain and humiliation of living as a second class citizen in America and spun it into beautiful art that speaks to that degradation.
So, for today’s post, I am going to share some previous writings that have appeared on The Writing Post that celebrate Black voices and hopefully builds (or continues to build) that understanding in both you and me.
Happy Black History Month!
Previous posts to check out
- “The Harlem Renaissance: A brief history and major players”
- “Claude McKay: Harlem Renaissance writer, poet, and political activist”
- “Black History Month: ‘Harlem’ by Langston Hughes”
- “Literary Quotes: Claude McKay”
- “Maya Angelou: ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’”
- “Celebrate 4th of July by Reading Claude McKay”
- “Richard Wright: author of ‘Black Boy’”
