home

= =

Welcome to the 2012 American Literature Wikipage!!!

We will be using this site as a place to post important information about upcoming class projects and assignments for our 11th grade American Literature Classes at HAAT!!

= **The African American Experience at the turn of the 20th Century** =

Links to explore as you research:
 **PBS Series: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow**  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ jimcrow/stories.html

 **Reconstruction : Sharecroppers**  @http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/sharecrop/index.html
 * (if this link does not take you directly to this site, type "sharecroppers" in the search box on the PBS site.**

 **LAUSD Digital Library - Gale Research Databases**  @http://find.galegroup.com/gps/start.do?userGroupName=lausdnet&prodId=IPS&DB=OVRC_SRC-1_GRCM

 **1930s and 1940s Farm Security Administration Photographs** [[@hhttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@FILREQ(@field(SUBJ @band(Sharecroppers--Alabama )) @FIELD(COLLID fsa))| [] (SUBJ+@band(Sharecroppers--Alabama+))+@FIELD(COLLID+fsa))]]

 []
 * The Northern Migration of Sharecroppers in the 1920s **

 ** Artwork that represents the life and changing roles of African Americans from the late nineteenth century to the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Migration. **  []  **Flash Slides of whole Jacob Lawrence series w/ music**  []  **Modern Storytellers: Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold**  []  ** African-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art ** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> [|http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={61D2F9D6-68E0-11D6-941A-00902786BF44}]
 * Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask**

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **New York Public Library Online Exhibit - Several resources on the African/African American experience in America** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **History of NAACP** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **Library of Congress African American Mosaic** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **Digital History - America's Reconstruction** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **African American Odyssey - The Booker T. Washington Era** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **PBS List of Blues Websites** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

Schomberg center []

= American Civil Rights Movement =

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **Emmet Till** <span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

= ** [|Prezi] ** =

[|Learn how to make your Prezi]

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> **Once you have your LAUSD Google account, you will be able to sign up for a Prezi student account of your own.**


 * [] **

Click on this to see the Prezi that describes our project:

<span style="background-color: initial; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> []

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Check out this example of a presentation using Prezi

<span style="background-color: initial; color: #3a341f; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> []

= ** Research Notes - Step 1 ** =

<span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">1. Time period (what came before and after that’s connected—place it in history, set the stage) <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> a.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> b.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> c.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> d.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Websites: 2. Define topic or describe who major historical figure is <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> a.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> b.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> c.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> d.  <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Websites: 3. Explain what happened or what the person did <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">(do the same as #1 and 2) 4. How did it/he/she affect African American people at the time? <span style="background-color: #e2fdfd; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">(do the same as #1 and 2)

Research Notes - Step 2 1. Please go back to your word document of research notes that you created on Wednesday and finish collecting the information and add to it to make it more usable for your Prezi. For numbers 1-4:  - use numbers or bullet points to organize your information so that it is easy to read   - each item must have at least 4 pieces of information, written in your own words and not cut and pasted from a website 2. Underneath each question, please copy and paste the website address where you got your info See above ^^^^^^^^

= Research Notes - continued -- //This is a good day to divide up tasks among group members! Add another page to your word document.// =

<span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Find **2-3 powerful images** related to your topic. Save the image (with a title you will remember) on the laptop. AND copy the exact website addresses for your images here:

1. 2. 3.

Why did you choose each image and why does each image matter? (Please answer both of these questions for each image selected by writing at least 75 words)

1. 2. 3.

Choose **2-3 powerful quotations** related to your topic. These could be quotes by a person, about a person or about a specific event or law.

1a. Quotation 1b. Your commentary (Why is this quote powerful? What does it help us understand about the topic? Why does it matter?) <span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> 1c. Copy exact website address here

2a. Quotation 2b. Your commentary (Why is this quote powerful? What does it help us understand about the topic? Why does it matter?) 2c. Copy exact website address here

3a. Quotation 3b. Your commentary (Why is this quote powerful? What does it help us understand about the topic? Why does it matter?) 3c. Copy exact website address here

Find at least **one primary source** related to your topic:

Please list the title of the document and paste a link to a readable version of the document.

= =

= Your prezi must have the following information by the end of the period today: =


 * A title that includes the topic of your prezi


 * Group members names


 * The time period that your topic took place or dates your person lived


 * A definition of your topic. What or who is it and why was it or she/he important?


 * How did this topic or person affect African American people at that time?


 * 2-3 powerful images


 * 2-3 powerful quotations and why they are powerful
 * A copy of a primary source document and an explanation of what the document is and why it is important.
 * A copy of a primary source document and an explanation of what the document is and why it is important.

= You all now have LAUSD Google email accounts! =

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Goto [|mymail.lausd.net] to activate your email account and set your password.

That is also the site that you need to goto to login to your email account.

= =

= = = Ms. Wadle's Period 1 Prezi Projects: =

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/m1qljwzpzzro/sharecroppers/?auth_key=f4ba98114da55d4609ec8ad0e60a6a1a13ae51b2]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/3euh4xkojnbk/ida-bell-wells/?auth_key=b4c3fb10555b5851a5525f620da0d3ee77b72fce]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/uurykogm80mr/lynching/?auth_key=3cbb3ae93f34421d6daaf0d1137ff770fbf2755e]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/dv046q0yqu6k/jim-crow-laws/?auth_key=d168593eeeb427a97386f4ff450382d7b3e9778e]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/m11himbimvi-/separate-but-equal/?auth_key=b55981f6a7cba87cce7c219812124a78a2ca5789]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/-qzfm0yh3yec/booker-t-washington/]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/l6s4l_rojlfw/urban-migration/?auth_key=10cd0580f180c768e1c404b4916de8c961fced44]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/txaaz9xkiwhe/sojourner-truth/?auth_key=950ca327b7dd7b8bbb5ec337e31a02949ed65af7]

[]

<span style="color: #1550af; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">[|http://prezi.com/4owbnmxuijxt/abolitionist-movement/]

= = = = = = = Ms. Wadle's Period 3 Prezi Projects: =

[]

[] = =

[]

[]

[]

[] []

[]

[]

= Ms. Lowe's 5th per Prezi Projects: =

Sharecropping

Emancipation Proclamation

Abolitionists

Urban Migration

Ida B. Wells

Separate But Equal

NAACP

Jim Crow Laws

Birth of the Blues

Marcus Garvey

=

= **On the Harlem Renaissance....Quotes by Langston Hughes**

“We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they aren’t it doesn’t matter.”

“. . . I was there. I had a swell time while it lasted. But I thought it couldn’t last long. . . . For how long could a large and enthusiastic number of people be crazy about Negroes forever?" = **Harlem Renaissance Poetry** =

code I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.
 * <span class="TITLE" style="color: #cc6600; font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I, Too, Sing America ||
 * by Langston Hughes ||

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

by Langston Hughes

code

**Let American be American again**
<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Let America be America again. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Let it be the dream it used to be. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Let it be the pioneer on the plain <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Seeking a home where he himself is free.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> (America never was America to me.)

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Let it be that great strong land of love <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> That any man be crushed by one above.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> (It never was America to me.)

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> O, let my land be a land where Liberty <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> But opportunity is real, and life is free, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Equality is in the air we breathe.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> (There's never been equality for me, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> //Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?//

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the red man driven from the land, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And finding only the same old stupid plan <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the young man, full of strength and hope, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Tangled in that ancient endless chain <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Of work the men! Of take the pay! <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Of owning everything for one's own greed!

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the worker sold to the machine. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the Negro, servant to you all. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Hungry yet today despite the dream. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I am the man who never got ahead, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The poorest worker bartered through the years.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> In the Old World while still a serf of kings, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> That even yet its mighty daring sings <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> That's made America the land it has become. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> In search of what I meant to be my home-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And torn from Black Africa's strand I came <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> To build a "homeland of the free."

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The free?

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Who said the free? Not me? <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Surely not me? The millions on relief today? <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The millions shot down when we strike? <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The millions who have nothing for our pay? <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> For all the dreams we've dreamed <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And all the songs we've sung <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And all the hopes we've held <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And all the flags we've hung, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The millions who have nothing for our pay-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Except the dream that's almost dead today.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> O, let America be America again-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The land that never has been yet-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And yet must be--the land where //every// man is free. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Who made America, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Must bring back our mighty dream again.

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The steel of freedom does not stain. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> We must take back our land again, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> America!

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> O, yes, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> I say it plain, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> America never was America to me, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And yet I swear this oath-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> America will be!

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> We, the people, must redeem <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The mountains and the endless plain-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> All, all the stretch of these great green states-- <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> And make America again! ||  ||

code Over There, World War II.
 * <span class="TITLE" style="color: #cc6600; font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too? ||
 * by Langston Hughes ||

Dear Fellow Americans, I write this letter Hoping times will be better When this war Is through. I'm a Tan-skinned Yank Driving a tank. I ask, WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?

I wear a U. S. uniform. I've done the enemy much harm, I've driven back The Germans and the Japs, From Burma to the Rhine. On every battle line, I've dropped defeat Into the Fascists' laps.

I am a Negro American Out to defend my land Army, Navy, Air Corps-- I am there. I take munitions through, I fight--or stevedore, too. I face death the same as you do Everywhere.

I've seen my buddy lying Where he fell. I've watched him dying I promised him that I would try To make our land a land Where his son could be a man-- And there'd be no Jim Crow birds Left in our sky.

So this is what I want to know: When we see Victory's glow, Will you still let old Jim Crow Hold me back? When all those foreign folks who've waited-- Italians, Chinese, Danes--are liberated. Will I still be ill-fated Because I'm black?

Here in my own, my native land, Will the Jim Crow laws still stand? Will Dixie lynch me still When I return? Or will you comrades in arms From the factories and the farms, Have learned what this war Was fought for us to learn?

When I take off my uniform, Will I be safe from harm-- Or will you do me As the Germans did the Jews? When I've helped this world to save, Shall I still be color's slave? Or will Victory change Your antiquated views?

You can't say I didn't fight To smash the Fascists' might. You can't say I wasn't with you in each battle. As a soldier, and a friend. When this war comes to an end, Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car Like cattle?

Or will you stand up like a man At home and take your stand For Democracy? That's all I ask of you. When we lay the guns away To celebrate Our Victory Day WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO? That's what I want to know.

Sincerely, GI Joe. code ||


 * Claude McKay**
 * If We Must Die**

If we must die, let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, Making their mock at our accursed lot. If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

**AMERICA**
 * Claude McKay**

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! Her vigor flows like tides into my blood, Giving me strength erect against her hate. Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood, Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state, I stand within her walls with not a shred Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, And see her might and granite wonders there, Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand, Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

**THE BARRIER**
 * Claude McKay**

I must not gaze at them although Your eyes are dawning day; I must not watch you as you go Your sun-illumined way. I hear but I must never heed The fascinating note, Which, fluting like a river reed, Comes from your trembling throat I must not see upon your face Love's softly glowing spark; For there's the barrier of race, You're fair and I am dark.

(to W. E. B. DuBois)
 * Langston Hughes**
 * The Negro Speaks of Rivers**

I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.  I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
 * Paul Laurence Dunbar**
 * WE WEAR THE MASK**

WE wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,- This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!

From the Dark Tower
** by Countee Cullen **

We shall not always plant while others reap The golden increment of bursting fruit, Not always countenance, abject and mute, That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; Not everlastingly while others sleep Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, Not always bend to some more subtle brute; We were not made eternally to weep.

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark, White stars is no less lovely being dark, And there are buds that cannot bloom at all In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall; So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds, And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.

Incident
** by Countee Cullen **

Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”

I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That’s all that I remember.

Saturday’s Child
** by Countee Cullen **

Some are teethed on a silver spoon, With the stars strung for a rattle; I cut my teeth as the black raccoon— For implements of battle.

Some are swaddled in silk and down, And heralded by a star; They swathed my limbs in a sackcloth gown On a night that was black as tar.

For some, godfather and goddame The opulent fairies be; Dame Poverty gave me my name, And Pain godfathered me.

For I was born on Saturday— “Bad time for planting a seed,” Was all my father had to say, And, “One mouth more to feed.”

Death cut the strings that gave me life, And handed me to Sorrow, The only kind of middle wife My folks could beg or borrow.

The Weary Blues
by Langston Hughes

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway. . . . He did a lazy sway. . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more— “I got the Weary Blues And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can’t be satisfied— I ain’t happy no mo’ And I wish that I had died.” And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

You and your whole race.
** by Langston Hughes **

You and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which you live And be ashamed. Look down upon white folks And upon yourselves And be ashamed That such supine poverty exists there, That such stupid ignorance breeds children there Behind such humble shelters of despair— That you yourselves have not the sense to care Nor the manhood to stand up and say I dare you to come one step nearer, evil world, With your hands of greed seeking to touch my throat, I dare you to come one step nearer me: When you can say that you will be free!


 * //by Countee Cullen//**

The ills I sorrow at Not me alone Like an arrow, Pierce to the marrow, Through the fat, And past the bone.

Your grief and mine Must intertwine Like sea and river, Be fused and mingle, Diverse yet single, Forever and forever.

Let no man be so proud And confident, To think he is allowed A little tent Pitched in a meadow Of sun and shadow All his little own.

Joy may be shy, unique, Friendly to a few, Sorrow never scorned to speak To any who Were false or true.

Your every grief Like a blade Shining and unsheathed Must strike me down. Of bitter aloes wreathed, My sorrow must be laid On your head like a crown.


 * Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)**
 * Sympathy**

I KNOW what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals — I know what the caged bird feels! I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting — I know why he beats his wing! I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,— When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings — I know why the caged bird sings!


 * Tableau**
 * Countee Cullen**

Locked arm in arm they cross the way The black boy and the white, The golden splendor of the day The sable pride of night.

From lowered blinds the dark folk stare And here the fair folk talk, Indignant that these two should dare In unison to walk.

Oblivious to look and word They pass, and see no wonder That lightning brilliant as a sword Should blaze the path of thunder.

**Claude McKay** **BAPTISM**

Into the furnace let me go alone; Stay you without in terror of the heat. I will go naked in—for thus 'tis sweet— Into the weird depths of the hottest zone. I will not quiver in the frailest bone, You will not note a flicker of defeat; My heart shall tremble not its fate to meet, My mouth give utterance to any moan. The yawning oven spits forth fiery spears;. Red aspish tongues shout wordlessly my name. Desire destroys, consumes my mortal fears, Transforming me into a shape of flame. I will come out, back to your world of tears, A stronger soul within a finer frame.


 * To a Dark Girl**
 * Gwendolyn Bennett**

I love you for your brownness, And the rounded darkness of your breast, I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice And shadows where your wayward eyelids rest.

Something of old forgotten queens Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk And something of the shackled slave Sobs in the rhythm of your talk.

Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow's mate, Keep all you have of queenliness, Forgetting that you once were slave, And let your full lips laugh at Fate!

I have sown beside all waters in my day. I planted deep within my heart the fear that wind or fowl would take the grain away. I planted safe against this stark, lean year. I scatterd seed enough to plant the land in rows from Canada to Mexico. But for my reaping only what the hand can hold at once is all that I can show. Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields my brother's sons are gathering stalk and root, small wonder then my children glean in fields they have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit.
 * Arna Bontemps**
 * A Black Man Talks of Reaping**


 * Langston Hughes**
 * Mother to Son**

Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So, boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now— For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.


 * As I Grew Older**
 * Langston Hughes**

It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun— My dream.

And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall.

Shadow. I am black.

I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me. Only the thick wall. Only the shadow.

My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall! Find my dream! Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!

**//TENEBRIS//** **Angelina Weld Grimke**

There is a tree, by day, That, at night, Has a shadow, A hand huge and black With fingers long and black. All through the dark, Against the white man's house, In the little wind, the black hand plucks and plucks At the bricks. The bricks are the color of blood and very small. Is it a black hand, Or is it a shadow?


 * Harlem**
 * Langston Hughes**

Here on the edge of hell Stands Harlem— Remembering the old lies, The old kicks in the back, The old “Be patient” They told us before. Sure, we remember. Now when the man at the corner store Says sugar’s gone up another two cents, And bread one, And there’s a new tax on cigarettes— We remember the job we never had, Never could get, And can’t have now Because we’re colored. So we stand here On the edge of hell In Harlem And look out on the world And wonder What we’re gonna do In the face of what We remember.

Theme for English B
** by Langston Hughes **

The instructor said,

// Go home and write // // a page tonight. // // And let that page come out of you— // // Then, it will be true. //

I wonder if it’s that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class. The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem, through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you. hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being colored doesn’t make me //not// like the same things other folks like who are other races. So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white— yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That’s American. Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true! As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me— although you’re older—and white— and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.


 * Black Woman **
 * by Georgia Douglas Johnson **

Don’t knock at the door, little child, I cannot let you in, You know not what a world this is Of cruelty and sin. Wait in the still eternity Until I come to you, The world is cruel, cruel, child, I cannot let you in!

Don’t knock at my heart, little one, I cannot bear the pain Of turning deaf-ear to your call Time and time again! You do not know the monster men Inhabiting the earth, Be still, be still, my precious child, I must not give you birth!


 * Old Black Men **
 * by Georgia Douglas Johnson **

They have dreamed as young men dream Of glory, love and power; They have hoped as youth will hope Of life’s sun-minted hour.

They have seen as other saw Their bubbles burst in air, And they have learned to live it down As though they did not care.


 * Song of the Son **
 * by <span style="background-color: initial; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none;">[|Jean Toomer] **

Pour O pour that parting soul in song, O pour it in the sawdust glow of night, Into the velvet pine-smoke air to-night, And let the valley carry it along. And let the valley carry it along.

O land and soil, red soil and sweet-gum tree, So scant of grass, so profligate of pines, Now just before an epoch's sun declines Thy son, in time, I have returned to thee, Thy son, I have in time returned to thee.

In time, for though the sun is setting on A song-lit race of slaves, it has not set; Though late, O soil, it is not too late yet To catch thy plaintive soul, leaving, soon gone, Leaving, to catch thy plaintive soul soon gone.

O Negro slaves, dark purple ripened plums, Squeezed, and bursting in the pine-wood air, Passing before they stripped the old tree bare One plum was saved for me, one seed becomes

An everlasting song, a singing tree, Caroling softly souls of slavery, What they were, and what they are to me, Caroling softly souls of slavery.


 * The Shining Parlor  **
 * By Anita Scott Coleman **

It was a drab street A white man's street. . . Jammed with automobiles Streetcars and trucks; Bee-hived with fruit vendors' stalls, Real estate concerns, meat shops, Dental clinics, and soft drink stands. It was a drab street A white man's street. . . But it held the shining parlor— A boot-black booth, Commandeered by a black man, Who spent much time smiling out Upon the hub-bub of the thoroughfare. Ever. . . serenely smiling. . . With a brush and soiled rag in his hands. Often. . . white patrons wait for Their boots to be "shined," Wondering the while At the wonder-- Of the black man's smile.


 * Black Baby  **
 * By Anita Scott Coleman **

The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. Today I set him in the sun and Sunbeams danced on his head.

The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. I toil, and I cannot always cuddle him. I place him on the ground at my feet. He presses the warm earth with his hands, He lifts the sand and laughs to see It flow through his chubby fingers. I watch to discern which are his hands, Which is the sand. . . . Lo. . . the rich loam is black like his hands.

The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby. Today the coal-man brought me coal. sixteen dollars a ton is the price I pay for coal.-- Costly fuel. . . though they say: -- If it is buried deep enough and lies hidden long enough 'Twill be no longer coal but diamonds. . . . My black baby looks at me. His eyes are like coals, They shine like diamonds.