Mary White Ovington

Mary White Ovington, lived from April 11, 1865 to July 15, 1951. Mary was born and raised in Brooklyn. Mary devoted her adult life to fighting racial discrimination, and providing equal opportunities for African-Americans that white people had. Mary was a founder of the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She worked for the organization for decades, fund-raising, promoting, through its rocky organizational period, and helping to make its agenda. For her many contributions, lots of people from the NAACP board honored her as “Mother of the New Emancipation.”, for all of her hard work and effort.

     The reason Mary is influential to me is because lots of white people just went to Harlem to have a good time and enjoy the entertainment, but Mary on the other hand, helped so much and just did it out of pure love. She is a very strong woman and i look up to her. She made a huge impact on the NAACP if it weren't for her the NAACP might have never been founded. Mary put so much time and effort into getting the same rights for african americans and white people had and that it a lot of effort, seeing as though everybody looked down on black people.

 The reason i chose to write about how Ovington was a key founder of the NAACP is because i think that it shows a lot about who she is as a person. To be a founder of such a big group that helped so much in that time period is just plain amazing. i also chose to put the quote "Mother of the New Emancipation" is because that is a very honorable name to get called my so many people, including W. E. B. DuBois. The words "new emancipation" are very strong because it shows how she was fighting for them so much in the new emancipation and it shows that she has an extremely amazing character.

    

Painting by Archibald J. Motley Jr. : "Saturday night" (1935)

     This painting, Saturday Night" by Archibald L. Motley is about how swing dancing made people happy. As you can see by the expressions on everyones face it was very entertaining. Also the woman that is dancing is in such a soulful positioning you can just see how much the dancing means to her individually.

     This image relates to the themes, pride and desire to reconstruct meaning of "negro". The way that this artwork shows pride is because you can tell that the dancers in the picture have full pride and are really showing it to everyone with no doubt in their mind. the way that this image displays the desire to reconstruct the meaning of "negro" is because lots of people just looked at the negative things in black people and didn't see any good. In this picture you can tell that they didn't care black or white, they just wanted to dance from their soul within.

     The reason this picture stood out to me, out of all the artwork i saw was because of the mood the picture gave off. It is a very happy picture and it lets off a lot of good energy. I also chose this image because i thought it was a very good depiction of the entertainment and just the straight up fun they had. The colors were also very bright so my eyes just liked the picture.

     I like this picture because i think the style of painting is really creative with all the different colors and shapes. I like the way the artist made it so the picture looks as though everything is spiraling in the direction the woman dancer is dancing. I think it is a beautiful painting and that is why i chose it.

http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2009/02/03/harlem-renaissance-exhibit-opens-this-week-at-oklahoma-city-museum-of-art/

Jelly Roll Morton!!!! :]

     What this song is about is how Jelly Roll Morton wants a lady but he has to wait and he doesnt want to wait but he does. The lyrics of the song might not have much meaning to the Harlem Renaissance but i think it shows the the pride. i think this song might also the woman he represents as "she" might be a symbol for equal rights, and when he says "Lord how long do i have to wait, can i get you now do i have to hesitate", he is symbolising if he can get his equal rights now or is he going to have to keep on waiting. This song really shows good music from that time period.

     This song spoke a lot to me. I chose it for one core reason. At first i thought it was about a guy trying to be with a woman that he had been waiting a long time to have as his own, but then i analyzed the stanza i mentioned in the last paragraph, "Lord how long do i have to wait, can i get you now do i have to hesitate", and realized that he was talking about how he had to wait so long for freedom and equal rights for African Americans and it amazed me how indirect, yet how clear the song is.

The reason i like this song is because i plain just think the song beautiful music. I really like the style of music that Jell Roll Morton plays. i can listen to it and actually enjoy it. I also like the feeling that i get when i listen to it because i can just feel he is singing from within and he has such a beautiful voice. i just really appreciated the music. I think I'm actually going to buy a cd.

Poem by Arna Bontemps

Reconnaissance

After the cloud embankments,
the lamentation of wind
and the starry descent into time,
we came to the flashing waters and shaded our eyes
from the glare.


Alone with the shore and the harbor,
the stems of the cocoanut trees,
the fronds of silence and hushed music,
we cried for the new revelation
and waited for miracles to rise.


Where elements touch and merge,
where shadows swoon like outcasts on the sand
and the tried moment waits, its courage gone--
there were we


in latitudes where storms are born.
                   ~~~~
     This poem, Reconnaissance, by Arna Bontemps, is trying to show the struggle that they went through to get to where they got in the Harlem Renaissance. The way she is showing this is by using imagery, for example every stanza in the poem is showing the different steps it took to get them to the point they got to. It goes from a cloud of embankments, to alone on the shore harbor waiting for miracles to rise, to latitudes where storms are born. i think all those sentences show a lot. One clear thing it shows is how they got from where they couldn't even see to places where storms were born like they made storms and got people excited.

     The theme that this poem covers is determination to fight against oppression. I think this poem shows a lot of strength even if it is not that direct i think the meaning behind the poem is really clear. Every stanza gets better and better and it seems that it started out not that great and the journey through the poem they gained so much at the end.

     Bontemps uses lots of imagery and and symbolism. She makes everything very easy to imagine in your mind and have such clear images of what she is saying. The way that she uses symbolism is she isn't saying anything specifically about the Harlem renaissance but you can tell that is showing the struggle they went through to fight against oppression and change the meaning of the term "Negro".

     The reason i chose this poem is because i really like the use of words and i likes how easy it was for me to get beautiful images in my head. I also like that even though it wasn't a very long poem it was very symbolic and it made so much sense after i analyzed it and reflected on what it could have done with the themes and just the time period and experience in general.

     I love this poem. It is a very elegant poem and it was very pretty images. I really like writing poems that people can imagine in their head very easily and that is how this one was for me. i felt as though she chose all the right words and showed the struggle very clearly. It was nice to read.