Sarah Clayburn - Emancipation of the Oppressive Mind lyrics

At the turn of the 20th century, slave narratives were distinguished by anguish and oppression. However, a fresh sense of freedom filled the air during the Harlem Renaissance. From 1920 to 1940, Black Americans engraved new identities within society. The New Negro Movement became an era of confidence and transformation. Many Harlem authors portrayed the newborn characteristics through creative fiction instead of traditional slave narratives; a style challenging conformity through literary devices such as symbolism and imagery. 1901- The Last African American Congressman for 28 years Booker T. Washington- Up From Slavery (1901) “There was a door to the cabin- that is, something that was called a door- but the uncertain hinges by which it was hung, and the large cracks in it, to say nothing of the fact that it was too small, and made the room and very uncomfortable one.” 1903- W.E.B Dubois rejects Booker T. Washington's ideas Paul Laurence Dunbar- The Haunted Oak (1903) “I feel the rope against my bark, And the weight of him in my grain, I feel in the throe of his final woe The touch of my own last pain. And never more shall leaves come forth On a bough that bears the ban; I am burned with dread, I am dried and dead, From the curse of the guiltless man.” 1906- Madam C. J. Walker opens hair care business W.E.B. Du Bois- A Litany of Atlanta (1906) “A city lay in travail, God our Lord, and from her loins sprang twin Murder and Black Hate. Red was the midnight; clang, crack, and cry of d**h and fury filled the air and trembled underneath the stars when church spires pointed silently to Thee. And all this was to sate the greed of greedy men who hide behind the veil of vengeance! Bend us Thine ear, O Lord!” 1910- The Great Migration James Weldon Johnson- The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) “I know I am playing with fire, and I feel the thrill which accompanies that most fascinating pastime; and, back of it all, I think I find sort of savage and diabolical desire to gather up all the little tragedies of my life, and turn them into a practical joke on society.” 1922-Anti-Lynching Bill Marcus Garvey- The Future as I See It (1923) “The world is sinful, and therefore man believes in the doctrine of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Everybody believes that revenge is God's but at the same time we are men, and revenge sometimes springs up, even in the most Christian heart”. 1925- The Opportunity Rudolph Fisher- City of Refuge (1925) “There were occasional “colored” newspapers from New York: newspapers that mentioned Negroes without comment, but always spoke of a white person as “So and So, white.”… In Harlem black was white. You had rights that could not be denied you; you had privileges, protected by law, and you had money.” 1927- Cullen's Anthology published Angelina Weld Grimke- Tenebris (1927) “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?” 1934- Nancy Cunard Published Anthology Zora Neale Hurston- The Gilded Six-Bits (1933) “The front door stood opened to the sunshine so that the floor of the front room could finish drying after its weekly scouring. It was Saturday. Everything clean from the front gate to the privy house. Yard raked so that the strokes of the rake would make a pattern. Fresh newspaper cut in fancy edge on the kitchen shelves.” Gates, Henry Louis. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2014. Print.