Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

Words: 686
Pages: 3

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, and politics. During this period the poets, artists, and songwriters of the Harlem Renaissance such as Claude McKay, Georgia Johnson, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston had many themes to convey the theme of the power of dreams. African American”s “past” experience had many social and political factors that greatly impacted the Harlem Renaissance. These works also had a lot of other factors, like cities in New York were cultural centers with significant museums, galleries, and sites of major music venues to show how the African Americans used literature, arts, fashion, music, dance, …show more content…
Lastly, the poem “Calling Dreams,” by Georgia Johnson shows the power of dreams the best even by having the title “Calling Dreams.” The speaker in this poem has the best way to show the power of dreams by effectively giving details of the African American experience of the Harlem Renaissance. The author shows this in their poem by stating, “The right to make my dreams come true, I ask, nay, I demand of life, Nor shall fate’s deadly contraband.” This shows how the power of dreams is so strong that even fate’s deadly contraband cannot stop them. The speaker also shows how they have been dealing with a struggle for their dreams to come true by saying, “Too long my heart against the ground has beat the dusty years around.” This shows that the author has used the power of dreams to rise and stand for themselves, calling on all African Americans to do the same. Claude McKay, and Georgia Johnson, all powerfully develop the theme of the power of dreams. The theme is given differently in each piece but is mostly brought out strongly in all three