A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Voices of an American Community - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380976641 ISBN 13: 9780380976645

Publisher: Bard, 1999

Synopsis

Arguing that the Harlem Renaissance actually lasted much longer than previously portrayed, the author collects more than fifty pieces written for the WPA Writer's Project capturing the voices of war veterans, Pullman porters, prostitutes, preachers, and the first American to plant a flag on the North Pole.

About this title

Review:

"To say Bascom has unearthed a buried treasure would be a cliche, but also correct."-- The Advocate, Stamford, CT"The precisely rendered testimony [in this book] . . . is by turns heartrending, enraging, strange, and hilarious."--The New Yorker"These are the ordinary folks of Harlem telling their storise in their voices . . . In short, this collection of long-lost work adds contrast, texture and realism to what undoubtedly remains the most creative time in black history."--St. Petersburg Times"Lionel Bascom has done yeoman service by uncovering these lost stories. [He] brings the truth of ordinary folk back into the spotlight."--Nikki Giovanni"A delightfully engaging and diverse portrait of an almost legendary black urban community."--Publisher's Weekly

From the Back Cover:

Lost for generations in the vaults of The Library of Congress, these remarkable essays by some of the era's finest writers, including Dorothy West and Ralph Ellison, vividly evoke daily life during the Harlem Renaissance.

The Lindy-Hoppers at the Savoy began to practice acrobatic routines, and to do absurd things for the entertainment of the whites, that probably never would have entered into their heads to attempt merely for their own effortless amusement. Some critics say that this is what happened to certain Negro writers, too -- that they ceased to write to amuse themselves and began to write to amuse and entertain white people, and in doing so distorted and over colored their material, and left out a great many things they thought would offend their American brothers of a lighter complexion. All of us know that the gay and sparkling life of the so-called Negro Renaissance of the '20s was not so gay and sparkling beneath the surface as it looked.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bard
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0380976641
• ISBN 13: 9780380976645
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 302
• Editor: Bascom Lionel C.