Harlem Literature

These three literature pieces The Negro Art Hokum, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, and How It Feel to be Colored Me all deal with the question of whether African Americans should accept and retain their African heritage or to denounce this noble heritage and to only remember their American roots thus appeasing society during this time period. The Negro Art Hokum by George Schuyler was an essay that tried to influence Negro artists during the Harlem Renaissance to bypass and forget about a heritage and country they never knew of and to accept their American heritage by creating works of art that was based on the land they now live in. I disagree with George Schuyler's essay because, during this time period especially, Negro artists needed to embrace their heritage to show their pride and loyalty to the country that their ancestors were from and to introduce and educate curious Caucasian-Americans about the creativity and intelligence of my race during this time period. Not everyone agreed with George Schuyler's perception of what should be the inspiration for Negro Art. The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain by Langston Hughes was a direct response to George Schuyler's essay stating that African American Artists should embrace their heritage and be themselves and realize that their link to Africa was a precious resource. I agree with Hughes perspective in this essay calling to arms that every African American artist should be allowed to display their creativity through their heritage that was largely unknown in American society during the early part of the 20th century. How It Feels to be Colored Me is an essay by Zora Neale Hurston that basically states that "Black is Beautiful" and that the benefits that come with it like listening to music in a whole different way from other races makes being black worth it. Through out all of time some people believe that being black is a curse that has befallen them and that their life is over before it has started. Zora Neale Hurston believed that she was not "tragically colored". She grew up in exclusively black Eatonville, FL (I used to live in nearby Orlando, FL) and only saw white people in passing before she left town to move to Jacksonville, FL. Ms. Hurston realized after leaving town that she was now a "little colored girl" but she did not let this realization destroy her pride of being "cosmic Zora".