The Harlem Renaissance is considered The revival or transformation of the African American community. It was Primarily a literary movement, but did include art, music, theater and politics. It was the The first time in the history publishers took African American literature seriously. A strong expression of racial pride and desire for social and political equality came through it.
Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics, and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race.
The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the Black experience clearly within the corpus of American cultural history. Not only through an explosion of culture, but on a sociological level, the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. The migration of southern Blacks to the north changed the image of the African American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication.
This is a collection of Harlem Renaissance Quotes from Harlem Renaissance Writers.
Langston Hughes Quotes
I, too, sing America. I, too, am America. Langston Hughes
Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. Langston Hughes
Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it. Langston Hughes
My soul has grown deep like the rivers. Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Langston Hughes
We Negro writers, just by being black, have been on the blacklist all our lives. Censorship for us begins at the color line. Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or does it explode? Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston Quotes
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. Zora Neale Hurston
There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Zora Neale Hurston
The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell. Zora Neale Hurston
Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat! Zora Neale Hurston
It's a funny thing, the less people have to live for, the less nerve they have to risk losing nothing. Zora Neale Hurston
The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor. Zora Neale Hurston
Claude McKay Quotes
We are like trees. We wear all colors naturally. Claude McKay
Nations, like plants and human beings, grow. And if the development is thwarted they are dwarfed and overshadowed. Claude McKay
Human dignity is more precious than prestige. Claude McKay
The Europeans fight to exterminate us and call it civilizing us. Claude McKay
If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything. Claude McKay
It's when you are down that you learn about your faults. Claude McKay
If we must die, O let us nobly die. Claude McKay
Jessie Redmon Fauset Quotes
To be a colored man in America ... and enjoy it, you must be greatly daring, greatly stolid, greatly humorous and greatly sensitive. And at all times a philosopher. Jessie Redmon Fauset
Biology transcends society. Jessie Redmon Fauset
The Complex of color...every colored man feels it sooner or later. It gets in the way of his dreams, of his education, of his marriage, of the rearing of his children. Jessie Redmon Fauset
Aviation is poetry ... It's the finest kind of moving around, you know, just as poetry is the finest way of using words. Jessie Redmon Fauset
The old aphorisms are basically sound. First impressions are lasting. Jessie Redmon Fauset
There are some things which an individual might want, but which he’d just have to give up forever for the sake of the more important whole. Jessie Redmon Fauset
There is no peace with you Nor any rest! Your presence is a torture to the brain. Your words are barbed arrows to the breast. Jessie Redmon Fauset
The white world is feverishly anxious to know of our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams. Organization is our strongest weapon. Jessie Redmon Fauset
Jean Toomer Faucet Quotes
The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing. Jean Toomer Faucet
People mistake their limitations for high standards. Jean Toomer Faucet
Fear is a noose that binds until it strangles. Jean Toomer Faucet
Acceptance of prevailing standards often means we have no standards of our own. Jean Toomer Faucet
Men try to run life according to their wishes; life runs itself according to necessity. Jean Toomer Faucet
We learn the rope of life by untying its knots. Jean Toomer Faucet
Call them from their houses, and teach them to dream. Jean Toomer Faucet
Night winds in Georgia are vagrant poets, whispering. Jean Toomer Faucet
Nella Larsen Quotes
It hurt. It hurt like hell. But it didn’t matter, if no one knew. Nella Larsen
Everything can't be explained by some general biological phrase. Nella Larsen
To each his own milieu. Enhance what was already in one's possession. Nella Larsen
Did that woman, could that woman, somehow know that here before her very eyes on the roof of the Drayton sat a Negro? Absurd! Nella Larsen
She laughed and the ringing bells in her laugh had a hard metallic sound. Nella Larsen
The far-off interest of tears. Nella Larsen
James Weldon Johnson Quotes
Lift every voice and sing. James Weldon Johnson
It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient. James Weldon Johnson
Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune. James Weldon Johnson
Washington shows the Negro not only at his best, but also at his worst. James Weldon Johnson
It is strange how in some things honest people can be dishonest without the slightest compunction. James Weldon Johnson
Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst. James Weldon Johnson
[R]acial supremacy is merely a matter of dates in history. James Weldon Johnson
Countee Cullen Quotes
Never love with all your heart, It only ends in aching. Countee Cullen
There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call 'the breaks. Countee Cullen
My poetry has become the way of my giving out what music is within me. Countee Cullen
Whatever lives is granted breath But by the grace and sufferance of Death. Countee Cullen
The key to all strange things is in thy heart..../ My spirit has come home, that sailed the doubtful seas. Countee Cullen
We shall not always plant while others reap. Countee Cullen
The loss of love is a terrible thing; They lie who say that death is worse. Countee Cullen
W. E. B. Du Bois Quotes
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. W. E. B. Du Bois
Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life. W. E. B. Du Bois
Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction. W. E. B. Du Bois
Make yourself do unpleasant things so as to gain the upper hand of your soul. W. E. B. Du Bois
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line. W. E. B. Du Bois
Every argument for Negro suffrage is an argument for women's suffrage. W. E. B. Du Bois
How hard a thing is life to the lowly, and yet how human and real! W. E. B. Du Bois
It is African scholars themselves who will create the ultimate Encyclopaedia Africana. W. E. B. Du Bois
50 Most Powerful Du Bois Quotes
Alain Locke Quotes
We must never forget that the dance is the cradle of Negro music. Alain LeRoy Locke
Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid. Alain LeRoy Locke
The younger generation is vibrant with a new psychology; the new spirit is awake in the masses . . . Each generation . . . will have its creed. Alain LeRoy Locke
All classes of people under social pressure are permeated with a common experience; they are emotionally welded as others cannot be.
With them, even ordinary living has epic depth and lyric intensity, and this, their material handicap, is their spiritual advantage. Alain Locke Alain LeRoy Locke
The Younger Generation comes, bringing its gifts. They are the first fruits of the Negro Renaissance. Youth speaks, and the voice of the New Negro is heard. Alain LeRoy Locke
Angelina Grimke Quotes
I recognize no rights but human rights. Angelina Grimke
It is through the tongue, the pen, and the press that truth is principally propagated. Angelina Grimke
Can you not see that women could do and would do a hundred times more for the slave, if she were not fettered? Angelina Grimke
We Abolition Women are turning the world upside down. Angelina Grimke
If a law commands me to sin I will break it; if it calls me to suffer, I will let it take its course unresistingly. Angelina Grimke
The ground upon which you stand is holy ground:never-never surrender it. Angelina Grimke
We Abolition Women are turning the world upside down. Angelina Grimke
One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognizes a human being in a slave. Angelina Grimke
Slavery always has, and always will produce insurrections wherever it exists, because it is a violation of the natural order of things. Angelina Grimke
Dorothy West Quotes
There is no life that does not contribute to history. Dorothy West
Beauty is but skin deep, ugly to the bone. And when beauty fades away, ugly claims its own. Dorothy West
If the Best is yet to come, the Present will blend with it Beautifully. Dorothy West
Identity is not inherent. It is shaped by circumstance and sensitivity and resistance to self-pity. Dorothy West
I'm a writer. I don't cook and I don't clean. Dorothy West
I never knew a man who got so hurt in his pocketbook. Dorothy West
Wallace Thurman Quotes
We are mere journeymen, planting seeds for someone else to harvest. Wallace Thurman
Color prejudice and religion are akin in one respect. Some folks have it and some don't, and the kernel that is responsible for it is present in us all. Wallace Thurman
I am reminded again that the greatest phrase ever written is words, words, words. Wallace Thurman
Too busy in this respect to be violently aroused by problems of race unless economic factors precipitated matters. Wallace Thurman
Being a Negro writer these days is a racket and I'm going to make the most of it while it lasts. About twice a year I sell a story. It is acclaimed. I am a genius in the making. Thank God for this Negro literary renaissance. Long may it flourish. Wallace Thurman
The Negro and all things negroid had become a fad, and Harlem had become a shrine to which feverish pilgrimages were in order ... Seventh Avenue was the gorge into which Harlem cliff dwellers crowded to promenade. Wallace Thurman
I cannot bear to associate with the ordinary run of people. I have to surround myself with individuals who for the most part are more than a trifle insane. Wallace Thurman
Georgia Douglas Johnson Quotes
Rise with the hour for which you were made. Georgia Douglas Johnson
Your world is as big as you make it. Georgia Douglas Johnson
The strong demand, contend, prevail; the beggar is a fool. Georgia Douglas Johnson
Against the day of sorrow/Lay by some trifling thing/A smile, a kiss, a flower,/For sweet remembering. Georgia Douglas Johnson
I want to die while you love me, While yet you hold me fair, While laughter lies upon my lips, And lights are in my hair. Georgia Douglas Johnson
I believe in the ultimate justice of Fate. Georgia Douglas Johnson
Let’s build bridges here and there, Or sometimes, just a spiral stair. Georgia Douglas Johnson
Alice Dunbar Nelson Quotes
It's punishment to be compelled to do what one doesn't wish. Alice Dunbar Nelson
Nothing will do me any good unless I learn to control this body of mine. Alice Dunbar Nelson
The rainbow is elusive, and its colors but the illumination of tears. Alice Dunbar Nelson
Didacticism is the death of art. Alice Dunbar Nelson
Nothing will do me any good unless I learn to control this body of mine. Alice Dunbar Nelson
I am profoundly in the D’s – discouraged, depressed, disheartened, disgusted. Alice Dunbar Nelson
Every new fad or fashion at once has its denouncers from the pulpit, platform, professor’s chair. Alice Dunbar Nelson
Aaron Douglas Quotes
I would be the worst acting coach ever, because I have no idea what I'm doing. Aaron Douglas
I'm a chubby middle-aged white guy with short hair. I think that's it, really. I kind of have a look. Right now, I'm not fat enough to be the fat friend, but I'm not thin enough to be the leading man, so I look like a cop. Aaron Douglas
I don't like shows that are predictable. I like it when you're shocked and you have no idea who's about to die. Aaron Douglas
The great thing about 'Battlestar' was that it was basically 'Star Wars' but once a week, as opposed to waiting for three years for the movie to come out. I was a huge 'Battlestar' fan. Aaron Douglas
My buddy tells me a lot of interesting stories about what goes on in prison - it just makes my head spin about what they deal with on a day-to-day basis. Aaron Douglas
Helene Johnson Quotes
To climb a hill that hungers for the sky, To dig my hands wrist deep in pregnant earth. Helene Johnson
He catches dust o’ dreams to carry in his sack,/ The dust a falling star leaves shining in its track. Helene Johnson
Your perfect body and your pompous gait, Your dark eyes flashing solemnly with hate. Helene Johnson
There is no mortal art / Can overcome Time's deep, corroding rust. / Let Love's beginning expiate Love's end. Helene Johnson
Sterling Brown Quotes
Always have an attitude of gratitude. Sterling Brown
With any sort of entertainment, you hope people are entertained. Sterling Brown
Any great art is meant to illuminate the human condition. Sterling Brown
The prism through which you experience life is so unique. There is no objective experience. Sterling Brown
Running gives me the confidence to be at my peak throughout the rest of my day. Sterling Brown
In my mind, I'm still this kid from St. Louis, Missouri, that nobody really knows. Sterling Brown
You can't play someone and judge them at the same time. Sterling Brown
Gwendolyn B. Bennett Quotes
Around a heathen fire Of a strange black race. Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Memory will lay its hands upon your breast, and you will understand my hatred. Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Silence is a sounding thing, To one who listens hungrily. Gwendolyn B. Bennett
All eager-lipped I kissed the mouth of Death. Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Silence is a sounding thing, To one who listens hungrily. Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Richard Bruce Nugent Quotes
How does one go about getting an introduction to a fictional character? Richard Bruce Nugent
A silhouette am I/On the face of the moon/Lacking color/Or vivid brightness. Richard Bruce Nugent
Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. Quotes
Neber min' folks' good opinion, So you habe a way to slay it. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
Go train your head and hands to do, Your head and heart to dare. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
A thousand years of darkness in her face, She turns at last from out the centurys' blight. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
Why do men smile when I speak, And call my speech The whimperings of a babe That cries but knows not what it wants? Is it because I am black? Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
Of the pale, blue sky above, There is naught that the stars tell, each to each. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
For countless spirits within me dwell/With heaven's efflugence or dark hell. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
From your life's blood to coin a trenchant word--/ The past, the present and the future's ken/ To hold--and weave it to a ringing chord/ That sounds within the changing hearts of men. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
With the silvery moon to whisper to, And the golden stars to kiss, mid the blue. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
In a dark and placid sea, Bring memories of a golden night. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. Quotes
Train your head and hands to do, your head and heart to dare. Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.
The flowers take the tearsof the weeping night; And give them to the sunfor the day's delight. Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.
Let lessons of stern yesterdays . . . be your food, your drink, your rest. Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.
O God, give me words to make my dream-children live. Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.
Let lessons of stern yesterdays . . . be your food, your drink, your rest. Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.
Carl Van Vechten Quotes
Is a little experience too much to pay for learning to know oneself? Carl Van Vechten
There are ... two kinds of people in this world, those who long to be understood and those who long to be misunderstood. It is the irony of life that neither is gratified. Carl Van Vechten
A thing of beauty is a boy forever. Carl Van Vechten
The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life. Carl Van Vechten
Cats seldom make mistakes, and they never make the same mistake twice. Carl Van Vechten
Cleanliness in the cat world is usually a virtue put above godliness. Carl Van Vechten
A cat is never vulgar. Carl Van Vechten
There is, indeed, no single quality of the cat that man could not emulate to his advantage. Carl Van Vechten
An ordinary kitten will ask more questions than any five-year-old. Carl Van Vechten
Marcus Garvey Quotes
Up, you mighty race, accomplish what you will. Marcus Garvey
The whole world is run on bluff. Marcus Garvey
If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. Marcus Garvey
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds! Marcus Garvey
Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm. Marcus Garvey
Real men laugh at opposition; real men smile when enemies appear. Marcus Garvey
A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. Marcus Garvey
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together. Marcus Garvey
Do not remove the kinks from your hair - remove them from your brain. Marcus Garvey
With confidence, you have won before you have started. Marcus Garvey
Richard Wright Quotes
All literature is protest. Richard Wright
The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination. Richard Wright
Men simply copied the realities of their hearts when they built prisons. Richard Wright
Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books. Richard Wright
Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread. Richard Wright
Love grows from stable relationships, shared experience, loyalty, devotion, trust. Richard Wright
Literature is a struggle over the nature of reality. Richard Wright
Make up your mind, Snail! You are half inside your house, And halfway out! Richard Wright
Esther Popel Quotes
Of sunsets and starshine and bird songs/And whispering trees in the Springtime. Esther Popel
Change me, oh God/ Into a tree in autumn/ And let my dying/ Be a blaze of glory!. Esther Popel
I pledge allegiance to the flag"— "They dragged him naked"Through the muddy streets, "A feeble-minded black boy!. Esther Popel
The red-gold sun/Sinking to rest/At day’s end,/Tucking under its chin/The fleecy down comforter/That men call clouds. Esther Popel
Bessie Smith Quotes
Listen to my story and everything will come out true. Bessie Smith
It's a long road, but I know I'm gonna find the end. Bessie Smith
You been a good old wagon but Daddy you gone done broke down. Bessie Smith
The Greatest Blues Singer in the World Will Never Stop Singing. Bessie Smith
I ain't good-lookin', but I'm somebody's angel child. Bessie Smith
James Baldwin Quotes
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. James Baldwin
Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black. James Baldwin
The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. James Baldwin
It is a very rare man who does not victimize the helpless. James Baldwin
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. James Baldwin
The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions. James Baldwin
Rudolph Fisher Quotes
In Harlem, black was white. You had rights that could not be denied you; you had privileges, protected by law. And you had money. Everybody in Harlem had money. It was a land of plenty. Rudolph Fisher
The rhythm persisted, the unfaltering common meter of blues, but the blueness itself, the sorrow, the despair, began to give way to hope. Rudolph Fisher
Angels rush in when fools are almost dead. Rudolph Fisher
Negro stock is going up, and everyone’s. Rudolph Fisher
Marita Bonner Quotes
The one real thing that money buys – Time. Marita Bonner
You wonder and you wonder until you wander out into Infinity, where – if it is to be found anywhere – Truth really exists. Marita Bonner
She did not talk to people as if they were strange hard shells she had to crack open to get inside. She talked as if she were already in the shell. In their very shell. Marita Bonner
What's the need of working if it doesn't get you anywhere? What's the use of boring around in the same hole like a worm? Making the hole bigger to stay in? Marita Bonner
You can, when Time is ripe, swope to your feet - at your full height - at a single gesture. Ready to go where? Why ... Wherever God motions. Marita Bonner
Effie Lee Newsome Quotes
To be brown like thrush and lark! Like the subtle wren so dark! Effie Lee Newsome
The little birches haunt the hills / In silent, silver masses, / Their violet velvet shadow robes / Beside them on the grasses. Effie Lee Newsome
Tis a noble gift to be brown, all brown, Like the strongest things that make up this earth. Effie Lee Newsome
Anne Spencer Quotes
I proudly love being a Negro woman -- it's so involved and interesting. Anne Spencer
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard. Anne Spencer
One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. Anne Spencer
Let me learn now where Beauty is; I was born to know her mysteries . . .Anne Spencer
Is any prophet come to teach a new thing/ Now in a more apt time? Anne Spencer
Ariel Williams Holloway Quotes
I know how a volcano must feel/With molten lava/Smoldering in its breast. Ariel Williams Holloway
A nigger's chance is “finest kind,” An' pretty gals ain't hard to find. Ariel Williams Holloway
Ah me! conceiv'd in sin, and born in sorrow,/A nothing, here to day, but gone to morrow,/ Whose mean beginning, blushing can't reveal. Ariel Williams Holloway
Louis Armstrong Quotes
You blows who you is. Louis Armstrong
If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. Louis Armstrong
You've got to be good or as bad as the devil. When you're dead, you're done. Louis Armstrong
Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him. Louis Armstrong
My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn. Louis Armstrong
Don't do nothing halfway, else you find yourself dropping more than can be picked up. Louis Armstrong
I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don't treat me right - shame on you. Louis Armstrong
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them. Louis Armstrong
33 Louis Armstrong Quotes: The Satchmo
Lois Mailou Jones Quotes
The wonderful thing about being an artist is that there is no end to creative expression. Painting is my life; my life is painting. Lois Mailou Jones
Mine is a quiet exploration—a quest for new meanings in color, texture and design. Even though I sometimes portray scenes of poor and struggling people, it is a great joy to paint. Lois Mailou Jones
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Quotes
Art must be the quintessence of meaning. Creative art means that you create yourself. Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
Anita Scott Coleman Quotes
Black men are the tall trees that remain standing in a forest after a fire. Anita Scott Coleman
The baby I hold in my arms is a black baby./Today I set him in the sun and/ Sunbeams danced on his head. Anita Scott Coleman
It was a drab street/A white man's street . . ./Jammed with automobiles/Streetcars and trucks;/Bee-hived with fruit vendors' stalls,/Real estate concerns, meat shops,........./ Wondering the while/ At the wonder--/ Of the black man's smile. Anita Scott Coleman
My black baby looks at me. His eyes are like coals, They shine like diamonds. Anita Scott Coleman
Arna Bontemps Quotes
How dare anyone, parent, schoolteacher, or merely literary critic, tell me not to act colored. Arna Bontemps
Let us keep the dance of rain our fathers kept and tread our dreams beneath the jungle sky. Arna Bontemps
Is there something we have forgotten? Some precious thing we have lost, wandering in strange lands? Arna Bontemps
I have sown beside all waters in my day./I planted deep, within my heart the fear/that wind or fowl would take the grain away./I planted safe against this stark, lean year. Arna Bontemps
For black man, God,/no need to bother more/but only fill afresh his meed/of laughter,/his cup of tears. Arna Bontemps
Max Eastman Quotes
A liberal mind is a mind that is able to imagine itself believing anything. Max Eastman
People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. Max Eastman
A smile is the universal welcome. Max Eastman
A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke. Max Eastman
The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness. Max Eastman
Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully. Max Eastman
Regina M. Anderson Quotes
The difference between being a librarian and 'working in a library' is not one of position but of attitude - a state of mind. Regina M. Anderson
I think the inner-city kids are going to lose out on opportunities that other districts may get. I think they lose out already. The schools are different. The activities are different. I think this bill is just going to make things worse instead of better. Regina M. Anderson
Mae Virginia Cowdery
Mae Virginia Cowdery was an African-American poet based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is considered part of the wide-ranging artistic efforts inspired by the Harlem Renaissance in New York City.
Gladys Casely-Hayford Quotes
Roars up its head in its unceasing quest/ To wear out body, brain and mind and soul. Gladys Casely-Hayford
Dawn for the rich, the artistic and the wise,/Is beauty splashed on canvas of the skies. Gladys Casely-Hayford
Rejoice and shout with laughter/Throw all your burdens down,/If God has been so gracious/As to make you black or brown. Gladys Casely-Hayford
Rejoice and shout with laughter/Throw all your burdens down/Yours is a glorious heritage./If you are black, or brown. Gladys Casely-Hayford
Eugene Gordon
Eugene Gordon was a journalist, editor, fiction writer, and social activist. He cofounded and edited the Harlem Renaissance literary magazine Saturday Evening Quill and edited a magazine put out by the Boston John Reed Club. He wrote primarily on subjects related to racial discrimination and social justice.
Lewis Grandison Alexander Quotes
The sky hangs heavy tonight/Like the hair of a Negro woman. Lewis Grandison Alexander
The earth trembles tonight/ Like the quiver of a Negro woman’s eye-lids cupping tears. ewis Grandison Alexander
Life goes by moving,/Up and down a chain of moods/Wanting what’s nothing. Lewis Grandison Alexander
Your step was like a dainty fawn/Breathing the nectared air at dawn. Lewis Grandison Alexander
Avenues of dreams/Boulevards of pain/Moving black streams/ Shimmering like rain. Lewis Grandison Alexander
May Miller Quotes
I love being a member of humankind. May Miller
We're mankind; we're the most precious thing that is on this earth, and we've got to remember that. May Miller
My mother, we always said, when she straightened her shoulders and threw her head back, we knew we were doing something wrong! May Miller
I have often said that my brother didn't care for poetry. I should have been born, and that book should be dedicated to me! May Miller
Well, everybody born is blessed with life. And I think that some have a strain that leads towards this in life; another has a strain that leads to a situation in life. May Miller
I cannot give up hope. I must not. I must hope for the generations to come, that there will be a deep appreciation of the beauty of this city. May Miller
Edythe Mae Gordon
Edythe Mae Gordon was an African-American writer of short stories and poetry during the era of the Harlem Renaissance.
Eulalie Spence
Eulalie Spence was a writer, teacher, director, actress and playwright from the British West Indies. She was an influential member of the Harlem Renaissance, writing fourteen plays, at least five of which were published.
George Schuyler Quotes
Skin stain that would impart a long-wearing light-brown tinge to the pigment. George Schuyler
The South had always been identified with the Negro, and vice versa. George Schuyler
What mattered such little things when the very foundation of civilization, white supremacy, was threatened? George Schuyler
His followers are scarcer than Jews in the Vatican. George Schuyler
Hatred and prejudice always go over big. These people have been raised on the Negro problem, they’re used to it. George Schuyler
There is no such thing as Negro dialect, except in literature and drama. George Schuyler
Negroes around them enviously admired their clear white skins. George Schuyler
A lifetime of being Negroes in the United States had convinced them that there was great advantage in being white. George Schuyler
William Grant Still Quotes
It is unfortunate for a man of color who is ambitious to live in America. William Grant Still
I harbor no delusions as to the triviality of Blues, the secular folk music of the American Negro. William Grant Still
I believe that the use of a theme in Blues idiom in a work of this sort for the purpose of welding it together is absolutely unique. And its rhythmic interest should prove to be equally as great as its melodic interest. William Grant Still
For me there is no White music or Black music - there is only music by individual men that is important if it attempts to dignify all men, not just a particular race. William Grant Still
It was my good fortune, to be a part of the jazz world when I was young, and when jazz itself was new. William Grant Still
This was the gift of New England to the freed Negro: not alms, but a friend; not cash, but character. William Grant Still
Sargent Claude Johnson
Sargent Claude Johnson was one of the first African-American artists working in California to achieve a national reputation. He was known for Abstract Figurative and Early Modern styles. He was a painter, potter, ceramicist, printmaker, graphic artist, sculptor, and carver.
Augusta Savage Quotes
I was a Leap Year baby, and it seems to me that I have been leaping ever since. Augusta Savage
I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work. Augusta Savage
Booker T. Washington Quotes
Character, not circumstances, makes the man. Booker T. Washington
You can't hold a man down without staying down with him. Booker T. Washington
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. Booker T. Washington
If you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams. Booker T. Washington
I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. Booker T. Washington
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