My Harlem Renaissance project

We study the Harlem Renaissance as part of our unit on the 1920s.  It's a great opportunity to introduce our students to how poetry can be an important cultural artifact, and explore how culture can reveal aspects of the African-American experience during that decade.

My project involves students reading four poems of that era.  Everyone reads the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred" because I'm biased: It's the single most powerful poem I ever read.  It literally stopped me in my tracks when I first read it!  That poem, and all the other poems, are in a handout of Harlem Renaissance poetry I compiled for them.  After reading their poems, students have to complete four tasks and display them on a poster board.

Click here to see my Harlem Renaissance project.  The files (handout and readings) are at the bottom of the page.