Selective Equality: two men's experience facing opposition from an un-expected source

        The Harlem Renaissance was not only a period of a flourishing of the arts in the black community, but also of awareness and outrage for the injustices facing black people at the time. Two Harlem Renaissance members who fought for equality were Richard Bruce Nugent, and James Baldwin. These men ran into adversity throughout their careers, not just from whites who were reluctant to change their discriminatory ways, but also from their fellow African Americans. These writers even felt animosity from other members of the Harlem Renaissance, who disagreed with their beliefs of equality between those with differing sexual orientations.

            One opinion that was unanimously agreed upon among Harlem’s residents during the twenties and thirties was that African Americans were unjustly treated in America, and that one should not be discriminated against because of race. Yet many felt that it was alright to do the same based on one’s sexual orientation. This differentiation was a major issue in the movie Brother to Brother. An example of this is when we see Nugent and Baldwin dealing with this problem in the film after they release the first addition of their magazine “fire.” They, and the magazine’s other writers, are together reading the reviews that ‘fire’ received. The reviews end up being mostly negative. One review that sticks out said that by including articles about homosexuality and the struggles that often come along with it, the magazine, which is centered around Negro pride, had “dragged the negro name though the muck.” This scene suggests that the Renaissance’s struggle for artistic recognition contributes to its negativity towards homosexuality. Fire’s reviewer, probably much like many others involved with the Harlem Renaissance(HR), feels that by associating the magazine with gays, the writers have cast a negative light on the HR movement for the rest of the nation, which still saw same-sex romance as a very taboo action at the time. Despite the possibility that the art world would think less of work coming out of Harlem, due to their association with a certain sexual orientation, it is wrong for the members of the HR to be fighting for their own equal rights while they continue to deny equality to other oppressed minorities.

            Later in the movie, during the scene filmed on the subway we see how the distinction between gay and Negro rights, rather than a broader total equality for all, is still being made today. In this scene the character Perry and his friend Marcus, are confronted by a man who is asking for contributions to go towards poverty-stricken blacks living in the area. During the group’s conversation homosexuality is brought up, the man begins to rant about how it is a sin and that it is wrong. This scene brings up a couple important points; the first is that bigotry and intolerance is still a major problem even today. The second is that many who fight against racism but are still against gays do so because they feel that homosexuality is sinning, and goes against the bible. Many members of the Harlem Renaissance denounced Christianity, this can be seen in much of their atheism-focused works, but many also continued to practice the religion. This spiritual group of HR members could have easily justified their homophobia towards people like Baldwin and Nugent by using certain interpretations of the bible, ones that seem to be against homosexuality. Yet it was not very long before the time of the HR, that the same holy script was used to condone the enslavement of African Americans, a practice, which these theist HR members would have surely been against.

         In the film we see first hand from Baldwin and Nugent’s experience, how a group of people fighting for their own rights can easily write off those of other minorities.

God Give to Men by Arna Bontemps

God give the yellow man
an easy breeze at blossom time.
Grant his eager, slanting eyes to cover
every land and dream
of afterwhile.

Give blue-eyed men their swivel chairs
to whirl in tall buildings.
Allow them many ships at sea,
and on land, soldiers
and policemen.

For black man, God,
no need to bother more
but only fill afresh his meed
of laughter,
his cup of tears.

God suffer little men
the taste of soul's desire.

                   God Give to Men, another poem by Arna Bontemps is a very controversial look at religion, and oppression. The first two stanzas talk about god’s gifts to two ethnic groups, "the yellow men" and the "blue-eyed men" (presumably Asians and Caucasians). The poet feels that god has been generous to these people, giving them "and easy breeze at blossom time... many ships at sea, and on land, soldiers." Bontemps finishes his second stanza by writing that god has given whites policemen, pointing out the un-proportional segregation within the U.S. police departments. This discrimination in public defense lead (and one could argue continues to lead) to a lot of tension between blacks and these authorities, especially during the later civil rights movement.

       The third stanza talks about god’s neglecting of blacks “For black man no need to bother more.” Instead of gifts, god “fills afresh his meed of laughter”; god mocks blacks rather than rewarding them. Bontemps finishes the stanza by writing that the drink god fills is a “cup of tears”, claiming god’s amusement comes from the sorrow of the suppressed Negroes.

       The final two lines of the poem continue to talk about god’s cruelty. By filling the youth with “soul’s desire”, god only sets them up for suffering when they find that their own society is denying them the right to peruse their ambition, biased on nothing more than the color of their skin.

       This poem is also be making a commentary on the U.S.’ failure to deliver civil rights. The Declaration of Independence, arguably the most important document in our nation's history, states that everyone is endowed certain unalienable god given rights; by saying god gives nothing to black men, Bontemp points out the government’s refusal to uphold the ideals the nation was founded on, and to deliver equal rights to all.

         This poem falls in to the HR theme of anger with racism, as it identifies the ways in which Negroes are unfairly treated, by not only the authorities, but their god as well.

Reconnaissance by Arna Bontemps

After the cloud embankments,
the lamentation of wind
and the starry descent into time,
we came to the flashing waters and shaded our eyes
from the glare.

Alone with the shore and the harbor,
the stems of the cocoanut trees,
the fronds of silence and hushed music,
we cried for the new revelation
and waited for miracles to rise.

Where elements touch and merge,
where shadows swoon like outcasts on the sand
and the tried moment waits, its courage gone--
there were we

in latitudes where storms are born.

         This poem, Reconnaissance by Arna Bontemps is a powerful poem written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. The work reflects the strong sense of change that had engulfed Harlem, and the rest of the nation during this momentous period of U.S. history.  

         In the first stanza Bontemps sets up a mood of anticipation by writing “after the cloud embankments the lamentation of wind” here the poet makes it as if weather and nature its self is parting in the wake of the metamorphosis taking place. Later Bontemps describes his people’s prideful demands for change by writing “Alone with the shore and the harbor we cried for the new revelation.” This stanza deeply connects with the HR theme of determination to fight oppression.

       The poet ends the piece with the lines “there were we in latitudes where storms are born” by finishing Reconnaissance like this Bontemps alludes to the ‘storm’ of change he predicts for the future.

The Janitor Who Paints by Palmer Haydan, is a interesting depiction of the working class black artist of the Harlem Renaissance. The subject of the painting is a janitor, identified by the tools of his trade hung behind him, painting his wife and child. The janitor paints his family in their modest home, where the cluttered interior, paired with the warm light, coming from the back room, produces a cozy, intimate atmosphere. This painting creates a representative of the new negro, a man who values and is capable of creating art, despite his working class background. 

The janitor's wife sits frontal, with her baby seated in her lap. This is a classic composition was often used by great masters of painting like Titian, Leonardo and Rafael when depicting the virgin marry and christ. by placing the Janitor's subjects like this Palmer creates a parallel between his blue collar painter, and recognized forefathers of modern-day painting, and by doing so he makes a claim for harlem artists, like our janitor, as valid members of the art world.

"Take the 'A' Train"

This song, "Take the 'A' Train", preformed by Duke Ellington and his band, was composed by Billy Strayhorn, after seeing Ellington perform in Pittsburgh. The story goes that Strayhorn approached Ellington after the show wondering if he could join his band, Ellington agreed to hear the young man play and invited Strayhorn to meet him at his home in New York the next day, he left Strayhorn with directions to get to his home once in the city. A day later Strayhorn arrived at Ellingtons house with a newly written song, titled after the first step in his directions "take the A train." Duke apparently loved the song because the young composer was immediately welcomed into the band, and "take the 'A' train" became a staple in the bands line up. 

     This song was hugely significant in both Strayhorn's and Ellington's careers, it was not only the first of many collaborations between the two composers, but was also arguably also one of the most popular songs Duke's band preformed. Five years after the song was composed, Joya Sherrill, a girl living in Michigan, heard the song on the radio and wrote lyrics to go along with it. After hearing them Joya's father, who was a civil rights activist working out of Detroit at the time, got in contact with Ellington. From then on Ellington would perform the song with Sherrill's lyrics, and she would eventually join the band as a vocalist. "Take the 'A' Train" was a very important song in the Harlem Renaissance, it re-shaped the careers of three musicians, and its lyrics mirrored the strong sense of pride surrounding the Harlem neighborhood.

(lyrics)

http://www.metrolyrics.com/take-the-a-train-lyrics-ella-fitzgerald.html

In this painting, "building more stately mansions", by Aaron Douglas, we see many Harlem Renaissance themes, as well as a strong commentary on the role of black culture and influence in contemporary American society. this work is dommonated by the theme of exploring African heritage, like much of his work, Douglas paints in African subject matter, like the sphinx and pyramid. The painting juxtaposes these African monuments with western structures like arches, a cathedral, and modern skyscrapers. In the foreground the artist paints in blacks constructing the buildings of tomorrow, but rather than writing his people off solely as laborers erecting these structures, he also depicts black scientists and engineers assisting in the construction.
Douglas puts a strong emphasis on the two children in the lower left corner, they are looking at a globe which radiates light throughout the painting. by depicting these children douglas creates a statement about the importance of educating the youth. this is a largely optimistic painting, which looks forward towards a brighter tomorrow. It also has a theme of pride, in the accomplishments of the past the present  and the future.