W.E.B. Du Bois and his NAACP colleague James Weldon Johnson asserted that the only uniquely “American” expressive traditions in the United States had been developed by African Americans. They, more than any other group, had been forced to remake themselves in the New World, Du Bois and Johnson argued, while whites continued to look to Europe or sacrificed artistic values to … [Read more...] about Saturday Open Thread: The Niggerati and The Negrotarians
History
Friday Open Thread: The Niggerati and The Negrotarians
The Costs of White Patronage This extraordinarily rich cultural moment, the Harlem Renaissance, in which it seemed possible that African Americans would take the lead in creating the cosmopolitan America that progressive writer Randolph Bourne had called for in the 1910s, won the attention and admiration of a good many white critics and intellectuals. In particular, … [Read more...] about Friday Open Thread: The Niggerati and The Negrotarians
Thursday Open Thread: The Harlem Renaissance – The Niggerati and the Negrotarians
It is impossible to engage in a complete discussion of the Harlem Renaissance without acknowledging the financial and tangible contributions of white patrons and their support of black intellectuals. White patronage had a profound effect on the vitality of the Harlem Renaissance, and evidence suggests that the Renaissance would not have reached the heights that it did without … [Read more...] about Thursday Open Thread: The Harlem Renaissance – The Niggerati and the Negrotarians
Monday Open Thread: The Harlem Renaissance – The Niggerati and the Negrotarians
The Niggerati was the name used, with deliberate irony, for a group of young African-American artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. "Niggerati" is a portmanteau of "nigger" and "literati". The rooming house where writer Wallace Thurman lived, and where that group often met, was similarly christened Niggerati Manor. The group included Zora Neale Hurston, Langston … [Read more...] about Monday Open Thread: The Harlem Renaissance – The Niggerati and the Negrotarians
Saturday Open Thread: The History of Blacks and SKA music
Cecil Bustamente Campbell OD ( May 24, 1938 – September 8, 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960's influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that would be drawn upon later by reggae and ska artists. … [Read more...] about Saturday Open Thread: The History of Blacks and SKA music