"The New Negro": Great Migration & Harlem Renaissance
- Rosie Jayde Uyola
- Mar 2
- 4 min read
Target: I can explain the relationship between the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance by comparing a letter from a migrant to a poem by Langston Hughes.
Key Vocabulary
The Great Migration: The mass movement of over 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the urban North (like NYC and Chicago) to escape Jim Crow laws and find jobs.
Push & Pull Factors: Reasons people move. Push = bad things forcing you to leave (lynching, no jobs). Pull = good things attracting you (factories, voting rights).
The Harlem Renaissance: A flowering of African American art, music (Jazz), and literature in the 1920s. It celebrated Black culture and pride.
Langston Hughes: The most famous poet of the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote about the beauty and struggle of Black life in America.
Part 1: Do Now (5 minutes)
Directions: Read the prompt below and write a 5-8 sentence response.
Prompt: Imagine you live in a town where there are no good jobs and the laws treat you unfairly. You hear that a city 1,000 miles away has high-paying jobs and better treatment, but you have to leave your family behind to go there. Would you take the risk and move? What would be the hardest part of packing up your life to start over? |
Sentence Starter: I (would/would not) take the risk because... The hardest part about moving 1,000 miles away would be...
Part 2: Analyzing the Sources
Directions: Analyze the two documents below and then answer the questions that follow.
Source 1: Letter to the Chicago Defender (1917)
Context: The Chicago Defender was a Black newspaper that encouraged people to leave the South. Thousands of people wrote letters to the paper asking for help to escape.
Original Text | Simplified Text |
"Dear Sir: I am writing you these few lines to let you know that there is a great deal of our people here that want to come up north... We are in a bad way here. There is no work here and the white folks are killing us up. I am a hard working man and I will do any kind of work... Please answer this letter at once and tell us how we can get a ticket to come. We are ready to leave at any time." | "Dear Sir: I am writing to tell you that many of our people down here want to move North... We are in a bad situation. There are no jobs here and the white people are killing us. I am a hard worker and I will do any job you have... Please answer this letter immediately and tell us how we can get a train ticket. We are ready to leave right now." |
Source 2: Langston Hughes, "I, Too" (1926)
Context: After moving North, African Americans created a new culture of pride. In this poem, Langston Hughes declares that Black Americans are equal and strong.
Original Text | Simplified Text |
"I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then." | "I am also an American. I am the Black brother. White people send me to eat in the kitchen When guests come over (Segregation), But I just laugh, And I eat well, And I grow strong. In the future, I will sit at the main table When guests come. Nobody will be brave enough To tell me, 'Go eat in the kitchen,' Then." |
Analysis Questions
Directions: Answer the writing questions and the two Multiple Choice questions.
1. According to Source 1, what were the "Push Factors" driving the author out of the South?
Sentence Starter: The author wanted to leave the South because there was "no..." and because white people were...
2. In Source 2, how does Langston Hughes' attitude show the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance? (Compare eating in the kitchen vs. sitting at the table).
Sentence Starter: Hughes shows the "New Negro" spirit because instead of accepting segregation (the kitchen), he plans to sit at the... This shows he feels...
Regents-Style Multiple Choice
3. Based on Source 1 and your knowledge of social studies, the "Great Migration" during World War I was primarily caused by:
(1) The desire for cheap land in the West
(2) The need for factory workers in Northern cities and racial violence in the South
(3) The end of the sharecropping system
(4) Government laws forcing people to move
4. The poem by Langston Hughes (Source 2) is an example of the cultural movement known as:
(1) The Transcendentalist Movement
(2) The Harlem Renaissance
(3) The Lost Generation
(4) The Hudson River School
Part 3: Exit Ticket (5 minutes)
Directions: Answer the following prompt in a complete paragraph (5-8 sentences).
Prompt: Using evidence from both sources, explain the connection between the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance. Why did people leave the South (Source 1), and how did their new life in the North lead to a new cultural identity (Source 2)? |
Sentence Starter: The Great Migration led to the Harlem Renaissance because millions of Black Americans moved to cities to escape... (Source 1). Once they arrived in places like Harlem, they felt a new sense of pride. As Langston Hughes wrote in Source 2, they refused to "eat in the..." and instead demanded to be... This shows that migration allowed Black culture to...
