Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History Of The Harlem Renaissance
by Laban Carrick Hill
List Price:
Our Price: $4.99
You Save: $8.00 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.48 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Laban Carrick HillEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-01
ISBN: 031603424X
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Book Reviews of Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History Of The Harlem Renaissance
Book Review: An Ideal Resource of Educators and Students
Summary: 5 Stars
Far from a simple survey of a period, this 150+ page text captures the vitality and vivacity of a time when African Americans made some of the greatest strides toward self-definition and self-determination. Moreover, Harlem Stomp! is especially useful because it does not pave over the tensions and troubles of the period. While the stories, biographies, and images reflect the glitter and glamour of the age, so too do the photographs, content, and tone shed light on the glaring racial inequalities of the time.
Setting the tone for the ways in which the text engages the time period, Chapter 1: The Smoldering Black Consciousness, 1900-1910, latches on to the intellectual back and forth between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois--in the very first major section of the chapter! My students used the opening pages of the initial chapter as part of an exercise to determine points of comparison and contrast between Washington and Du Bois's ideas about the best course of African American efforts to achieve equality. Artwork by Aaron Douglas that often graced the covers of The Crisis provides an aesthetic anchor from the very beginning. The first chapter alone demonstrates the rising African American confidence and acts of self-assertion at the turn of the century.
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, Augusta Savage, Alain Locke, Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb, and countless others all provide stories of passion and pride on each page. What makes this book such a gem is that it does not parade individuals along with little connection to context. Instead, each actor is part of the larger narrative that unfolds. Individual stories in this book provide a starting point for students to create biographies of major figures. (The book was so successful that when I assigned biographies to the class and allowed students to choose the figures they would study, I could invariably hand the book over to any student who expressed initial disinterest in beginning the project. "I don't want to do this, Mr. Smith." Within a few turns of the pages, the initially obstinate student would look up, with figure in mind, inspired by the stories told in the book. Each student was hooked.)
As I read Harlem Stomp! this past spring, I was stunned while reading about real estate and residential struggles that eventually gave way to Harlem as it was in the 1920s and 1930s. A massive power struggle between residents and real estate owners played out on the books pages. Indeed, I was reminded just have prominently conflicts over property influence politics of race and class. Similar topics, like the segregated nature of the Cotton Club, are presented faithfully and honestly on the books pages. In class, we were able to compare and contrast the exclusivity (based on race) of the Cotton Club with the more integrated Savoy Ballroom.
What spoke to me, and my students, so clearly was just how much the period of the Harlem Renaissance was characterized by black hope and pride. In 2010, students and teachers alike could use a strong dose of this same hope and pride.
Summary of Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History Of The Harlem Renaissance
When it was released in 2004,History & Historical Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Similar Books and other products
Fanny Crosby: Queen of Gospel Songsby Rebecca Davis
Journey Forth; Published: 2003-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.32
Price in other shops:
Billy Sunday, Home Run to Heaven (Sowers)by Robert A. Allen
Mott Media (MI); Published: 1985-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.58
Price in other shops:
Women's Right to Vote (Cornerstones of Freedom: Second)by Elaine Landau
Scholastic Library Pub; Children's Press(CT); Published: 2007-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops:
Glencoe Language Arts Grammar And Language Workbook Grade 8by McGraw-Hill
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill; Published: 1999-08-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Children of the Great Depressionby Russell Freedman
Sandpiper; Published: 2010-12-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops:
Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 (Downtown Bookworks Books)by Charles C. Mann
Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Published: 2009-09-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Franklin Delano Rooseveltby Russell Freedman
Sandpiper; Published: 1992-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.50
Price in other shops:
Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companionby Linda Granfield
Fitzhenry and Whiteside; Published: 2005-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.78
Price in other shops:
Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Laborby Russell Freedman
Sandpiper; Published: 1998-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops:
World War I (DK Eyewitness Books)by Simon Adams
DK Publishing; DK CHILDREN; Published: 2007-06-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops: