Jim Regan - Site Reviews
Harlem Renaissance
|
An example of this phenomenon took place in New York in the early 1900's. Called the New Negro Movement at the time, we now refer to it as The Harlem Renaissance. Created by Encyclopaedia Britannica,The Harlem Renaissance thoroughly examines this extraordinary period in history -- a "furnace of creative expression and intellectual activity" which took place within the tiny geographic and historic confines of three square miles and 10 years (between the end of World War 1 and The Great Depression).
A few of the names related to this period include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Huston, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker, W.E.B. DuBois, The Cotton Club and The Apollo Theater, so it will come as no surprise that this is a fairly extensive site. But though the volume of information may seem daunting, the quality of the presentation will hold the visitor's interest throughout the tour.
The site opens with a period photograph, and a brief introduction to the history of Harlem and its inhabitants. The bulk of the content is then divided into four categories; Leadership, Literature, Art, and Entertainment. (Entertainment, the largest of these, is itself divided into Entertainers, Music, and Nightspots.) Each category offers its own introduction, and a list of illustrated, in-depth articles covering the familiar and the obscure. Movement between categories, and to other attractions, is accomplished via a navigation frame along the top of the browser window.
Those other attractions include Hot Spots, (an interactive map of the area) a Timeline, which provides hyperlinked lists of each year's events, and a Gallery of images used throughout the site. A Multimedia section offers everything from video clips of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson performing his 'stair dance,' and a recording of Langston Hughes reading his work, to current scholars commenting on various aspects of the period. (All the multimedia offerings are available in RealPlayer G2 format, and for Mac users -- since the current Mac beta of G2 is...problematic -- QuickTime movies and WAV audio files.) Finally, along the bottom of the window, are links to recommended sites, books and CDs, The Britannica Guide to Black History, and for the benefit of teachers, a Study Guide and text-only version of the site.
Though seventy years have passed since the end of the New Negro Movement, we are still benefitting from its legacy. And while we can't know how it felt to be part of these events, this site (and others, check the recommended links) can at least give us some small appreciation of one of history's more productive applications of critical mass.
The Harlem Renaissance can be found at http://harlem.eb.com/. (Please also visit the Monitor's Black History Project.)
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.