CONNECTIONS 375:THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

This webpage is intended as a library resource guide for students enrolled in CONN 375: The Harlem Renaissance, taught by Professor Hans Ostrom.

Students needing help with identifying and locating appropriate information sources for their projects are encouraged to contact the Humanities Liaison Librarian:

      • Peggy Burge
      • Office: Library 117
      • e-mail: pburge@ups.edu
      • telephone: 879-3512

This web guide is organized into the following sections:

The Harlem Renaissance: Contexts & Overviews

 

These resources provide multidisciplinary overviews of the Harlem Renaissance. They are excellent research starting points, especially when you are still in the exploration stage. Be sure to take note of the bibliographies in these publications and websites, as they will lead you to more in-depth resources.

Print Resources:

  • Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, eds. Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman, 2 vols. (New York: Routledge, 2004): NX 512.3 A35 E53 2004 Reference. This fantastic encyclopedia is well worth browsing through; it covers all aspects of the Harlem Renaissance, offering everything from biographies to analysis of the relationship between Europe and the Harlem Renaissance.
  • The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Reference Guide for Student Research, by Marie E. Rodgers (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1998). This e-book includes sections on historical background, political activism, women of the Harlem Renaissance, literature and writing, the visual arts, the performing arts, sports, and entertainment.
  • The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930, by Steven Watson (New York: Pantheon Books, 1995): NX 512.3 N5 W38 1995. [If the Collins Library copy is checked out, you can request a copy from SUMMIT.] In this ingeniously designed book, Watson presents his multi-dimensional analysis of the Harlem Renaissance, while sidebars on each page engage the reader with art, photography, and revealing quotations from the participants themselves.
  • A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia, by Hans Ostrom (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002): PS 3515 U274 Z459 2002 Reference. This is an extremely rich reference resource covering all aspects of Langston Hughes's life and works.
  • When Harlem Was in Vogue, by David Levering Lewis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989): NX 511 .N4 L48 1981. [If the Collins Library copy is checked out, you can request a copy from SUMMIT.] First published over 25 years ago, Lewis's book remains a fascinating treatment of the Harlem Renaissance.
  • The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature, 5 vols., edited by Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005): PS 153 N5 G73 2005 Reference. This encyclopedia set includes over 1,000 entries on African American writers and related topics, a historical introduction, and a chronology.

Web Resources:

Writing: Literature & Journalism

The following chart provides the names of databases and other resources you can use for investigating specific authors, works, and literary trends; it also tells you the specific kinds of information to which each will lead you.

Resource: Content:
Literature Resource Center

  • Biographies and critical overviews of writers, including journalists
  • Comprehensive listing of author's works
  • Suggestions for further reading
  • Selected criticism (full-text)
MLA International Bibliography
  • Citations to scholarly articles, books, essays in books, and conference proceedings on all aspects of the Harlem Renaissance
  • You can search by author, work(s), genre, literary approach, theme, or all of the above.
Poets.org
  • Biographies of poets
  • Essays about poets and poetry
  • Interviews of poets
  • Texts of poems
  • Audio recordings of poets reading their work
Contemporary Reviews
  • To locate reviews of Harlem Renaissance literature written by contemporaries, consult the following sources:
    • Gale Literary Criticism Series (Twentieth-Century Literary Critcism, PN 771 .C5 Reference, and Contemporary Literary Criticism, PN 771 .C59 Reference)
    • Book Review Digest, Z 1219 C96 Reference--covers works published from 1906 to 1982
    • Harlem in Review: Critical Reactions to Black American Writers, 1917-1939, by John E. Bassett (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 1992), PS 153 .N5 B3 1992. [If the Collins Library copy is checked out, you can request a copy from SUMMIT.]
Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro
  • Hypermedia edition of the March 1925 Survey Graphic Harlem Number
  • Includes full page images as well as transcriptions
The Zora Neale Hurston Plays
  • Ten plays, "rediscovered" in the Library of Congress in 1997
  • Full image of each page in each manuscript

 

 

Visual Arts: Painting, Sculpture, Photography

The following chart provides the names of databases and other resources you can use for investigating specific artists, their works, and artistic trends; it also tells you the specific kinds of information to which each will lead you.

Resource: Content:
Grove Dictionary of Art (online, full text)
  • Biographies and critical overviews of artists
  • Selected full-color images of art of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Glossary of terms used in art criticism
Bibliography of the History of Art
  • Citations to scholarly articles on specific artists, works, artistic techniques, or artistic trends

Art Index & Art Index Retrospective

(both databases can be searched simultaneously)
  • Citations to scholarly articles on all aspects of the art world
  • Reviews of exhibitions

 

 

Performing Arts: Music, Dance, Theater

The following chart provides the names of databases and other resources you can use for investigating the performing arts; it also tells you the specific kinds of information to which each will lead you.

Resource: Content:

GroveMusic.com

(online, full text)
  • Biographies and critical overviews of musicians and composers
  • Detailed historical overviews of musical genres (e.g., jazz)
  • Glossary of musical terms (e.g., syncopation)
  • Sibelius Guide (brief sound clips illustrating specific technical features of music)

 

Humanities International Complete

 

 
  • Citations to scholarly articles on all aspects of music, dance, and theater
  • Reviews of performances
  • Book reviews
  • Popular agazine articles

Music Recordings in Collins Library

(The library's CD collection is housed in CD cabinets on the second floor mezzanine. CDs are organized by number.)
Online Music Recordings
Online Videos of Dance

 

 

Religion: Faith and Spirituality

The following chart provides the names of databases and other resources you can use for investigating the role of churches, faith, and spirituality during the Harlem Renaissance; it also tells you the specific kinds of information to which each will lead you.

Resource: Content:
ATLA Religion Index
  • Citations to scholarly and popular articles on the religious aspects of the Harlem Renaissance
America: History and Life
  • Citations to scholarly articles on topics in the cultural, social, intellectual, religious, and political history of the United States
Encyclopedia of African American Religion, BR563.N4 E53 1993 Reference
  • Chronology of African American Religion
  • Essays on "Religion in the African American Community," "Martin Luther King, Jr. and Modern African American Religion," and "Womanist Theology: Black Women's Experience"
  • Individual entries on figures and churches of the Harlem Renaissance (i.e., Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., Universal Hagar's Spiritual Church, Peace Mission Movement, etc.)
  • A basic bibliography of African American Religion

 

Abyssinian Baptist Church

 

  • Brief history of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem
  • Information about the present-day Church

Spirituals and Gospel Music written or collected during the Harlem Renaissance

 

 
  • The Book of American Negro Spirituals, collected by James Weldon Johnson (New York: Viking Press, 1925): M 1670 .J67 (If the library's copy is checked out, you can request another copy through SUMMIT.)
  • Too Close to Heaven: The Story of Gospel Music: ML 3187 .T66 1997 Videotape Circ. Desk. This 3-video set traces the history of American gospel music, including the Harlem Renaissance period.  
Resources for God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse, by James Weldon Johnson, illustrations by Aaron Douglas
  • Electronic edition, produced by Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina
  • 1938 reprint of original 1927 edition, in our library, PS 3519 .O2625 G6
  • Video of a claymation production of three of the sermons, available through SUMMIT 
Resources on Father Divine and the Universal Peace Mission Movement
  • Newsreel from 1936 (on YouTube)
  • God, Harlem, U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story, by Jill Watts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992): BX 7350 .W38 1992. (If the library's copy is checked out, you can request another copy through SUMMIT.)

 

 

Films and Documentaries

The following list includes films and documentaries about the Harlem Renaissance that are owned by Collins Library and may be checked out. (Click on links to read synopsis and get call number.)

 

 

 

last updated: April 17, 2008

content contact: Peggy Burge, Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound

site stats