Beginning Monday February 1, 2010, The Harlem Renaissance will be going on a virtual tour of the blogosphere. Check out these participating blogs where you’ll find reviews of a number of works, as well as general information posts about classic authors that influenced the era.

February 1, 2010   Shelf Love The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

February 2, 2010   Evening All Afternoon Cane by Jean Toomer

February 3, 2010   Daily Words and Acts Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

February 4, 2010   Paperback_Reader Passing and/or Quicksand by Nella Larsen

February 4, 2010   BookNAround The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories by Charles Chesnutt

February 6, 2010   Moored at Sea Overview: Negritude and the Harlem Renaissance

February 6, 2010   Joyfully Retired His Eye is On the Sparrow by Ethel Waters (autobiography) and the life of Ethel Waters

February 8, 2010   Sparks’ Notes Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset

February 9, 2010   The Zen Leaf Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston

February 10, 2010  Books and Chocolate Passing by Nella Larsen

February 11, 2010   Laura’s Reviews Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

February 11, 2010   Musings The Ways of White Folks: Stories by Langston Hughes

February 12, 2010   Bibliosue Home to Harlem by Claude McKay

February 13, 2010   Rebecca Reads Black No More by George Schuyler

February 14, 2010   eclectic / eccentric Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance by Bruce Nugent and an overview of African-American homosexuality during the Renaissance

February 15, 2010   Nonsuch Book Harlem Renaissance poetry from Fire!

February 16, 2010   Notes from the North The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

February 17, 2010   Becky’s Book Reviews Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

February 17, 2010   Notorious Spinks Talks Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance by Bruce Nugent and the movie Brother to Brother

February 18, 2010   The Things We Read Passing by Nella Larsen

February 19, 2010   Reviews by Lola Passing by Nella Larsen

February 20, 2010  Gimme More Books! The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

February 21, 2010   book-a-rama Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

February 22, 2010   Michelle’s Masterful Musings When Washington Was in Vogue by Edward Christopher Williams

February 23, 20101  BrownGirl BookSpeak There Is Confusion by Jessie Fauset

February 24, 2010    Wuthering Expectations The Conjure Woman by Charles Chesnutt

February 25, 2010    Linus’s Blanket Stories by Zora Neale Hurston

February 26, 2010    My Friend Amy Quicksand by Nella Larson

February 26, 2010   things mean a lot Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

February 27, 2010    Bookgazing Gentleman Jigger by Bruce Nugent

February 28, 2010    BookLust The House Behind the Cedars by Charles Chesnutt

Please note: If you are participating in this tour and the information above is incorrect or you need to make a change to your tour day, please let us know by leaving a comment or emailing rebecca[at]rebeccareid[dot]com or the Committee member who initially emailed you. Also, if you would like to be added to the schedule at this late point, let us know and we can still fit you in.

Yesterday, we introduced the historical background of the Harlem Renaissance. Today begins the sign up for that tour! See below to sign up. Sign up is closed.

Some people have expressed worry that they don’t know much about the options for this tour: the Harlem Renaissance is not something that they are incredibly familiar with.  To tell you the truth, we aren’t experts either.

However, we have taken some time to pull together what we feel is a rather comprehensive list of writers, philosophers, and artists, that we think would make this tour fun. Although we haven’t read most of these works, we’ve done research through Wikipedia and other websites, found quotes from readers on what they liked about each author’s works, and tried to cover a variety of territory. We have list for the beginning of the movement, the poets, the fiction, and other options for the tour.

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If you’d like to go a different direction for this Classic Circuit Tour, you can try something other than reading one of the author’s books. Here are some ideas to help you, from reading general information about the movement to studying about the visual artists and musical artists behind it.

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Although Zora Neale Hurston is probably the most recognized novelist to come out of Harlem, she began her writing career with folktale studies, and her novels reflect that. Jessie Redmon Fauset and Nella Larsen wrote novels focusing on middle class women. Wallace Thurman ’s The Blacker the Berry looks at discrimination among black people, and Walter White’s novel looks at the discrimination in the South.

Harlem Renaissance authors wrote in every genre. Randolph Fisher wrote a Harlem-based mystery novel. George Schuyler wrote dystopian science fiction. Arna Bontemps wrote historical fiction.  Claude McKay’s novels captured the “gritty” side of life in Harlem, from alcohol and murder, and Richard Bruce Nugent was the African-American to write about open homosexuals, focusing on life in Harlem in the 1920s.

In short, in addition to the lesser-known short story and drama writers, there are plenty of fiction options to choose from in the Harlem Renaissance!

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Once African-Americans had an audience through periodicals and the community in Harlem, poetry flowered. It’s important to note that most of the individuals we consider “poets of the Harlem Renaissance” also wrote fiction (novels and short stores) and nonfiction or anthologies. The Harlem Renaissance created all sorts of writers.

Langston Hughes is probably the first poet people think of, since he was an active writer and social activist during the Renaissance. His novels, stories, and plays are also notable. Claude McKay was already a published poet when he moved to Harlem, and he also contributed some novels to the movement. Jean Toomer’s poetic novel Cane (1923) was also a milestone for African-American literature in the 1920s.

Countee Cullen and Arna Bontemps were also noted poets, the later a great friend of Langston Hughes. Both also wrote children’s literature after the Harlem Renaissance ended. A few less well-known poets and writers also made a significant contribution.

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The Harlem Renaissance began because African Americans were thinking about race relations in America.

W.E.B. Du Bois wrote some nonfiction before, during, and after the Renaissance that helped shape some of the political thought, such as his The Souls of Black Folk. In the early years of the century, James Weldon Johnson’s poetry became a “national anthem” for African-Americans, and his semi-autobiographical The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, was a landmark, although it was published anonymously because of Johnson’s race; it’s telling that just 15 years later he could republish it fully claiming his identity.

Add Charles Chesnutt’s early novels and political leadership with the NAACP, some less well-known social activists and writers, and the 1925 anthology of African-American writing edited by Alain Locke, and the Harlem Renaissance was well underway.

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