Chicago or Harlem

Both Baldwin’s Chicago’s New Negro and Locke’s The New Negro ,based on blacks in New York , focus on the cultural revelation that is the “New Negro” and the specific aspects of what qualifies as the “New Negro.” However where this renaissance and how are slightly different between the two scholars. As we discussed earlier in the course the Negro Renaissance is readily associated with New York and more specifically Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance was a remarkable boom of creativity in the arts, literature and music. Baldwin too agrees that this is pivotal to the Renaissance but it is not central to Harlem and it is also not central to the arts. Baldwin brings into account that those like Jack Johnson are also critical characters responsible for the emergence of the new negro. Johnson, a Black boxer would subvert notions of black inferiority by pummeling his white opponents essentially destroying ideas of white dominance . Baldwin writes: “what jack Johnson seeks to do to Jefferies in the roped arena will be more the ambition of Negros in every domain of human endeavor.” He prophetically asserted that alongside Johnson the Negro poet, sculptor, and scholar, would “keep the white race busy for the next few hundred years.” Those like Johnson, who were not necessarily the intellectual or “artsy type,” created a wider spectrum to blacks and allowed more then just intellectuals to be part of the movement is allowed businessmen, as well as other innovators and black inventers to be recognized as part of the greater movement. Baldwin credits the notion of the new negro to the mass consumer market looking outside the spectrum of the Harlem negro.

Dream Variation

"Dream Variation"

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me-
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

I selected this poem due to its similarity to some themes in the novel “The Warmth of Other Suns. ” in particular the story entitled Disillusionment (pg 371). The story of Disillusionment is about a dilemma that Ida Mae and her family faced upon reaching the north. The north was where dreams and aspirations of equality and the betterment of life were believed to be found. The North meant better homes and better jobs.

The poem begins with ideas about hope and freedoms. This is depicted by the manner in which the first stanza is written. Upon reading it we are filled with images of ease, peace, rest and a sense of hope for “some place in the sun”(what the north was believed to be). However the second stanza where the teller of the poem is now “in the face of the sun” (or in the north) the ideas and pace of the poem which had first depicted tranquility are now rushed and less dream like.

This unfulfilled dream was the reality that many migrants faced in the north. There were some aspects of the north that did not turn out to be much different from the south just as Idea Mae’s family found upon moving into a neighborhood that was not a part of the “black belt.” When the family first attempted to move in they were stopped by hecklers and law officials. The second time they were forcibly removed, ransacked and had their belongings plundered and destroyed by white protesters.

Instances like this made blacks in the North weary and the dream was differed in to a new direction, the direction to merely deal with their daily lives and the absence of a dream.

in the beginning of time...

Entering UCSB I had aspirations to be a biology major and pursue my desire to become a dentist. As a freshman I was a member of the UCSB track and field team. This is where that life long dream changed. My coach “strongly encouraged” me to forget biology because he assumed I would fail. He told me I should do something like Black Studies or sociology which would easier so I can make sure I am eligible to compete. With my aspirations and self confidence crushed I set aside goals. I began to take my GE’s and other preparatory sociology courses with a few black studies courses sprinkled here and there. When I began my black studies courses I took them with much disdain, with thoughts of biology still heavy on my mind. I took the courses frivolously not really caring about what I learned . I mean I knew things about black history and the misconceptions we learned in high school but I wasn’t until I took Black studies 7 with Professor McAuley that I really got engaged in the discipline. This course, which was an exploration of Caribbean studies, hit home for me because that is where my family originated with me being first generation US born. While studying this course I learned why it is the particular facets of my life are the way they are and how they directly corresponded with the histories of the Caribbean. After this course I no longer saw black studies as just some random discipline I was just going through the motions of learning. After taking this course I began to think of the various black peoples around the world and throughout the African diaspora and their interconnectedness .it made me want to learn more so I took courses in blacks in the media , the black radical tradition, black writes and literature. I wanted to know as much as possible about where I came from which in my eyes determined where I would go next.

At this point I had taken so many black studies courses I wasn’t sure there was anything left to learn that would alter or create any new idea about black studies and black peoples that was until I took A seminar on racism in the constitution. This was the first time I took a course were I was not allowed to think with emotion but had to focus specifically on the fundamental and intentional racism that was written into the constitution as well as lawmaking. In this course you could just simply say “that’s not right” or “that is inhumane” you had to look at things from the viewpoint of lawmakers an politicians and do all you could to simply find the right words or wording to beat them at their own game.

The last course I took that had an impact on my way of thinking was seminar with Dr. Robinson in which we discussed the various facets of the black intelligentsia and the immense power of this black middle class and black secret societies. This class in its completion completely altered my perceptions of the role of blacks at crucial points in history and in politics.

The black studies courses I took while at UCSB have influenced the way I think, speak and even my day to day interactions. Even though I was deterred from my initial goals (which I am perusing again after graduation) black studies has created a vast array of knowledge that is pertinent to my life and the lives of all.