Black Pride & Protest Through Poetry

Developed by Fatima Mbaye (2017)

For my media presentation, I used lines from the Harlem Renaissance poems I collected to create a new poem. I chose the lines from each poem based on how much they spoke to me and not based on how well they can fit together. After I compiled all my lines, I arrange the lines in the order that flowed the most, avoiding putting too many lines from the same poem together. While the poem mostly reads well, it feels choppy because there seems to be conjunctions missing from the poem and punctuations oftentimes do not mark the end of a complete idea. While this was unintentional, the choppy feel to the poem is interesting because it has a shock value to it a bit and given the words can make a powerful impact of the reader. The choppy feel can also represent ideas beyond what the poem directly addresses, something that is up to the reader to decide for themselves. I chose poetry as my media representation because of the fact that these poems spoke to me since they were about issues I could relate to. I have hoping to give another person, who might not necessarily enjoy poetry, that same experience with a poem made up of the the poems that touched and convey what I see as the current struggles of black people.

For more information about the Harlem Renaissance and the poets of the time, people should visit these websites:

“A Brief Guide to the Harlem Renaissance.” poets.org Academy of American Poets, 25 Feb.
2016. Web. 02 May 2017.

“Writers and Poets.” The Harlem Renaissance. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.
<http://historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com/writers-and-poets.html>.

History.com Staff, History.com Staff. “Harlem Renaissance.” history.com A&E Television

Networks, 2009. Web. 04 May 2017.
<http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance>.

“Writers and Poets.” The Harlem Renaissance. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.
<http://historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com/writers-and-poets.html>.