The Harlem Renaissance was the most celebrated African American cultural movement throughout the history of the United States owing to the massive and remarkable literature output by African American artists. Yet, attention to the white participants is limited. One of the most significant white patrons and writers, Carl Van Vechten and his fifth novel Nigger Heaven (1926) have cast noteworthy influences on African Americans, the American society and the Harlem Renaissance. To examine Van Vechten and his most important work and their connection with the Harlem Renaissance in greater details, this thesis focuses heavily on the novel as well as the paper collections of Van Vechten at New York Public Library. Thus, the research method of this thesis is an archival one. Despite little attention to this novel and its author, this thesis argues that they both serve as an unprecedented experience towards literature on African Americans and racial complexity in the United States during the 1920s. The first chapter focuses on the change from his initial fascination towards the “exoticism” and “primitivism” of African Americans to a genuine appreciation of the talents of African American artists of the Harlem controversial text regarding its title and the fact that the author was a white man yet decided to write a story on African Americans. This novel is significant in a sense that it inspires discussions on issues such as the phenomenon of “passing”, the “color line” and the masculinity of white patronage in Harlem in the 1920s. Additionally, it facilitates examination on the historical complexity of the word “nigger”. Chapter three focuses on the mixed critiques towards the novel. Although the author insists that this is a work of irony about the contemporary racial complexity, such irony did not seem to work for everyone. The ambivalent responses from African American audiences are intriguing for in‐depth analysis. Moreover, the initial covers of Nigger Heaven contain important implications and stories to be told. This thesis aims to indicate that Van Vechten and Nigger Heaven deserve more attention while such insufficiency offers room for further studies. / published_or_final_version / Modern Languages and Cultures / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation examines intra-racial colorism in works by writers who began their careers during the Harlem Renaissance, but whose writings span almost a century. In these writings, colorism; which can be defined as a bias directed toward an individual that is based on skin tone, is portrayed an intra-racial practice that results from the internalization of racist ideals. The practice relies on a hierarchy that most often privileges those closest to the color line. However, these depictions also show that the preponderance of skin tones can sometimes determine who is targeted. For the purposes of this study it is called reverse colorism when the bias is directed by individuals darker in skin tone toward those who are lighter. Consequently, the careful descriptions of the shades and hues of black characters becomes more than aesthetics and can be seen as a coded reference to experiential differences. While Alain Locke hailed the start of the Harlem Renaissance to signal the rise of The New Negro, the writings featured by female writers in this dissertation advance a less optimistic reality for women, who had to contend with both inter- and intra-racial bias because of their skin tone. Colorism is identified as a particularly prevalent presence in the lives of black women, who also saw skin tone subjectively and viewed themselves as darker than their male counterparts.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-169). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11859.

Claude McKay (1890-1948) is best known as a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance and a pioneer of Caribbean literature. He is less well known as a political thinker and activist. This thesis undertakes three tasks. First, it provides a detailed presentation of Claude McKay's political ideas and practices over time. Second, it critically engages with these. And finally, in the process, debunks and challenges a number of pervasive misconceptions of McKayfs politics. Although the analysis covers the period 1890 to 1920, it nevertheless is based upon the entire corpus of McKay's work - published and unpublished - from his early writings in Jamaica to those up to his death in 1948. His preoccupations and thought are placed within their historical context. The thesis thus draws upon his non-fiction texts, poetry, novels, short stories, journalism, unfinished manuscripts and correspondence. In the process, it demonstrates that McKay was a major political thinker, that his ideas have remarkable resonance today, especially in the United States, and that they are still relevant to contemporary black politics, particularly to those of the African diaspora. All in all, the thesis is a contribution to a better understanding of a remarkable man and outstanding figure of the African diaspora.

Diss.--Teilw. zugl.: Univ. of Minnesota, 1969.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [240]-248).

Texte remanié de: Thesis Ph. D. Comparative literature--Buffalo, N.Y.--State university of New York, 1998. / Notes bibliogr.

From its distinction during the 1920s as the hub of black culture and commerce in America to its later reputation as the unmitigated manifestation of inner city decay, Harlem evokes an urban palimpsest, a lived geographic space onto which collective desires and fears are written and overwritten. Because of the symbolic place Harlem occupies in the national imaginary, my dissertation focuses on this central public site. Jay-Walking in the City: Violence Against Women, Urban Space, and Pedestrian Acts of Resistance advocates an investigation of textual histories of abusive domestic experiences in this neighborhood in order to underline the importance of public spheres in redressing trauma. As part of the larger archive of Harlem literature, the novels I investigate in this dissertation offer counter-narratives to those circulating in post-war America concerning the safety of this neighborhood’s streets and the character of its residents. Ann Petry’s The Street (1946), Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place (1980), Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982), and Sapphire’s Push (1996) all contain episodes of domestic or sexual violence against women perpetrated in the Harlem households where the protagonists of these novels live. This dissertation focuses on the moments when Harlemites whom these women encounter in the public sphere intervene in the violent conditions of these primary characters’ lives. These interposal episodes within each novel challenge the pervasive cultural dichotomy that extols the American home as a stronghold of social and national security and lambastes the inner city as a volatile space of danger and fear. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 54 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-46).

Roughly 1 million Blacks fled from the South to cities in the North, and with this shift New York City saw a 66% increase in its Black population between 1910 and 1920. By the end of the 1920s Harlem had become home to approximately 200,000 Black residents. But during the period 2000 to 2016 three of the nation's top ten gentrifying zip codes could be found in Harlem, and Harlem's Black population decreased by 23,166 residents, while Harlem's white population increased by 33,442 during this era. Similar to Harlem having played a pivotal role in Black culture throughout the United States, the Black church has been a pillar and resource in the Black community. In sustaining its congregants, the Black church has played a critical role in Black liberation. But despite the potential that Black churches may hold, many are experiencing declining attendance and presence. This study aims to examine the racially nuanced dynamics of Harlem's spaces confronting gentrification by looking at the interrelated dynamics of gentrification and the Black church. Data was collected via participant observation and semi-structured interviews in Harlem. The research elucidates findings regarding Harlem's gentrification, the Black church in Harlem, tactics for survival of the Black church amid gentrification, and how the Black church may play a role in combating the state-sanctioned violence of gentrification.