The Harlem Renaissance

                                                          



After World War I, large numbers of African-Americans, who had been living in the rural South, began moving north to urban centers, such as New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Most of the people had witnessed discrimination firsthand. They were intent on finding better work and a more prosperous lifestyle, minus the social injustice.

Out of this migration, a period of much literary and artistic creativity followed. What began as a literary discussion between African-American writers eventually extended to other areas, such as music, theater, art, and science. This activity or movement became known as the Harlem Renaissance. It gets its name from a section of New York City's West Side called Harlem, where the largest urban African-American community at the time had taken root. African-American poets, writers, artists, and musicians flocked to Harlem because it was a showcase for their talents.

While literature was the first and major focus of this renaissance, the most fascinating aspect, to white Americans, was the music that came out of this movement. Jazz became the most popular style of music during this period. White people flocked to the Harlem nightclubs to hear the African-American artists perform.

One of the most famous jazz musicians was a trumpet player bu the name of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. We listened to his song "It's a Wonderful World" in class. Originally from New Orleans, he began playing a little tin horn while still a small child. Eventually, he learned to play the trumpet and brought his talent to cities in the North, such as Chicago and New York's Harlem.

Tomorrow, our class will look at some literature and music from this era. We will also have our vocabulary quiz, turn in our rhetorical analysis, and outlines. See you then!

English Major Struggles

Assignment for Feb. 28

Class,

Just a reminder to complete your essay examining the rhetorical devices used by MLK in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." You should have a paragraph on logos, another on ethos, and a third on pathos. Give examples from the text rather than just stating they are present. Add in an introductory paragraph, where you introduce the text and your main claim. Add a concluding paragraph summarizing your argument.

We will also have our vocabulary quiz on lists 14-17, so study up! :)

Finally, you need to come with a rough outline of your research topic and three sources you plan on using. Remember, I am primarily looking to see if you have set up a game plan for your research and to help you begin to organize your ideas. We will look at this more in-depth in class. Most of our writing from here on out will be focused on your research paper.

Also, finish reading The Watson's Go To Birmingham. We will talk a little about this in class.

Next up for March is Fahrenheit 451! I had planned in our syllabus to discuss "fake news" so I'm a little excited to see all the Providential discussions surrounding this topic recently. I had this picked out last summer! This just means we have lots of recent articles to examine and discuss.

Grammar Matters

Chronology of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chronology of Martin Luther King, Jr

This site is very helpful putting together the timeline of the letter and major events of the Civil Rights movement. See if you can find his letter. What connections can you make to our literature study? What events led up to this?

The Letter that Prompted "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

Ever wonder who MLK was writing to? Here is the fateful letter sent by the clergymen that inspired one of the best responses ever written.

Letter from the Clergymen

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

Letter From a Birmingham Jail



Class,
You can find the full text of this letter through the above link. Make sure you when you prepare your three paragraphs this week that you are using evidence in each of those paragraphs from this letter. Your three paragraphs will be written in the standard academic paragraph style: 1)Make a claim. This should somehow link together with your rhetorical analysis. Is this paragraph illustrating his use of logic? His credibility? Or making an emotional appeal? 2)Second, define what you mean. 3)Third, provide an example using the text as evidence. Do you see how King does this himself? 4)Fourth, explain how that supports your claim. 5)Finally, conclude your paragraph by restating or reaffirming your claim. Those of you that are more sophisticated or experienced writers might want to try expanding these paragraphs by presenting more than one example. You would just repeat the third and fourth steps to further prove your point. However, if writing is challenging for you, or you are just starting out with these essays, make sure you meet the minimum five sentences in each paragraph.

Research Paper? Where do I begin?

Many of you have not written a long research paper before and you may be feeling a little anxious over the eight-page requirement. Yes, it looks daunting. Yes, it is a lot of work. But it is not impossible. We are going to break this down into manageable chunks. Essentially, most papers are made up of the same models, just some expand on the ideas a little more. For example, when we worked on a simple five paragraph essay, you learned to have an introduction, three main points, and a conclusion. Your research paper will be very similar in structure but it will need more space for those points. So if you are writing an eight-page paper, it will be easy to imagine that your introduction will comprise at least one page, your main points will need two pages each, and your conclusion will be one page. So do not worry about the total limit. Just focus on each section.

In order to fill those main points, you are going to need to gather data. This is where the research in the research paper comes from :). I use a formula I learned about fifteen years ago that has served me well in all of my research. It's called RENNSQQ. I'll break it down but learn it. I will beat this formula into your head a million times over the remainder of the semester. I have probably taught this formula to more than a hundred students at the university in the Writing Center.

R-Reasons
E-Examples
N-Names
N-Numbers
S-Sensory Words
Q-Questions
Q-Quotations


When you are beginning your research, let this formula guide you. Look for reasons and examples to use in your paper. Look for credible experts (names) to build your ethos. Look for numbers--dates, statistics, percentages. This is the evidence, the logos, needed to build your case. Sensory words include the language necessary for your field, great expressive language, and the pathos. Sometimes a thesaurus nearby is helpful here. Questions guide your research. What are you hoping to prove? What are you trying to understand? And finally, quotations that stand out to you in your research, pull them aside and note the source and page number. These will be great to build your paragraphs and argument. Remember, we need textual evidence.

Simple Outline

The Conquest of Mt. Everest

1. Introduction
2. Background Information 
   1. Location of Mt. Everest 
   2. Geography of the Surrounding Area 
   3. Facts about Mt. Everest 
      1. Height of the mountain 
      2. How the mountain was named 
         1. Peak XV 
         2. Joloungma (Tibetan name) 
         3. Sagarmatha (Nepalese name) 
      3. The number of people who have climbed Everest to date 
3. Major Explorers Covered in this Paper 
   1. Sir Edmund Hillary 
      1. First to reach the summit (1953) 
      2. Led a team of experienced mountain climbers who worked together 
   2. Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas 
      1. Norgay was an experienced climber and guide who accompanied Hillary 
      2. Sherpas still used to guide expeditions 
   3. Rob Hall 
      1. Leader of the failed 1996 expedition 
      2. Led group of (mainly) tourists with little mountain climbing experience 
4. The Impact Expeditions have had on Mt. Everest and Local Community
   1. Ecological Effects 
      1. Loss of trees due to high demand for wood for cooking and heating for tourists. 
      2. Piles of trash left by climbing expeditions 
   2. Economic Effects 
      1. Expedition fees provide income for the country 
      2. Expeditions provide work for the Sherpas, contributing to the local economy. 
   3. Cultural Effects 
      1. Introduction of motor vehicles 
      2. Introduction of electricity 
5. Conclusion

A Formal Outline

Class,

We will be looking at writing outlines and I want to show you a few examples that can be used. Often in traditional English classrooms, professors would require a formal outline for research papers. I am including a sample of one below. Fortunately, recent scholarship in composition pedagogy has shifted from this very formal and archaic form to a much more simplified version. However, for those of you interested in learning this formal outline, I am including this sample. Feel free to use this model for your outline assignment or you are free to use a more simplified version, which I will also include in another post. I will keep this blog up for future reference for those of you heading off to College Composition after this--but most of you will not need it. I have a Bachelor's in English and only wrote one of these. I have also only written one for my Master's degree. Like I said, these are largely falling to the wayside as composition teachers learn what helps our writing process and what seems like useless work.

So if formal outlines are useless, why am I teaching them? While I do agree the standard outline is too involved, a short and simple outline is a wonderful tool for both research and organization. And these insanely involved outlines almost write your paper for you. I certainly will not require this much work for your outline, but I want you familiar with this model.

FORMAL OUTLINE:

For a thousand years during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church united the people of Europe.  But during the Renaissance period, dissatisfaction with the Church began to grow.  More and more people became alarmed at certain church practices.  One concerned person was Martin Luther.  After careful thought, he decided in 1517 to post the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  These theses, or statements, criticized clergymen for selling “indulgences,” pardons for sins.  Luther later attacked the Church for what he felt were other wrongdoings.  Many people rallied around Martin Luther and supported his stand against the Catholic Church.  Thus began the “Reformation,” a movement which caused thousands of Roman Catholics to become Protestants.  People were called Protestants because they “protested” against certain Church practices.

1.     Causes of the Reformation

a.     Political Causes

                                          i.         Kings increased their power and challenged the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church.

1.     Strong nation-states were developing in England, France, and Spain.

2.     Some rulers objected to the influence that popes had in their countries.  King Philip IV of France kidnapped the pope after the pope ordered the French clergy not to pay taxes.  The papacy was moved to Avignon, France.  For the next 69 years, popes remained under the control of French kings.  This period from 1309 to 1378, was known as the “Babylonian Captivity.”  Then, in 1378, a second pope began to rule from Rome.  Both the French pope and Italian pope claimed to be the supreme spiritual authority.  This split within the Church, called the “Great Schism,” caused widespread confusion and was an embarrassment to the Church.

                                         ii.         Some Catholics believed that the Church was too involved in world affairs.  The suggestion was made that a council, instead of a pope, should hold power.

b.     Religious Causes

                                          i.         Serious abuses and wasteful spending hurt the image of the Catholic Church.

1.     Money was raised by selling important positions in the Church.

2.     Other monies were collected from the sale of indulgences.  An “indulgence” reduced or eliminated the punishment for sins.

3.     Popes and higher clergy in Italy built beautiful palaces and enjoyed a rich lifestyle.

4.     Money was spent on a series of long and costly wars to defend the Papal States.

                                         ii.         Church officials gave too little attention to spiritual leadership at a time when interest in religion was growing among the common people of Europe.

                                       iii.         Desiderius Erasmus and other Christian scholars urged the Church to make reforms.

c.     Economic Causes

                                          i.         During the Middle Ages, when most people lived in farm villages, local clergy exerted considerable influence over people’s lives.

                                         ii.         But as trade increased and cities grew in size and wealth, people looked more to kings for protection.

2.     Major Events of the Reformation

a.     In 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and professor of theology, posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

                                          i.         Luther was angered by the sale of indulgences by a Wittenberg monk named Johann Tetzel.

                                         ii.         The Ninety-Five Theses criticized the selling of indulgences, saying that they did not pardon a person for their sins.

b.     Luther’s call for reform was based on certain fundamental beliefs. 

                                          i.         He felt that a person could achieve salvation only through faith in God’s mercy.  This idea contradicted the Church’s teaching of good works as a way to salvation.  Luther said that man does not get closer to God by attending church, going on pilgrimages, or aiding the poor.

                                         ii.         The pope, he declared, was not the one to judge matters relating to God’s word and faith.  Only the individual man could make such judgments.

                                       iii.         Luther also believed that the Bible was the only guide for Christians. People did not need to participate in Church ceremonies or accept the authority of the pope, since the Bible said nothing about either. People should read the Bible themselves and not rely on priests for interpretation

c.     Luther continued to criticize the Church during the months following his posting of the Ninety-Five Theses.

                                          i.         The invention of movable type made it easy to print and distribute Luther’s ideas throughout Europe.

                                         ii.         In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther, declaring him a heretic.

                                       iii.         In 1521, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, ordered Luther to appear before the Imperial Diet, which was meeting in Worms, Germany. 

1.     The Diet demanded that he take back what he had said and written.  Luther said, “I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.”

2.     Charles V, in the “Edict of Worms,” declared Luther to be an outlaw.

d.     Luther led the Protestant movement until his death in 1546.

                                          i.         Lutherans presented the “Augsburg Confession” to the Diet at Augsburg, Germany.  It summarized the religious teachings of Martin Luther.

                                         ii.         At the time of Luther’s death, about half of the prices in the Holy Roman Empire had become Lutherans.  Many townspeople and peasants in Germany also joined the new Protestant faith.

e.     Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, declared war on the Lutheran princes, trying to force them to rejoin the Catholic Church.  Neither side was able to win the war.  In the “Peace of Augsburg,” Charles agreed to let each prince to decide whether he wanted his territory to be Catholic or Lutheran.

f.      Other reformers won followers across Europe as Protestant ideas spread from Germany to other countries.

                                          i.         Ulrich Zwingli made reforms in Switzerland.

1.     He ended the Catholic Mass, confessions, and indulgences.

2.     Services were held in undecorated buildings with sermons based on the Bible.

3.     Priests were permitted to marry.

                                         ii.         John Calvin organized a second Protestant movement in Switzerland.

1.     Calvin agreed with martin Luther that good works would not guarantee salvation.

2.     But Calvin disagreed with Luther’s contention that an individual could work toward salvation through faith in God.  Instead, he believed in “predestination,” the idea that God had already chosen those individuals who would eventually gain salvation. 

3.     Calvinists followed the strict morality of the Old Testament.

4.     The ideas of the Calvinists spread to The Netherlands, France, Scotland, and England.

                                       iii.         Henry VIII of England broke away from the Catholic Church.

1.     Henry wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon because she had not provided him with a son to inherit the throne.  He planned to marry Anne Boleyn hoping for a son.

2.     When the pope refused to annul (cancel) his marriage to Catherine, Henry took control of the English church, then married Anne Boleyn.

3.     Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, confirming that the king was the head of the Church of England, or Anglican Church.

3.     Results of the Reformation

a.     Europe was divided between Catholic countries in the south and Protestant countries in the north.

b.     The variety of religious beliefs in Europe helped promote “religious toleration,” or respect for an individual’s right to worship in his own way.

c.     The Protestant movement led to the “Counter Reformation,” a period of reform that strengthened the Church

d.     The “Protestant Ethic,” an attitude that encouraged hard work and careful management of money and material things, contributed to the growth of business and industry in Europe.

e.     Nationalism grew in countries that established state churches, like the Church of England.  “Nationalism” is a feeling of pride in one’s country.