Malcah Zeldis:Civil Rights Movement Artist

Malcuh Zeldis is not an extremely well-known artist however, her thoughts were the same as most of the most influencial artists during that time period. She did start painting in 9174 after most of the Civil Rights Movement had been completed but everything that she painted was symbolic of mutualism. She showed paintings of blacks and whites in the same place, together, in unity. That was her vision as was it for many others like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Her painting, Peaceful Kingdom, is her idea of an utopian society and is very similar, still, to others views. This image creates a sense that we can live in harmony and it's no matter about our skin color; only our personalities.

Bob Dylan :Civil Rights Movement Musician

Bob Dylan has been an influencial figure in music for about five decades. He was a major contributer to the Civil Rights Movement because his music was able to relate to those that were fighting to keep on battling for their rights. Some of his songs like "The Times Are A-Changin'" were extremely popular to African American fighting for their freedom.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to youIs worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is

Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Throughout this song, Bob Dylan calls for everyone to band together and become one because the world as we knew it is changing. One of the lines that Dylan mentions (How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man) is extremely influencial because it describes our society so well. It shows that we don't change quickly even though African Americans deserve to have the same rights as whites.

Richard Wright :Civil Rights Movement Writer

Richard Wright was one of the most influential writers during the civil rights movement. He had powerful thoughts and ideas that challenged those of the time. One of his novels, Native Son, is about a man who is running away so as not to be put in jail for rape and murder. Throughout the novel the ideas of scared people who live in poverty, specifically African Americans. This ties into the civil rights movement because it is a book that is based off of the struggle for equal rights. It incorporates how the people where thought of as criminals, just because of the color of their skin, regardless of their personality. It also represents the inner anguish that African Americans felt because they were "free", just not as free as white people.

Background of the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement was a time where African Americans sought true equality. It took place during the 1950s and the 1960s and during that time, African American leaders rose up to seek freedom and liberty for their people. It was a representation of how hard people can work for something that they truly believe in. Many influencial people participated in this movement to promote beliefs and to promote the fact that everyone should be treated fairly and just. This movement was the start of a period of change.

Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance Writer

Langston Hughes is one of the most famous authors ever. Not because he wrote during the Harlem Renaissance, but mainly because he was such a great writer. he wrote with integrity and wrote with compassion that many people felt but could not express it themselves. He was the first African American to make a living solely off of being a writer. Although he was mainly known for his poetry he also did plays and even an opera. His writing contained the very energy that was infused in the place where he lived, Harlem, and was involved in numerous things. He went to plays and concerts and when he did this, he found inspiration that was influenced by the music or the words or the people around him. He was extremely talented and to this day, remains a significant figure in the advancement of literature.

Zora Neale Hurston: Harlem Renaissance Writer

Zora Neale Hurston was an amazing writer that contributed to people's perceptions on African American women. One of her most famous novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a novel that talks about a woman and her struggle to be independent. She wants to rely on herself and make her own choices. Hurston's diction was much like the diction of the time period in that she wrote as people would talk so as to make the story more realistic and appealing.

Her analysis of a woman and her power embodies the feeling that all people are equal and deserve to have equal rights, as most people during the Harlem Renaissance felt. Her novel was so influencial in the way people thought that they created a movie to help depict her story of a struggling woman.

" Janie, on her gossiping neighbors, stressing the importance of storytelling and oral tradition: "Ah don't mean to bother wid tellin' 'em nothin', Pheoby. 'Tain't worth de trouble. You can tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat's just de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in mah friend's mouf""

In the quote above, from Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston represents herself and the black community of that time by writing as though it was spoken. She does not use proper grammar, however she notably makes sure that you sound it out so as to fully read the book. One of the devices by authors was to make sure that there was full reading and not skimming, so they put extra meaning into each paragraph.

To see more of her writing and some of her most famous quotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God go to: http://www.novelguide.com/theireyeswerewatchinggod/toptenquotes.html

Aaron Douglas: Harlem Renaissance Artist

Aaron Douglas was one of the most critically acclaimed artists during the Harlem Renaissance. He is known by some as "The father of African Art", "Dean of African-American painters", and "Pioneering Africanist." He was a person that displayed culture in many of his works of art; trying to incorporate all that he knew. He came to Harlem due to the works of other artists like W.E.B. Du Bois.

One of his works of art, Play De Blues, incorporates a lot of the culture and surroundings that were going on at the time of the Harlem Renaissance.

On the left of the artwork, he has someone playing a piano which helped represent the artistic views and feelings through the time period. There is also a man holding a flag, whcih represents the liberty, patriotism, and pride that everyone had for America after we had won World War I.

Louis Armstrong: Harlem Renaissance Musician

Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential people in music through the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in New Orleans and learned to play the cornet when he was at a boarding school. He is known to some as the father of Jazz.

One of his most famous songs, What a Wonderful World, was a very influencial piece of art during the Harlem Renaissance that helped represent that some people were still looking at the positives. Throughout the song, Armstrong represents a good morale in that while we are going through tough times now, things will get better and we have to make it a better place for our children. This embodies the main sense of the Harlem Renaissance because it was an evolutionary song that made people think differently. People used to conform, but songs during that period were being made based on own opinions and thoughts.

"I see trees of green........ red roses tooI see em bloom..... for me and for youAnd I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.I see skies of blue..... clouds of whiteBright blessed days....dark sacred nightsAnd I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the skyAre also on the faces.....of people ..going byI see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you doTheyre really sayin......i love you.I hear babies cry...... I watch them growTheyll learn much more.....than Ill never knowAnd I think to myself .....what a wonderful world(instrumental break)The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the skyAre there on the faces.....of people ..going byI see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you doTheyre really sayin...*spoken*(I ....love....you).I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow*spoken*(you know their gonna learnA whole lot more than Ill never know)And I think to myself .....what a wonderful worldYes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world."

Background of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a major cultural, social, and revolutionary movement that occurred in Harlem between the end of World War I and the mid-1930's. Many African Americans, who came from the South, were involved in this explosion of culture. These African Americans came from may different professions; they were writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. This era represented many things for artists; it was a new thing in which they were free to finally express themselves through thought, writing, and music.