Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

By Laban Carrick Hill

Book Overview

Celebrate one of the most important periods of American cultural history: the Harlem Renaissance This package features beautiful illustrations, poetry, and prose.
Determined to make a new start for themselves at the dawn of the twentieth century, many African Americans joined the Great Migration and headed North. For those who landed in Harlem, New York, it was a time of intellectual, artistic, literary, and political blossoming. Influential African American artists and activists took center stage as they captured the attention of the world.

Harlem Stomp is a breathtaking, in-depth exploration of this fascinating era. Lavishly designed and illustrated, with photographs, historical documents, and full-color paintings, this virtual time capsule is packed with poetry, prose, and political rhetoric that introduce the amazing lives and work of notable figures such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Sargent Johnson, and Marcus Garvey.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031603424X
• ISBN13: 9780316034241
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Length: 151 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.4" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Love this book!

This is a great book - well researched with wonderful pictures and stories. I will be using this book in my classroom.

Hill's "Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance"(1900-1930's)

Laban Carrick Hill's "Harlem Stomp" is a fine historic text: with words, as well as, in pictures, photos and paintings .The text supports the idiom "believe half of what you see and even less of what you hear" as the text makes it clear that photographers like James VanDerZee(Pgs 124-126):"had his subjects look flawless even when in real life that was not the case"(e.g. :as Harlem struggled with purpose and poverty).

Geared for kids but still informative

This seems geared for the junior high school crowd, but there are still great pictures and it's pretty stuffed with information. Worthwhile buy.

Young adults (and even older ones!) will love this book

This book is a visual feast and a joy to browse; the graphic design captures the energy of the Harlem Renaissance. It's like a scrapbook jammed with "rent party" tickets, dinner programs, book covers, letters, playbills, song lyrics and more. There is something here to capture the interest of even reluctant readers.But the text also shines. The story of how and why Harlem came to be is told clearly and without mincing words: we learn the glorious achievements in art, music, theater, literature and just plain survival, but we also learn of the racism haunting the era, and the infighting within the Black community itself. I think readers will appreciate this honest, realistic approach, which brings the era to life.By the way, given the graphic beauty of this book, the price is a steal!