The Power of Pride: Stylemakers and Rulebreakers of the Harlem Renaissance

By Diana Edkins and Carole Marks

Josephine Baker -- Walter White -- Zora Neale Hurston -- A'Lelia Walker -- James Weldon Johnson -- Ethel Waters -- Louis Armstrong -- Bessie Smith -- Alberta Hunter -- Jessie Fauset -- Nella Larsen -- Florence Mills -- Duke Ellington -- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson -- Carl Van Vechten -- Langston Hughes -- Dorothy West "The Power of Pride features seventeen of the most prominent men and women of the New Negro Renaissance. Alternately irreverent, racy, and painfully honest, they were unique: risk-takers in dangerous times, sophisticated saloni?res in an age of bourgeois provincialism, and experimenters who briefly managed to transcend race by immersing themselves in it."???????? --From the Introduction The Harlem Renaissance was an electrifying period during which huge numbers of African Americans threw off the shackles of discrimination, exploitation, and poverty in the South and moved north. Heady with the feeling of liberation and the discovery of other like-minded folk, artists, writers, painters, and dancers engaged in bursts of furious creativity. From Josephine Baker, taking Paris by storm with her sensual performances and ravishing costumes, to Duke Ellington, revolutionizing the way people thought about rhythm and melody, these artists were the preeminent stylemakers of the era. The Power of Pride is a visually spirited and intimate book full of photographs, letters, playbills, and drawings that capture the gaiety and excitement of the time. Moving from the brownstones of Striver's Row in Harlem to the Negro Appreciation salons in Paris, the book focuses on seventeen Renaissance figures who exemplify the themes of race, fortitude, talent, and style, and whose strength of will and ability created a model for all those with dreams and aspirations emerging in the African-American community. The work of each shared a common thread, their intent, as writer Ralph Ellison has articulated it, "to arouse the troubling suspicion that whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black." With a foreword by Juan Williams--author of Eyes on the Prize and Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary-- and stunning photographs throughout, The Power of Pride serves as a vivid testament to the artistic and social contributions of the Harlem Renaissance to the history of America.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609600966
• ISBN13: 9780609600962
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Crown
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 1.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Engaging and stimulating

This book is fantastic and a source of pride! I studied this period in undergrad. and I love to read anything I can find on the Harlem Renaissance. The book is beautifully done, the photos are great and the choices are interesting. Wondered why the authors placed Bill Robinson in the DC section, but the bios are concise and complete. A great book for young people as well as students of the period.

Fantastic

As a student of the printed word, I've always been fascinated by the Harlem Renaissance, or the "RenGen" (Renaissance Generation). This book is wonderful to me because it offers information and faces to match the personalities with which I'd found myself identifying with throughout most of my life. It is very uplifting and encouraging to read about such a group of classy, glamorous, educated, eloquent, literate, ambitious, and talented young individuals. Even though a few of their ideals were somewhat disturbing (mainly the whole "paper-bag test" mentality), this book was still thoroughly refreshing. With its wonderful photographs and biographical information, it is a plethora of information in sepia. Today's writers should emulate the literary (prosaic and poetic) elegance and grace of Johnson, Fauset, Larsen, Hurston, Hughes, and others, instead of seemingly automatically gravitating towards a written genre that seems to stress nothing but profanity and over-(overt) sexuality in the African American community. How I wish those days of class could come back to our literary community! Perhaps one day it will.

To know the history of American culture, read this!

Marks' and Edkins' book is an elegant portrayal of the lives of those who created the Harlem Renaissance. Beautifully illustrated with historical photographs--most rarely seen, this book should be read by anyone wanting to know about the evolution of American culture. The authors' narrative reveals the strength and creativity of these African American women and men whose energy and talent has given the nation some of its richest cultural forms. They show how they grappled with questions of racial identity in a highly segregated society and how their relationships with each other fostered one of the most important cultural movements in the nation. Anyone wanting to know more about American history , its cultural institutions, and the legacy of racial prejudice should read this book and show it to their children.