Help Us Find Next Week's Connection Profiles: The Harlem Renaissance

Question

This coming week, the example profile is Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden. Romare was a part of the Harlem Renaissance socio-cultural movement during the 1920's. We're searching for more notable people who participated in the Harlem Renaissance to feature alongside Romare. Who comes to mind? 

A few to get started:

• James Weldon Johnson (needs a picture and connection, at least)
• Claude McKay (needs connection and bio)
• Langston Hughes 
• Duke Ellington
• Josephine Baker

Who else comes to mind? Let us know below!

What can you do to help us get their profile ready? Or do they need a profile?

They need to be connected if they aren't already. It's okay to mention if they aren't yet-we can all work on it so they're ready in time, or can be used in the future.

They'll need a profile image and a biography.

Is there a related project that can help? Ask them!

We can't feature everyone who fits this category, but we can save those profiles we don't feature this coming week for use at a later date, and all improvements to profiles help WikiTree, no matter what the reason.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Louis Daniel Armstrong  trumpeter, composer, vocalist, and actor. Bio, sourced and connected. Oppps Not Connected

Comments

Thanks Rich! It's okay if he's not connected yet. Gives us a goal and the lists are super helpful for future planning.

---

I added a research note from the NY Times article that traces back 5 generations. I'm not very knowledgeable about these records, so I'll leave the rest to someone who is.

---

NY Times charges per view for the article, so I can't assist with that part, but I did add another wife based on the Find A Grave and Wikipedia data. I'll put him on my mental list of Notables to improve.

Answer 2

How about Langston Hughes...

Comments

I hunted but couldn't find a profile for him. Doesn't mean we couldn't make one and start working on his family.

---

I stand corrected:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hughes-28

Not sure why it didn't come up in a search...

Answer 3

Here are some others:

Connected:

Arna Bontemps
Countee Cullen
Marian Anderson
Cab Calloway

(Note that Harlem Renaissance artist Charles Alston is also connected, but he is Romare Bearden's cousin by marriage so that would be somewhat redundant for connection purposes)

Not yet connected:

William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite
Jacob Lawrence
Roland Hayes
Zora Neale Hurston
Arturo Schomburg
Walter White
A. Philip Randolph

Answer 4

Eubie Blake, co-creator of Shuffle Along, the musical that is credited with launching the Harlem Renaissance. Well sourced biography, image, music too!

Notable folks associated with the show without profiles: Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey), Noble Sissle, Flournoy Miller, and Aubrey Lyles. I have notes about the last three from when I wrote Eubie's profile so I have a head start ... They're on my internal "to do" list anyway, so I'll see what I can whip up. They won't be feature ready, but it's a start! 

Answer 5

How about Fats Waller?

Also, please see:

https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/harlem-100-artists-that-steered-the-harlem-renaissance/

Thank you!

Comments

In case someone wants to try to connect him, here's his profile.

Answer 6

Combing through the Wikipedia article on Harlem Renaissance.

Claude McCay - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McKay-4253 - Not connected

Richmond Barthe - no profile

James Weldon Johnson - https://wikitree.com/wiki/Johnson-51685 - Not connected

Hubert Henry Harrison - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harrison-14429 - Not connected

Zora Hurston - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hurston-5 - Not connected

Anne Spencer (born Bannister) - No profile

Aaron Douglas - No profile

Countee Cullen - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porter-13127 - Connected - has a biography - has sources - no picture (ALMOST there)

Ethel Moses (the black Jean Harlow) - No profile

That's a few to check out for now.

Comments

Darn - I think Harrison is the only new one who others haven't mentioned, other than the ones without a profile. Oh well...

Answer 7

[[Cuney-8|William Waring Cuney]]. Waring Cuney was one of the minor poets of the Harlem Renaissance. A friend and classmate of Langston Hughes, he won the Opportunity Literary Prize in 1926 for the poem, "No Images," the more frequently anthologized of his poems. He wrote it when he was eighteen. It is still widely recited today, most recently by Maya Angelou before she died, and was set to music by the great jazz and blues singer, Nine Simone, who sang and recorded it at Carnegie Hall in 1964.