TransCultural Awareness Institute

“The Harlem Renaissance is Alive and Well in Vermont”

By

Offie C. Wortham, PhD

My wife and I, and our 20-year old daughter, recently moved to Vermont from Dutchess County, New York. I work, part-time, in a small public school that has around 400 students, from pre-K to 12 all in one building, with one principal. Twinfield Union is in many ways a very unique school. After working in inner-city schools in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Newark, Manhattan, and the Bronx, this school was a bit of a culture shock. Demographically, the student population is the same ethnically as the rest of Vermont – 97% White. Being a person who is of partially African descent, I was pleasantly surprised to be involved with a class in the high school, which focused for the entire semester on just one theme, The Harlem Renaissance. The brainchild of an English teacher, Mary Cecchinelli, the course is as thorough and interesting as similar courses that I have taught on the college level.
The Vermont high school class focuses on African American writers, artists, blues and jazz musicians of the 1920’s and 1930’s that were part of the great cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Students are also introduced to artists that were later influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Artists that are studied include Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Richard Wright, Louis Armstrong, James Weldon Johnson, Billie Holliday, and many more.
My wife, Vivian, who taught in private schools in Harlem for over 20 years, was very impressed by the depth and richness of the course that Ms. Cecchinelli had created and has been teaching for more than four years. Vivian says her class is a living reenactment of Black history. Students are totally involved in a wide variety of hands-on projects and assignments that bring meaning and understanding to the rich history of Harlem, and the many contributions made by people-of-color to the entire culture of the United States and the world. She was especially interested in the structure and the wide variety of assigned hands-on projects.
Over a six-week period, the small class, (usually 10 to 15 students) studies the literature, art, and music of the Harlem Renaissance. Each group spends two weeks examining a topic. After two weeks each group rotates to the next topic. Within their groups the student focuses on their own study based on the artists that they find interesting. On the teacher’s website there are links that are available as a quick reference to influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance. In an effort to broaden his or her study, Ms. Cecchinelli asks each group member to choose a different person to examine.
In each of the areas of literature, art, and music, the students have to elect an artist and research his/her life. They then must use at least three sources and take organized notes about the artist's background, his/her famous works, and how he/she influenced the Harlem Renaissance. For each they must provide a works cited page. Only two of these sources can come from the Internet. The third must come from a book or other printed material. Then they have to select and analyze three pieces by the artist that they choose, and a show a copy of the piece they plan to analyze. In their analysis they have to provide the following information:
· Name of the artist
· Name of the piece
· The main objects in the piece
· The story the piece is telling
· The main colors used
· The symbolic images that are used
· The questions that are raised in your mind
· Their personal reaction to the piece
Finally each student has to imagine that they are an artist during the Harlem Renaissance and create an original piece of art that reflects the time period. For the Final Product they have to use the material that they gathered from the previous work and create a project that highlights the artist's accomplishments, displays the artist's work, and their original work. They should also include photographs of the artist. Extra project ideas include posters, collages, and Power Point. The walls of the classroom, and the halls outside the class, are covered with pictures, writings, and poetry created by the students in this class. You can see examples of student work at: http://www.twinfield.net/teachers/town/harlem/index2004.htm
After one recovers from attempting to comprehend the wealth of information gained in this class, we are forced to wonder how many of the children in Harlem, many of whom are the descendents of the artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance, will ever have as much knowledge about this historic period as these students in Vermont.
This article is only the beginning of a long-range project studying the extent of what I call TransCultural Awareness© in Vermont and nationwide. See my website on The TransCultural Awareness Institute: http://transculturalawareness.blogspot.com/2007/09/tca-overview.html
The new post-racial consciousness that appears to be propelling one of our Senators into the final stages of selecting a president of the United States is evident in many venues from advertisements to the arts and sciences. Our nation still has a few generations to go before a person is accepted universally by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. Despite the backward slide toward segregated schools in the nation, at the same time there are hopeful signs such as this class in Vermont. Efforts like this must be recognized, replicated, and praised.