Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Storm Ending

For Students 9th - 10th
A learning module that begins with "Storm Ending" by Jean Toomer, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Mother to Son

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "If We Must Die" by Claude Mc Kay

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Handout
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Explore Pa History: Billie Holiday

For Students 9th - 10th
Examine the life and historical contributions of renown jazz vocalist and Pennsylvania native, Billie Holiday in this concise biography.
Website
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: Countee Cullen

For Students 9th - 10th
This site has a biography on the poet Countee Cullen (1903-1946 CE). Includes a photograph and a selected bibliography.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: No Images

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with the poem "No Images" by William Waring Cuney, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Thank You Ma'am

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with the short story "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through...
Unit Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Langston Hughes

For Students 3rd - 8th
A concise window into the world of Langston Hughes. He used his own life experiences to write poetry. Photographs help to engage the reader.
Unit Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Langston Hughes

For Students 3rd - 8th
A concise window into the world of Langston Hughes. He used his own life experiences to write poetry. Photographs help to engage the reader.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Al Hirschfeld, Beyond Broadway

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibition site from the Library of Congress examining artist Al Hirschfeld's extensive career. There are quality images and extensive background information about Hirschfeld.
Activity
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Jean Toomer

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site from Modern American Poetry comes from the English department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and proves to be a great resource for information about Jean Toomer (1894-1967 CE). The site contains links to a...
Handout
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Walter White

For Students 9th - 10th
An encyclopedia article about Walter White,a man influential in the quest for civil rights in the 20th century.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Outlines: Clash of Cultures

For Students 9th - 10th
Although brief, this discussion of the clash of cultures in the 1920s covers all the reasons for cultural discordance.
Unit Plan
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: Crafting a Voice for Black Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
NPR's Vertamae Grosvenor interviews Alice Walker about her connection to Zora Neale Hurston. Walker talks about how Hurston inspired her writing, even though the two writers never met. The site also contains audio of Walker reading her...
Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Selma Burke

For Students 9th - 10th
Selma Burke discovered her love for sculpture as a young child and followed her passion to Harlem Renaissance New York, Parisian art studios, and even the White House.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Rudolph Fisher

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Rudolph Fisher, an American short-story writer and novelist associated with the Harlem Renaissance whose fiction realistically depicted black urban life in the North, primarily Harlem.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Dorothy West

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Dorothy West, an American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: May Miller

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features May Miller, an African-American playwright and poet associated with the Harlem Renaissance in New York City during the 1920s.
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: Malvin Gray Johnson

For Students 9th - 10th
As part of the Smithsonian Art Museum's database of artists, this site provides biographical information on African American artist of the Harlem Renaissance Malvin Gray Johnson. In addition, an extensive listing of his works as...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Zora Neale Hurston

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Zora Neale Hurston, an American folklorist and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance who celebrated the African American culture of the rural South. This...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Alice Dunbar Nelson

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Alice Dunbar Nelson, a novelist, poet, essayist, and critic associated with the early period of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Charles Spurgeon Johnson

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Charles Spurgeon Johnson, a U.S. sociologist, authority on race relations, and the first black president (1946-56) of Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. (established in 1867 and long...
Graphic
Curated OER

Drawing in Two Colors / Winold Reiss

For Students 9th - 10th
Presents the Library's resources as well as links to external Web sites on the Harlem Renaissance and a bibliography.
Website
African American Literature Book Club

African American Literature Book Club: Arna Bontemps

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography and a list of the works written by Harlem Renaissance author, Arna Bontemps.