Students imagine the source of the term “flapper dress.” Then they watch a video and read about the rise of the Harlem Renaissance. Next they choose an art form—poetry, visual art, dance, or music—and analyze a specific work from the period. Finally they analyze a poem by Langston Hughes and the concept of a “dream deferred.”
Students read an introduction explaining how the Great Migration led many African Americans to settle in Harlem and how this neighborhood became the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in art, music, literature, dance, and theater. They view an image illustrating changing women’s fashion in the 1920s and read about how World War I and new social freedoms led women to abandon restrictive Victorian clothing in favor of looser “flapper” styles. Students then respond to a prompt by posting their ideas about why this style might have been called a flapper dress, using what they know about the period and their imaginations.
Teacher MovesIntroduce the overall flow and objectives of the experience. After students share their ideas about the term “flapper dress,” draw on the provided theories about the origin of the name (dance movements, earlier British slang for teenage girls, and theatrical slang for young stage performers) to enrich discussion and connect fashion changes to broader cultural shifts of the 1920s.
Students view images related to the Harlem Renaissance and read a brief description of Louis Armstrong’s role in popularizing jazz. They then watch The Harlem Renaissance and read A New African American Identity: The Harlem Renaissance to learn how the movement developed in Harlem and other cities and how it expressed Black experiences in America. Students contribute to a word cloud by naming an artist, musician, writer, or other contributor to the Harlem Renaissance, and answer multiple-choice questions about what event stalled the movement and what best captures its significance.
Teacher MovesSummarize key highlights of the Harlem Renaissance, emphasizing the range of artistic fields involved, the spread of cultural activity beyond Harlem, the shared focus on expressing what it means to be Black in America, and the movement’s role in fostering self-determination, social consciousness, and later political activism connected to the Civil Rights Movement.
Students choose one work from a set of Harlem Renaissance resources—either Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, Visual Art of the Harlem Renaissance, the Dance sequence by the Nicholas Brothers, or the Music clip by Louis Armstrong & Ma Rainey. For their selected work, they complete a graphic organizer identifying the title and creator, genre, a description of the work, and its main theme. They then post an image or link to the work on a shared wall and explain why they chose it and what they think the artist is trying to communicate.
Teacher MovesInvite volunteers who selected different genres to present their chosen works. Guide a class discussion by asking students what their selected work suggests about the Black experience in America during the Harlem Renaissance.
Students view an image from the Broadway play A Raisin in the Sun and learn that its title comes from Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem,” which asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” They read Hughes’s poem “Harlem” and the earlier poem “I, Too,” then respond to a prompt explaining what they think Hughes meant by “a dream deferred” and how “I, Too” and the Harlem Renaissance as a whole represent a deferred dream. In their responses, they cite evidence from the poems or other Harlem Renaissance artworks.
Teacher MovesHighlight that the optimism of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance was later challenged by the Great Depression and ongoing discrimination. Briefly note that students will later study how the Harlem Renaissance connects to the Civil Rights Movement, helping them situate Hughes’s idea of a “dream deferred” within a longer struggle for equality.
Students complete the exit quiz by answering all the questions.
Teacher MovesFacilitate the assessment and use student data to evaluate understanding, address misconceptions, and identify areas for growth.
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