The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Aaron Douglas and the New Negro”

In this activity, students will synthesize Hughes’s belief about the role and responsibility of the Black artist and Alain Locke’s philosophy of the “New Negro” with the work of “New Negro” artist Aaron Douglas by creating their own work of art in Douglas’s style.

Channel the spirit of “New Negro” artist Aaron Douglas by applying your knowledge of both the philosophy of the “New Negro” (as articulated by Langston Hughes and Alain Locke) and Douglas’s artistic style and themes.

• Collaborate with your peers to develop a working understanding of Douglas’s artistic style through research and discussion.
• Apply this knowledge to your own creative project in which you choose a Harlem Renaissance-era poem and create a piece of Aaron Douglas-inspired art to convey some thematic aspect of the poem.
• Your artwork can be a drawing, painting, collage, digital composition, etc.
• Write a short reflection (1-2 paragraphs) articulating your interpretation of the poem as well as the way your artwork holds the spirit of Aaron Douglas. Your reflection should describe how your art emphasizes thematic elements of your chosen poem, using evidence from the poem and references to specific aspects of Douglas’s style that you have chosen to emulate.