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Harlem Renaissance
during the 1920s, the creative outburst of literature, music, dance, and art centered in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. The movement spread to other places as well, including Chicago’s Bronzeville. It is also known as the New Negro Movement, after art historian Alain Locke’s watershed book The New Negro, which urged black artists to reclaim their ancestral heritage as a means of strengthening their own expression.
     
 

Harper’s Ferry Raid
one of the major events that precipitated the Civil War. On October 16, 1859, an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown attacked the arms arsenal of Harper's Ferry (then located in Virginia). The two-day raid was intended to help create an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. However, Brown and his band of sixteen whites and five blacks were overwhelmed by federal troops. Seventeen men died in the raid, and Brown and six surviving followers were hanged before the end of the year.

     
  Harriet Tubman (c. 1820-1913)
American black woman who escaped from slavery to become a leading abolitionist before the Civil War. She led hundreds of slaves to freedom in the North along the Underground Railroad.
     
  Herrenvolk (n)
a German term, meaning "menfolk," used ironically to refer to those of privilege, i.e. whites
     
  impression (n)
one of a number of prints made from the same plate at different times
     
  indigo (adj)
deep, violet blue in color
     
  jazz (n)
an often improvisational musical form developed during the 1920s by African Americans and influenced by European harmonic structure and African rhythmic complexity. It can be identified by its characteristic blues rhythms and distinctive speech intonations.
     
  memorabilia (n, pl)
things that are remarkable and worthy of remembrance; things that stir recollection
     
  mosaic (n)
a work of art made using the ancient technique of cementing together small pieces of glass, stone, or marble to form a recognizable image or pattern
     
  mulatto (n)
a person of mixed Negro and Caucasian racial ancestry
     
  New Deal
the domestic policies introduced under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1932-45, which stressed government aid and special programs to help the needy and improve conditions for workers.
     
  New Negro Movement
see Harlem Renaissance
 

 

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