Michael Lasser Lecture

“Let ‘Em Have It Just That Way”
The Songwriters of the Harlem Renaissance

Wednesday, January 29 at 7:30pm

After World War I, black leaders concluded that they could not advance their race through politics, education, or economics, and turned to the arts instead. The Harlem Renaissance rose from the premise that arts and letters could transform a society. It was, first and foremost, a literary movement although it also included serious painters, composers, and choreographers. Even so, its major figures — including James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston — had less effect on the cultural merging than the songwriters and performers who drew thousands of whites uptown to Harlem. The songwriters did more to change America than the poets: Fats Waller, Andy Razaf, James P. Johnson, and Duke Ellington.

Tickets - $5

GPAC Family - FREE

Produced by the GPAC