Temples for Tomorrow

The Harlem Renaissance is rightly considered a moment of creative exuberance and unprecedented explosion in the African American world of arts and letters. Today, there is a renewed interest in this movement, calling for a reevaluation and a closer scrutiny of the participants. Temples for Tomorrow reconsiders the period — between two world wars — which confirmed the intuitions of W. E. B. DuBois on the "color line" and gave birth to the "American dilemma", later evoked by Gunnar Myrdal. Issuing from a generation bearing new hopes and aspirations, a vision formed and developed around the concept of the New Negro, with a goal: to recreate an African American identity and claim its legitimate place in the heart of the nation. In reality, this movement developed into a remarkable institutional network. It remained the vision of an elite, but gave birth to tensions and differences in the African American community. This collection attempts to assess Harlem's role as a "Black Mecca, " as a "site of intimate performance" of African American life, and as a focal point in the creation of a diasporic identity in dialogue with the Caribbean and French-speaking areas. Essays treat the complex interweaving of Primitivism and Modernism and of folk culture and elitist aspirations in different artistic media, with a view to defining the interaction between music, visual arts, and literature. Contributors: Geneviève Fabre, Michel Feith, Arnold Rampersad, Amy Kirschke, Rae Linda Brown, Randall Cherry, Clyde Taylor, Alessandro Portelli, Alessandra Lorini, George Hutchinson, William Boelhower, Dorothea Löbbermann, Monica Michlin, Carl Pedersen, Françoise Charras, Brent Edwards, and Michel Fabre. Geneviève Fabre is Professor at the University Paris 7, where she is Director of the Center of African American Research. She has written or coauthored books about James Agee, African American theatre, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and American minorities, and she has contributed to several collected volumes and encyclopedias. Michel Feith is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nantes, France. His publications include articles on Maxine Hong Kingston, John Edgar Wideman, and the Harlem Renaissance.