Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

Author: Farrah Jasmine Griffin
Publisher: The Perseus Books Group
Category: Art, American
Age Group: 15+
Book Format: Hardcover

As World War II raged overseas, Harlem witnessed a battle of its own. Brimming with creative and political energy, the neighbourhood's diverse array of artists and activists took advantage of a brief period of progressivism during the war years to launch a bold cultural offensive aimed at winning democracy for all Americans, regardless of race or gender. Ardent believers in America's promise, these men and women helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement before Cold War politics and anti-Communist fervor temporarily froze their dreams at the dawn of the postwar era.In Harlem Nocturne , esteemed scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin tells the stories of three black female artists whose creative and political efforts fueled this historic movement for change: choreographer and dancer Pearl Primus, composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, and novelist Ann Petry. Like many African Americans in the city at the time, these women weren't native New Yorkers, but the metropolis and its vibrant cultural scene gave them the space to flourish and the freedom to express their political concerns. Pearl Primus performed nightly at the legendary Cafe Society, the first racially integrated club in New York, where she debuted dances of social protest that drew on long-buried African traditions and the dances of former slaves in the South. Williams, meanwhile, was a major figure in the emergence of bebop, collabourating with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell and premiering her ground-breaking Zodiac Suite at the legendary performance space Town Hall. And Ann Petry conveyed the struggles of working-class black women to a national audience with her acclaimed novel The Street , which sold over a million copies,a first for a female African American author.A rich biography of three artists and the city that inspired them, Harlem Nocturne captures a period of unprecedented vitality and progress for African Americans and women, revealing a cultural movement and a historical moment whose influence endures today.

About Farah Griffin
Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English Comparative Literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, and also served as the Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies. The author of Clawing at the Limits of Cool, If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery, and Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends, for which she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, Griffin lives in New York.

(BK-9780465018758)

SKU BK-9780465018758
Barcode # 9780465018758
Brand The Perseus Books Group
Artist / Author Farrah Jasmine Griffin
Shipping Weight 0.4000kg
Shipping Width 0.140m
Shipping Height 0.030m
Shipping Length 0.210m
Assembled Length 21.080m
Assembled Height 2.790m
Assembled Width 14.220m
Type Hardcover

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