The Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance

The literature of “The Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance” is very different than our previous reading assignments. My group presented last week on the literature of slavery and freedom which had a completely different approach. The works in the period from 1746-1865 strived to make blacks seen as not a different species, but as part of the whole human race. Different authors such as David Walker and Frederick Douglass stressed the need for a rebellion and to take a stance against white oppression. The literature from 1865-1919 had a completely different feel for me. In a way it seemed utterly hopeless. “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay seemed to accept the fact that lynching’s could occur to anyone at anytime… the only request was for dignity in death.

Another reading that really brought about some strong emotions for me was “The Haunted Oak” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. This work drew an interesting perspective of a lynching from an outside viewpoint (the tree itself). Dunbar wrote of the “the judge, he wore a mask of black, and the doctor one of white, and the minister, with his oldest son, was curiously bedight.” What a horrible line to reference – but it shows how the violent murders of blacks were considered an acceptable event. The judge is one that is supposed to interpret and uphold the law. The doctor takes an oath to care for those in discomfort and pain. Last but not least, the minister took an oath to God and is brutally murdering His children. These 3 occupations are perhaps the most prestigious and respectable positions in society. They call for a lifetime commitment to society to better it – and that is not what this poem shows. I have read multiple nonfiction books about the south back in those days, but nothing can quite evoke the same emotions as a poem like “The Haunted Oak.”