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The first picture at the start of paragraph is "Harriet Tubman - No. 10." This is the image we looked at in class. Click on it to see it larger

In this picture I think its suppose to show Harriet Tubman's struggle to get across to the other side, I see some sort of chains near is leg and a snake in the left hand corner. This depicts her physical struggle and I feel people can connect to it because everyone has a mental struggle.- Cat

I believe that this painting, done by Jacob Lawrence, shows a scene of the Underground Railroad. Depicted in this image is a man clothed in a white robe. He is seemingly chained down to the ground, and he is blocked by an obstacle. However, the man reaches upward toward the North Star because the star provides hope of freedom.

In "Aspiration", painted by Aaron Douglas, an idea of hope is depicted. After observing the image, I noticed that the people on the foreground are handcuffed. This leads me to the conclusion that they are slaves. Also, everyone seems to be reaching/pointing toward an illuminated, well-built building. Light usually symbolizes hope, so I presume that the it gives the slaves a glimmer of freedom. Finally, I observed that there is a large star in the direction that the people are pointing. In the Underground railroad, the North Star led the slaves to freedom. So again, Douglas illustrated hope through a sort of light.

Paintings by Aaron Douglas show a pattern of freedom, escape from slavery, this pattern is shown by a bright star which slaves followed through the Underground Railroad when they were escaping. This light gives them hope, hope radiates from the center of the picture and the slaves below raise their arms in praise and excitement. This optimism is bright in comparison to the negativity in the poem "Enslaved" by Claude McKay. "For weary centuries despised, oppressed, Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place In the great life line of the Christian West; And in the Black Land disinherited" Says Claude McKay as he speaks of his people, who were wrongly treated for their colors and cultures. They were rejected their god given rights and mistreated under the hands of the Christian West. This negative poem shows the cruelty and disgust of slavery in America, and reflects how Claude McKay thinks of it.

This painting also represents similar traits as "Into Bondage", shows slavery and African-American history. Also represents hope, the man is standing with an instrument and light is shining down. Hope through music.

In this poem hes talking about how coming to america and taking on a new culture has made him loose his anstesteral roots and how he feels lost and an outcast.

This poem shows a negative view of America because Claude McKay feels as if he was taken away from his home and a part of him was lost forever. In one friday morning by Langston Hughes he says that America discriminates but they have to make the best of what they have so this shows a positive view of America.

What does the title of this poem suggest about McKay's audience? What is McKay's literal message? What is his figurative message?

This poem is very positive because Claude McKay is describing how the north is a beuatiful place. Then he goes on to say that the winter gets boring but then it blooms into a great bright beautiful accepting spring. On the other hand, "One Friday Morning" by Langston Hughes refelects on America negativley saying how America discriminates against African Americans and how it reflects on its culture and doesn't accept them into society.

America is portrayed in a positive sense in "To One Coming North" by Claude McKay. McKay describes America's faults, but later explains how the faults make it different from his home and therefore better. McKay explains this when he says: "But oh! more than the changeless southern isles/ When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm/ You'll love the Northland wreathed in golden smiles/ By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm." However, Langston Hughes disagrees with Claude McKay's view on America in his poem "Let America Be America Again". Hughes uses an opposite view as McKay, he explains all the good values America has, but doesn't follow. "O, let my land be a land where Liberty/Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath/ But opportunity is real, and life is free/ Equality is in the air we breathe./ (There's never been equality for me/ Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")" Both poems effectively describe what it was like to live during the Harlem Renaissance, but the author's outlook on life are quite different.