Langston Hughes and the Blues

Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...

Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...

When delving into such writings as "I Too Sing America" or "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by poet, novelist, and playwright Langston Hughes, don't forget to provide this important historical background information on the Harlem Renaissance...

Encourage your pupils to imagine their own dreams for the future. After studying three poems by Langston Hughes and listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, young poets craft their own dream stanza. 

High schoolers examine the life and works of Langston Hughes. In groups, they research the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and how Hughes' poems relate to the era. They use the themes in his writings and relate it to the...

In this Coming Home from the life of Langston Hughes activity, students read the book Coming Home from the life of Langston Hughes and answer short answer questions about it. Students complete 10 questions total.

Students analyze the elements of poetry and jazz. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at the rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, form, free verse, lyricism, and imagery that exist is jazz as well as poetry. 

Students analyze the impact of jazz on the novel, "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison. They read and discuss excerpts of the novel, write an essay on the influence of jazz on Ralph Ellison as a writer, and view video excerpts on jazz...

Show this poetic and captivating video to your class to activate thought about figurative language. The narrator conjures up scenes with her use of metaphor and describes not only what a metaphor is, but what a metaphor can do. She uses...

High schoolers identify and connect themes of selected nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and art to Harlem Renaissance jazz. They compare and contrast historical and fictionalized versions of the jazz scenes of the Harlem Renaissance. They...