A companion site for C-SPAN's special television series
Created by Cable.   Offered as a Public Service.


About    C-SPAN Video Library    Watch    Book Club    Search    Shop

   Video Archives

   Portrait Gallery

   Classroom

   Cable Affiliates

   Home



Langston Hughes &
Zora Neale Hurston
Program Video Clip List
Clip # Start Time End Time Description
1 01:35.9 01:59.9 Langston Hughes reading Harlem
2 02:26.7 03:24.9 Harlem in the 1920's; transformation from a white community to a black community
Watch | Back to Lesson
3 03:52.0 05:11.0 New Negro Movement; Harlem Renaissance not just a literary movement, but a political, historical, and economical movement
4 05:19.6 06:42.1 Harlem geographically today; location of Pres. Clinton's office
5 07:21.8 08:19.4 The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, history and relevance
6 08:24.7 09:32.8 Number of artists and writers at the height of the Harlem Renaissance; the camaraderie of the artists through the American Negro Theatre; artists as both competitors and friends
7 10:03.1 11:21.0 Brief history of Langston Hughes; his role in the Harlem Renaissance; visuals of Langston Hughes
Watch | Back to Lesson
8 12:23.6 13:49.0 The political and economic impact of the Harlem Renaissance; Booker T. Washington's death and Marcus Garvey's leadership role in the movement; various efforts to unify and politicize the African-American community; the self-help movement within the African-American community
9 13:49.0 14:35.9 The influence of jazz during the Harlem Renaissance; jazz actually precedes the literary movement
10 15:15.1 15:53.1 Claude McKay, briefly, and his role in the movement
11 15:56.6 17:28.3 Zora Neale Hurston; was an anthropologist first and used her ethnographies to write her characters so well in her literary works; the most prominent female literary figure of the movement; her politics compared to Langston Hughes'
Watch | Back to Lesson
12 17:33.1 19:31.8 How many of the Harlem Renaissance writers and artists were able to exclusively make a living and be self-sufficient through their work?
13 19:36.4 20:39.0 Introduction and explanation of Langston Hughes's poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers; considered to be Hughes' signature poem and one of his earliest; talks about his relationship to peoples of African descent around the world
Watch | Back to Lesson
14 20:48.0 22:24.0 Langston Hughes talking about and reciting his poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers
15 22:40.6 24:53.4 The Langston Hughes Auditorium in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the artistic significance of the cosmogram on the floor of the auditorium; Cosmogram is entitled Rivers and it is based on Hughes's signature poem; the cosmogram illustrates Hughes's poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, as well as traces the lifelines of Schomburg and Hughes; Hughes's ashes are buried beneath the center of the cosmogram where it says, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
16 25:11.8 26:23.2 The present-day boundaries of the Harlem area.
17 26:23.3 27:05.1 What is the origin of the word Harlem?
18 28:04.0 29:00.3 Religion and the Harlem Renaissance; many of the writers were members of the churches in the area; churches were supportive of the artists and their work by providing them with space to develop and present their work.
19 29:14.0 30:45.4 Langston Hughes' religious views; believed strongly in black religion but became critical of what he saw as religious hypocrisy; he became a Socialist in the 1930's and his relationship with the church suffered because of it; he used the language and rhythms of the church in his literary works however
20 30:49.6 32:58.4 Carl Van Vecten's role as a white author of the Harlem Renaissance; he was a photographer as well as a writer and critic; the relationship between Langston Hughes and Carl Vechten; was a friend and mentor to many of the Harlem Renaissance writers.
21 33:16.4 35:20.9 The influence of historically black colleges on Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston; both had limited interest in being teachers; wanted to primarily influence people through their writings
22 35:21.0 36:23.7 How widely are the writings of Hurston and Hughes taught today at the high school level?
23 36:26.2 37:31.8 Langston Hughes attacked Daddy Graves and Father Divine as part of what he saw as religious hypocrisy.
24 37:32.0 38:55.1 Harlem life and culture during the "Roaring 20's"; Harlem became an epicenter of the "Roaring 20's" with the Cotton Club and booze, even during the era of Prohibition; still very racially segregated; black artists played for white audiences
Watch | Back to Lesson
25 38:57.6 42:15.2 A'Lelia Walker, Nella Larson, and Wallace Thurmond's effect on the Harlem Renaissance; Alilyah Walker was the daughter of Madame C.J. Walker; Nella Larson wrote the novels Passing and Quicksand; Wallace Thurmond was considered one of the brightest of the era and influenced the likes of Langston Hughes et al.
26 43:28.1 46:08.2 The concept of the Great Migration; starting in the 1910's, many black people migrated from the South to the North, changing the face of America; Langston Hughes reading his poem One Way Ticket, which deals with the Great Migration
Watch | Back to Lesson
27 46:18.2 47:45.2 James Van Der Zee's part in the Renaissance; was the premier photographer of the 1920's
28 48:56.3 52:39.4 Clip of Danny Glover talking about Langston Hughes and reciting poem, To Be Somebody, at the University of Kansas
Watch | Back to Lesson
29 54:08.7 56:47.8 What would Hughes and Hurston think of Harlem today? The plight of Harlem and its loss of residents today
30 56:47.9 58:35.3 The look and personality of Langston Hughes; visuals of Hughes
31 58:35.4 59:10.8 Hughes' real first name was James; only used James when he wanted to go incognito
32 59:10.9 01:00:07 The history of the name Langston
33 01:01:22 01:02:40 Youth's cultural awareness and education today
34 01:05:15 01:06:19 Hughes' relationship with Carter G. Woodson
35 01:06:29 01:09:41 Tourism in the 1920's and preservation of those tourist attractions today; controversy always surrounds the preservation effort in terms of historic significance and economic viability
36 01:11:31 1:12:56 The papers of Langston Hughes; housed in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection founded by Carl Van Vechten at Yale University
37 1:13:10 1:14:43 Archival material Hughes gave to the Schomberg Center, including manuscript for Montage of a Dream Deferred; comparison to musical forms of the era
38 1:16:43 1:18:11 Discussion of Hughes' character "Simple" whom Hughes uses to comment on events and dispense humor and new directions; good way to learn all about the community of Harlem at that time
39 1:18.50 1:23:53 Actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis recount their views about Zora Neale Hurston as a story collector and teller; her legacy to today's writers
40 1:24:32 1:25:09 Why it's important to know about Hurston; she was ahead of her time in her own direction in her work as an anthropologist and in her writing
41 1:25:09 1:26:01 Why Their Eyes Were Watching God was unique: transition from literary English to a new literary language: voices of preachers, blues singers, storytellers
42 1:26:15 1:27:10 Hurston and Hughes' visit to an elementary school in Harlem; black history
43 1:27:15 1:28:12 The significance of Eatonville, FL (and visuals) to Hurston; folklore, devoted Southerner; used the stories she heard there
Watch | Back to Lesson
44 1:28:25 1:28:56 Selection from Their Eyes, Nanny speaking in Chapter 2, "mule uh de world"
45 1:28:56 1:29:46 Views on Hurston's use of the southern vernacular; folklore's relation to art; why some preferred to elevate standard English
46 1:29:46 1:31:58 Hughes and Hurston's secretive collaboration on a play; their falling out with each other and the play's lack of success
47 1:32:01 1:34:17 Level of inclusion of Harlem Renaissance writers in American schools today
48 1:34:17 1:36:24 Clip of Hurston from radio interview discussing how she went about writing and publishing the manuscript for her first book
49 1:36:24 1:37:40 Why Hurston died in poverty; ways she sought to support herself (i.e. folklore concerts)
50 1:38:40 1:39:57 Story of the neighborhood garden Hughes made for children with Mr. Sacred Heart
51 1:39:57 1:40:52 Writer Alice Walker's role in revitlizing interest in Hurston; went to Eatonville and in 1974 wrote Looking for Zoraand Walker's difficulty in finding the truth about Hurston
52 1:42:07 1:43:59 Use of the word "Negro" and "black" by Hughes and use of those and other terms today
53 1:43:59 1:45:39 How Hurston was like and unlike her peers: she participated in the black migration (from the south to the north); maintained strong link to the south; she finished her education
54 1:46:04 1:47:15 Sterling Brown, poet, teacher
55 1:47:15 1:48:13 Are any figures from the Renaissance still alive? How the Harlem Renaissance became a major subject of study, since 1970 and the publication of The Harlem Renaissance
56 1:48:23 1:50:52 Relationship of white patron, Mrs. Osgood Mason, to both Hurston and Hughes, starting in 1926-27; dropped her support to Langston Hughes suddenly after a falling out-led to his radical socialism; paradox of white patronage
57 1:50:52 1:52:39 The connection to Cleveland, OH; his experience in school there, as class poet, etc.
58 1:52:39 1:54:02 Lucy Anne Hurston's view of her aunt; she liked to be the center of attention; liked hats
59 1:54:02 1:54:56 Hurston as "bodacious," brought songs, games stories into quiet spaces; made some people uncomfortable
60 1:55:22 1:57:44 Hurston's descendents control her estate; Hughes estate goes to the beneficiaries of his will, by and large his wishes are being carried out; the Hughes collection
61 1:57:44 1:59:21 Lucy Hurston's memories of stories about her aunt; her relationship to Hurston; her admiration for description of Janie in Their Eyes
Watch | Back to Lesson
62 2:01:58 2:02:44 Status of a "Harlem Renaissance" today?
63 2:03:44 2:04:18 Placing the Renaissance into the context of changes for black Americans across the country
64 2:04:30 2:06:15 Hurston's anthropological field studies; film clip of Hurston in the field documenting practices
65 2:07:38 2:08:36 Hurston's archives and a forthcoming publication from the Hurston family
66 2:08:58 2:10:17 Quote about sharpening her oyster knife from essay How it Feels to be Colored Me (1928). "That I am not tragically colored…." Hurston's views on being black in America-it was a triumph of the human spirit, cultural and historical influences
67 2:10:17 2:11:06 Turned to conservative politics as she got older, a republican; letter to Orlando Sentinel questioning Brown v. Board
68 2:11:52 2:14:06 Mixed relationship to black power movement and Stokely Carmichael. Poem, The Panther and the Lash questions Carmichael's role within the black community.
69 2:14:06 2:15:25 The end of Hurston's life and her death; visuals of gravesite in Florida
70 2:15:31 2:16:23 Hurston's legacy of writing and work according to Lucy Anne Hurston
71 2:17:34 2:18:34 More on writer Alice Walker's role in revitlizing interest in Hurston; discovered Hurston in a footnote then read Mules and Men
72 2:18:38 2:19:48 How Hughes came to be interested in socialism, first in high school; became radical in the 1930's; by 1940 went to the center but with interest in social progress and civil rights
73 2:20:23 2:21:29 Hurston and Hughes' connection to Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois
74 2:21:29 2:22:30 Drug and alcohol use
75 2:22:31 2:23:35 Their impact on the civil rights movement; Hughes connection to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech
76 2:23:35 2:26:10 One Harlem caller's reminiscences about growing up there during the 20's; Countee Cullen was his teacher; Ralph Ellison
77 2:26:10 1:27:14 Audio of Hurston talking about herself and her self-image
78 2:27:57 2:28:43 Why wasn't Hurston successful during her time? Published during times when literature and art weren't high priorities
79 2:28:50 1:54:56 Conflict between Hurston and Richard Wright; James Baldwin and Langston Hughes
80 2:31:25 2:32:21 Length of the Harlem Renaissance and significance in history
81 2:32:55 2:33:45 Hughes reading his poem Democracy

I   II   III   IV   V   VI   VII   VIII


C-SPAN.org    Book TV.org    Booknotes.org    Capitol Hearings.org
American Presidents.org    C-SPAN Alert!    Contact Us