The Harlem Renaissance

From roughly 1919, to the early 1930’s, African American intellectuals found a platform for their race from which a new Black voice would be heard around the world, an intellectual center for the new Negro. African American politicians and poets, professors and painters began to develop a sense of cultural awareness and self-determination that was unparalleled in this country’s history. This was a time when African American leaders attempted to take charge of implementing change in this country and defining our destiny. This presentation explores this pivotal era in American history through the art, literature and music that came out of it and introduces the audience to such personalities as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary Macleod Bethune, James Weldon Johnston, Marcus Garvey, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and many others.

Rosalyn Delores Elder: Biography

Ms. Elder is a registered architect and urban designer with a passion for art, music, literature and history. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). She studied architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle where she received a Master’s degree in Architecture. She also has a Master’s degree in Urban Design from Harvard University. In addition to her work as an architect, Ms. Elder created two cultural landmarks in the Boston area, Treasured Legacy, an African American cultural boutique that was located at Copley Place from 1992 until 1997, and Jamaicaway Books, an independent bookstore which specialized in multicultural literature which was located in Jamaica Plain from 1998 until 2010.