Poetry (Harlem x Southwest)
Hakim speaks about the Harlem Renaissance. From why it happened to why it was so special and dives deeper about the influential writers of that era who called New Mexico home.
Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will become familiar with two prominent artists from the Harlem Renaissance period in America. Students will begin with an overview of the historical significance of the Renaissance period in Europe and its influence on the Black experience in America. African American students will learn that their literary arts and creative legacy precedes the European Renaissance and has roots in the African artistic tradition and was only later labeled as a Renaissance by academia.
LEARNING GOALS
Define the "Harlem Renaissance"
Find Harlem Renaissance Art in NM
Write a Harlem Renaissance style poem
SUBJECTS
Black History/American History
English Literature/Literary Arts
Poetry/Composition
MATERIAL
Writing Utensil + Journal
Word processor
The Worldwide Web/Internet
TEACHER BIO:
Hakim Bellamy
Before being tapped by Mayor Keller to serve as the Deputy Director of the Cultural Services Department, Hakim Bellamy was the Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Albuquerque (2012-2014).
Bellamy is a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellow, a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, an Academy for the Love of Learning Leonard Bernstein Fellow, Western States Arts Alliance Launchpad Fellow, Santa Fe Arts Institute Food Justice Fellow, New Mexico Strategic Leadership Institute alum and soon to be Citizen University Civic Seminary Fellow (August 2020).
In 2012 he published his first collection of poetry, SWEAR (West End Press/University of New Mexico Press), and it landed him the Working Class Studies Tillie Olsen Award for Literature in 2012. With an M.A. in Communications from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Bellamy has held adjunct faculty positions at UNM and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Bellamy has shared his work, in person, in at least five countries and continues to use his art to change his communities.
His latest book is We Are Neighbors (2019), a collaboration with photographer Justin Thor Simenson. www.beyondpoetryink.com