The Significance of the New Negro Movement: Moving Away from the Master Narrative

The mid-life crisis, the search for self, and adolescence all describe times in a person's life when they have reached a milestone, and now they decide the next path to take. They search for a voice, they feel their way through the proverbial darkness trying to find the next level of life that they will work through. If this point of stirring is reached by individuals, then it only makes sense that it would be reached by groups of individuals who share a certain status in life. It is when a group of individuals bonded together by their status as something or another in this world feel this stirring that there arises the potential for a movement. They desire change, and even begin to ask themselves how to move away from what they have been up until this point and what they will become after this point. They may not all arrive at the same conclusion, and their reasons for asking these questions may be different, but one thing remains the same, the desire. One reason the New Negro Movement serves as a significant time for the African American community is because it was a time when the community began the process of breaking away from the master narrative of slavery and began to ask itself, "Now what?". This movement can be seen in the works of many of the authors who were part of the New Negro Movement such as Walter White, Claude McKay, Gwendolyn Bennett, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, and Jessie Fauset.

Nella Larsen's Quicksand, features Helga Crane, who serves as a personification of the African American community's transitional position during the New Negro Movement. Helga Crane experiences strong feelings of discontent throughout the story. Much of her discontent has to do with her being mulatto. Helga finds herself torn between the white and black worlds and the realities of these worlds. Helga is attracted to the freedom of the white world in the sense that the white community and its members don't live under the same kind of confines that have been implemented by slavery in the black world. While she is attracted to aspects of the white community, she is still concerned with the black community and shares the black community's frustration with their current position.

The beginning of the book dives right into this feeling of frustration with her current position as a member of the black community and her desire to live with the freedom that would allow her to not have to concern herself with the uplift of the black race as much.

Helga feels discontent at Naxos because of its seeming disapproval of anything black (i.e. colorful clothing), yet she considers staying upon meeting with Dr. Anderson because she is attracted to him and thus doesn't want to disappoint him. In the end Helga chooses to go with her race rather than her individuality. Helga's decision to stand up for her race rather than getting what she wants appears to be motivated out of obligation to be a good example to her students. If Helga had chosen to stay at Naxos because of her attraction to Dr. Anderson then she would have been demonstrating to her students that it is acceptable to stay around, even when you are being treated unfairly. Helga's struggle with racial conscience and her desire to live a freer life continues as the story unfolds.

Helga feels strong conflict when it comes to her feelings regarding how her race is viewed and the desire to be able to simple pursue one's own desires without having to consider the race.

Helga find herself disgusted by the jungle-like nature of black music and dance in one scene in the book. In another frustration with Anne's separationist views arise in Helga. In the first scene Helga's feelings of disgust involving the jungle stereotype and the music and dancing that may help to perpetuate that stereotype shows her loyalty to the race. She is concerned with the way that its music and dance may be reflecting upon it. She shows concern for anything that may hold the race in its current position of oppression, slavery implemented oppression. In the next scene Helga finds herself frustrated with Anne's objection to Audrey Denney's mingling with white people. Helga displays her desire for black people to be able to do as they please. The narrator describes Helga finding Anne's views on Audrey Denney as revolting. While Helga voices her opinion regarding Anne's views on Audrey Denney, she doesn't let her opinion regarding black music and dance be known. This illustrates for the reader a movement toward a freer African American community. Helga is more likely to voice her opinions when it involves something that places limitations on her race, and less likely to voice them when it means that her opinions may place limitations on her race. Yet through it all, she is still concerned with how the music and dance will reflect on the race. She likes to dance, but she is concerned with what it is saying to whites, so she finds herself immediately repulsed by it, and thus denies what she likes out of concern even though she remains silent about this concern. Helga's positioning between the current realities of the black community and the freedom allowed to the white community takes center stage during her stay in Copenhagen.

Helga feels conflicted when it comes to being treated something like a china doll by her aunt and others in Copenhagen. Helga goes shopping with her aunt and Olsen, who pick things out for her and purchase them with little or no say from Helga. When Helga returns to her aunt's house with all her new things she has mixed emotions. She is both disgusted by the idea that all of this goes on without much input from her, and fond of her new belongings. Helga isn't happy with the way that she is objectified. It is reminiscent of slavery as it was a time when blacks weren't given control over their lives. Helga appears to want to move away from this, it disgusts her. At the same time she likes her new beautiful belongings. Helga, as a character illustrating the idea of the tragic mulatto, appears to be torn between the white and black worlds, positioned between the two. She is closer to the black world as she realizes its struggles being someone often viewed simply as a black woman. Yet she appears to be moving toward the white world in the sense of her desire for freedom. She desires the freedom to be able to live a life that doesn't require so much consciousness about how the black race is being viewed. She wants to be able to break away from the master narrative of slavery and all the obligations that it places on members of the African American community. Living in Copenhagen, as mentioned before, allows her to live a little more freely, however, while she takes advantage of this freedom for two years, she is eventually drawn back to Harlem. She comes to a point where she wants to be around the black community again, even though the life of a black woman is harder in America, she still feels the need to be with fellow blacks, again showing her movement toward a white world and her ties to the black world. She feels that it is necessary for her to return to American, to Harlem. Helga's resolve to return to Harlem is strengthened when she goes to a minstrel show, which both attracts and repels her. Helga's attraction to the show, which entertains her, causes her to return to it. She is repulsed, however, by the fact that her fellow blacks allow themselves to be seen perpetuating stereotypes created by white people that reflect poorly on the black community. These ambivalent feelings that Helga experiences in reaction to the minstrel show illustrate for the reader Helga's desire for things to be different for the black community. Helga is most likely frustrated that she can't simply enjoy entertainment without it coming at some expense to the community that she is a member of. Helga's discontent in Copenhagen and her desire to return to Harlem increases upon Olsen's proposal.

When Olsen proposes to Helga, the narrator discusses how Olsen was both attracted and repelled by Helga's origins. This outlines the underlying tension in the scene. Olsen's proposal sparks a conversation between he and Helga regarding previous illusions he made about marriage that she ignored. Helga mentions that in America, someone like Olsen wouldn't propose to a decent woman, so she didn't want to jump to conclusions. Then Olsen goes on to say that he didn't want to fall in love with her but he had no choice, and that Helga has "the soul of a prostitute" because she "sells [herself] to the highest bidder". This outrages Helga and she tells him, "But you see, Herr Olsen, I'm not for sale. Not to you. Not to any white man. I don't at all care to be owned. Even by you." At this point Helga realizes that the black community's break away from slavery and its legacy is not complete. Thus by allowing herself to live more freely, like a white person who doesn't have to concern themselves with racial matters, she has been misconstrued by a white man as selling herself. By allowing herself to be an ornament, she was allowing the white people to view her as nothing more than something pretty to gawk at and to be bought in Olsen's case. This is the last major event Helga experiences before she returns to Harlem.

When Helga returns she continues to wear the flashy clothing that she wore in Copenhagen, and she also continues to carry herself as she had in Copenhagen, where she had been something of a big deal. She continued to act and dress as she had when she was living a life that lacked complete racial conscience. The narrator discusses how this made her more popular at parties, but also was alienating. Helga found that Anne was behaving differently and she couldn't quite pinpoint why. It becomes obvious that while her new found freedom made her more interesting to some, Anne did not appreciate this. So, while Helga may have felt freer, she was isolating herself from Anne, and probably those like Anne, who felt that blacks and whites should remain separate.

Overall Helga, a woman of mixed race, personifies the African American community's position during the New Negro Movement. She shows a strong desire to be able to live more freely, like the whites, as well as an awareness that the black community's ties to slavery are not completely severed. She is a character who feels ties to the black community and its struggles but wants badly to make a move towards a freer existence, one free of the master narrative of slavery.

The beginning of the desire felt by the African American community during the New Negro Movement to break away from the master narrative of slavery and to begin moving forward can be seen in Gwendolyn Bennett's poem, Heritage. In the first five stanzas of the poem the narrator expresses their desire to be in this sort of ideal Africa. The beautiful imagery used to describe African in this poem, "...slim palm-trees...etched dark sky...silent sands...Lotus flow'r..." create for the reader a paradise filled with beautiful smells, wide open skies, beaches, and beautiful plant life. This desire for a place whose paradise-like qualities would obviously be in sharp contrast to the oppressive nature of the black community's current setting expresses to the reader a desire to break away from the oppression of the black race that was put in place by slavery. The free feeling conveyed to the reader by the imagery in the poem lets the reader know that the narrator not only desires a freer space, but it also speaks on a social level. While there is no direct mention of societal factors in the first five stanzas, the light airy feeling of the scenery described lacks the weight that can be felt in the last stanza of the poem, which stands in sharp contrast to the image described in the first five stanzas,

I want to feel the surging
Of my sad people's soul
Hidden by a minstrel-smile.

These lines move the poem from the desire for a less oppressive setting and society for the African American community back to the reality left for that community by slavery, something pointed out by the mention of the minstrel tradition. These last three lines require the reader to look beyond simply what the poem says on the surface. The reader must look at what is said as well as what is not said. First by examining what is written on the page the reader can see that the narrator has the desire to feel the surging, not the surge of the black community's soul. This communicates to the reader that the black community is not yet to the point of rising up against, the narrator is simply expressing the desire to feel the community asking itself, "What now?". The narrator wants to feel the black community's discontent. Surging creates a feeling of underlying tension, where as surge would create a feeling of uprising, of action. The next line uses the word soul to express that the sadness mentioned s rooted in the essence of these people. The final line of the poem, hidden by a minstrel-smile, lets the reader know that the saddened essence of people is hidden not by their own construct, but rather by a white construct, which is rooted in slavery. The black soul being hidden by a white construct expresses the fact that what one is seeing of the black people is not a true representation of them. Part of the black people are being hidden by a white construct. The narrator wants their people, fellow members of the African American community, to be able to be themselves, To be able to break away from the master narrative of slavery. This poem does not, however, call the African American community to action. Rather it focuses solely on a stirring of the soul. It expresses a desire to feel the black community's frustration and discontent with their current social situation.

The New Negro differs from the Old Negro in that he is more capable of imagining the possibilities, of dreaming, because of his distance from slavery. Where the Old Negro is firmly planted in practicality, the New Negro roams more freely through the dream realm. He is able to dream in a more ambitious way. That which was not possible with in the confines of slavery, becomes more possible as the distance between the African American community and slavery grows. The signs of such a shift in one's realm of possibility can be seen in the short story by Fauset, Mary Elizabeth.

When Mrs. Pierson first introduces the reader to Mary Elizabeth she says, "I wish I could make you see her, or that I could reproduce her accent, not that it is especially colored,--Roger's and mine are much more so--but her pronunciation, her way of drawing out her vowels, is so distinctively Mary Elizabethan." Here the reader can see that Mary Elizabeth's vernacular, that which is usually believe to be typical of slaves and clacks for a while after slavery is thought to be less colored by Mrs. Pierson than her and her husband's. This quote shows a transition in what it means to be away from those characteristics closely linked to slavery toward characteristics of the Northern upper middle class. This shows at least the beginning of a break away from the slavery master narrative. Speech isn't the only place in this short story where a movement away from slavery and toward something else can be seen. Mentality differences appear here as well.

In this short story the reader can easily compare and contrast the mentality of the Old and New Negro as they are presented in close proximity to each other. The petty argument between the Piersons stands in sharp contrast to the reunion of Mary Elizabeth's parents. The separation of Mary Elizabeth's parents by the slave trade is a story whose weight is unmatched by anything in the Piersons' relationship. When one's mind is freed from such weighty concerns as those that plagued the minds of slaves and those who were a witness to slavery, they are freer to dream of possibility. The Piersons' distance from slavery and what Mrs. Pierson believes it has meant for them is clearly states when she things to herself, "It had been such a long time since I had thought of slavery. I was born in Pennsylvania, and neither my parents nor grandparents had been slaves; otherwise I might have had the same tale to tell as Mary Elizabeth, or worse yet, Roger and I might have lived in those black days and loved and lost each other and futilely, damnably, met again like Casius and Maggie." Here Mrs. Pierson acknowledges how different her and Roger's story might have been had they had closer ties to slavery. The reaction of Mary Elizabeth's mother, Maggie, upon her first husband's return allows the reader to take note of the mentality of the Old Negro with its deep roots in practicality. At the same time the reader can see the contrast between what Mrs. Pierson expects Maggie to do with her New Negro mentality and what Maggie actually does with her Old Negro mentality. Mrs. Pierson, who has a dreamier mentality, expects to hear that Maggie ran off with Casius, but Maggie, who is more practical, didn't run away with Casius, even though she loved him because they were both remarried and thus it just wasn't practical.

The contrast between the Old and New Negro continues to be drawn in Zora Neale Hurston's, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Janie's grandmother wants her to get married so that she will be taken care of, she tells Janie that love will come eventually. Janie has a more romantic notion of marriage. This difference in mentality can be seen when Janie comes to her grandmother when she feels that love between her and Logan isn't coming as it should,

"Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don't. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it."
"You come heah wid yo' mouf full uh foolishness on uh busy day. Heah you got uh prop tug lean on all yo' bawn days, and big protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat tuh you and call you Mis' Killiks, and you come worryin' me 'bout love."

In this passage Janie obviously feels that love is essential to a marriage, whereas her grandmother is more focused on the practical aspects of marriage, such as being taken care of and being married to someone who will bring respect to your name. Here it is clear that Janie's grandmother has more of an Old Negro mentality when it comes to marriage, whereas Janie has more of a New Negro mentality regarding marriage. When Janie's marriage doesn't bring her love she comes to realize that the Old Negro mentality doesn't translate into the New Negro mentality, this can be seen when the narrator states, "She knew now that marriage did not make love." This clearly expresses that the Old Negro mentality of practicality doesn't necessarily lead to fulfillment of the desires for romance created in the New Negro mentality. After Janie's first marriage begins to turn sour she runs off with what ends up being her second husband in hopes of finding love and romance, which she couldn't find in the first marriage. After the second marriage fails she finally finds the most love in her relationship with Tea Cake. Through this growth in love and personal strength Janie shows a transition away from the mentality of the Old Negro toward the mentality of the New Negro. This movement in mentalities is not the only indication of a parting from the master narrative of slavery.

The town in which Janie and her second husband, Joe settle, Eatonville, displays characteristics of a group of people in transition. Eatonville is a town composed completely of African Americans. Many of the issues that arise in this town, such as leadership, and conflicts in where to go next, are indicative of a group of people who are in the process of establishing themselves as self governed.

The issues that exist in the all black community speak to the idea that a group that is trying to figure out who they are will have internal struggles caused by conflicting ideas of where to go next. The hierarchy established in Eatonville shows a community going through the necessary steps to establish themselves as a united front that is self governed. A community that is creating its own image, rather than living under an image created for it. This parallels the transition that the African American community was going through during the New Negro Movement. While Eatonville parallels with the New Negro Movement are somewhat abstract, Janie's transitional state within her family is a concrete parallel with the transitional state of the African American community.

Janie's grandmother, a former slave who eventually becomes a domestic worker for the southern white family, was raped by her master. Her rape resulted in Janie's mother. She runs away with Janie's mother to protect her from the master's angry wife. Janie's mother is raped by her school teacher, resulting in Janie. This legacy of rape which is common in the master narrative of slavery ends with Janie. Janie breaks the cycle of rape, which when paired with her movement towards a more romantic marriage really goes to show her roll as a personification of the black community's movement towards a break from the slavery narrative that had had the most influence over how they were perceived by outsiders.

When a reader begins to combine ideas from Their Eyes Are Watching God and Heritage they can end up with a story much like Walter White's, Fire In the Flint. This novel begins with a character who almost refuses to acknowledge the oppressed state of the black community and follows the awakening of the characters racial conscience which eventually leads to his death.

When Kenneth returns to the South, after spending years in the north, to begin his practice he has high expectations for the years to come,
And now, Central City again. It was good to get back. Four--eight--sixteen years had he spent in preparation. Now he was all ready to get to work at his profession. For a time he'd have to do general practising. Had to make Money. Then he'd specialize in surgery--major surgery. Soon's he got enough money ahead, he'd build a sanitarium. Make of it as modern a hospital as he could afford. He'd draw on all of South Georgia for his patients. Nearest one now is Atlanta. All South Georgia--most of Florida--even from Alabama. Ten years from now he'd have a place known and patronized by all the coloured people in the South. Something like the Mayo Brothers up in Rochester, Minnesota!

These elaborate plans that he has laid out in his mind show that Kenneth feels that he can achieve anything in the south that he could in the north. He doesn't appear to feel that there are any limitations, beyond money, to what he can achieve. This passage expresses Kenneth's oblivious state when it comes to the realities of the black community in the south. To today's reader such high ambitions may seem ludicrous given one's knowledge of the history of the KKK and Jim Crow laws. Kenneth however, appears oblivious to all of this, or at least in disbelief that it exists. Kenneth's refusal to accept the realities of the south is indicative of a New Negro mentality. He, through this refusal, shows a desire to break free of the master narrative of slavery. The question remains though, how important is this break to Kenneth and the rest of the black community?

Once Kenneth's eyes are opened to the realities of the south for the black community with the death of his brother Bob he makes a vow to himself that, "He was going to stay there if all hell froze over until he found who had composed the mob that had killed Bob." With his new acceptance of the realities of the south, Kenneth knew the dangers of remaining in the south to avenge his brother's death. Yet, he still stayed. Kenneth expresses the importance of standing up for himself in his brother when talking to Mrs. Ewing,

"Mrs. Ewing, I've tried--God knows I have--to keep away from trouble with these white people in Central City. If they bother me, I'm going to fight--you hear me--I'm going to fight--and fight like hell! They'll get me in the end--I know that--but before I go I'm going to take a few along with me!"

Obviously Kenneth feels that the black community's ability to break away from the master narrative of slavery is very important. In this case so important that he is willing to fight to the death. This is a sentiment that is expressed in poetry from the New Negro Movement.

The poems, Being Old by Langston Hughes, and If We Must Die by Claude McKay both express the desire for the black community to have a space to be themselves. While Being Old is directed toward the white community and does not necessarily convey a strong sense of urgency, If We Must Die is directed toward the black community and conveys a very strong sense of urgency. Both poems express how important it is for the African American community to be able to break away from the master narrative of slavery so that they can be themselves, much like Fire in the Flint.

Langston Hughes, Being Old, doesn't convey a sense of urgency, however, it does, through its confident and stern tone, convey to its reader that the message of the poem is one of importance. The poem uses western imagery and African imagery in close proximity to one another when addressing the young as defined in the poem. He links the old with a setting of jungle trees and forgotten rivers while connecting the young with skyscrapers. These jungle trees and skyscrapers serve as racial markers via location. Here the old are African Americans while the young are whites. Hughes defines the difference in wisdom between the old and young half way through the poem,

Surely we know what you do not know:
Joy of living,
Uselessness of things.
You are too young to understand yet.

In this bold statement, positioned in the poem between the imagery of the jungle and the imagery of the city, the narrator not only allows the reader to visualize the contrast between the young and the old but also to grasp at the psychological aspect of the contrast. It is through this sharp contrast in imagery and psychology that Hughes comments on the existence of a difference in culture between the western world and the black world. He then goes on to mock the western way of life,

Build another skyscraper
Touching the stars.
We sit with out backs against a tree
And watch skyscrapers tumble
And stars forget.
Solomon built a temple
And it must have fallen down.
It isn't here now.

Not only does the narrator point out the previous notion of the uselessness of things, but they also convey a sense of arrogance in saying that they are simply relaxing under a tree watching these skyscrapers, built by the hard labor of the young, tumble. This all culminates in the last two lines,

We know some things, being old,
You do not understand.

Simply put, but boldly stated. There is no ruffled edges on how the narrator feels about the young here. This statement attempts to turn the young off so much so that they concede to allow the old to have their space, to do their thing.

In Claude McKay's poem, If We Must Die, he addresses African Americans with a very urgent voice. The title of the poem itself conveys a sense of urgency to its reader, it is not entitled If We Must Fight, this lets the reader know that the fighting it already happening, now it is a matter of life and death. The first two lines of the poem plunge right into the message of the poem, allowing no time for easing the reader in, conveying a sense of utter urgency and importance,
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot.

In these two lines words like hogs and penned allude to the geographical setting of the poem. It shows the close proximity of its intended audience to the south not only geographically however, in a mental realm as well. McKay is urging African Americans to fight for their right to be themselves. He doesn't want African Americans to act like trapped hogs in a pen and simply give in, he wants them to fight, maybe even 'til death. He then goes on to tell them why they need to fight,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! [emphasis added]

McKay makes certain that his audience is aware that they are being mocked and will continue to be mocked if they don't fight back. He then appeals to the basic human desire to be respected by letting them know that if they fight back 'til the death that they are nobly dying and that their blood shed will not be in vain. Their brave fight will demand honor even if it results in death. McKay wraps up his rallying poem with a touch of realism quickly answered with a very powerful couple of closing lines,

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave.
And for their thousand blows deal one death blow!
What though before us lied the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! [emphasis added]

McKay admits to the fact that African Americans in this case are far outnumbered, however he never concedes that this should be a deterrent. He simply goes on immediately to say that they need to be brave and fight for the "thousand blows," meaning the numerous wrongs done to them over the years, dealing that "one death blow," which one could interpret to mean the shattering of this subservient image that white southerners have of African Americans by rising against. The two closing lines close the powerful poem with climatic words which denigrate the enemy to a "murderous, cowardly pack," and then gives the reader imagery which allows them to picture themselves there fighting bravely even though they may be backed into a corner.

So with such a passionate poem about fighting, one may wonder what they are fighting for? What is worth dying for? In the case of this poem the imagery in the beginning of the poem conveys to the reader the need to break free from such comparisons. When addressing black southerners, one at this time would most likely be addressing share croppers as the majority. The fact that this farm imagery is presented at the beginning of the poem and left there, one is led to believe that they are fighting to get away from such imagery, to break free from the confines of white expectations and demands. They are fighting for the freedom to exist as themselves.

These two poems voice frustration with not being able to be completely oneself. They ask for room to exist freely. In one, farm like imagery, used to mark blacks marks the place where they are trying to move away from. In the other African like imagery used to mark blacks in the poem allow the reader to see what they are asking room for. The narrator marks a difference between white and blacks and asks for room to explore these differences. These two poems complete the formation of the New Negro Movement as a transitional time for the African American community.

In conclusion, the authors of the New Negro Movement convey to their reader a feeling of transition in the African American community. Nella Larson's novel, Quicksand, uses Helga Crane, a mulatto woman, to personify the transitional state of the African American community. Helga feels attracted to the freedom allowed to the white world while also feeling conscience of the struggles of the black community, which she is a member of. The inner conflict felt by Helga Crane regarding the status of the race can be seen in Gwendolyn Bennett's poem, Heritage. In this poem the narrator expresses both the desire for a freer place for the black community as well as a desire to feel the stirring of black souls. While the poem doesn't ask for action from the black community it does serve as a starting point for a movement as an inner stirring is the first step towards sparking change. The mention of the minstrel tradition in this poem, as well as in Quicksand, beckons back to the time of slavery, and the disgust for this tradition expressed in both pieces conveys the desire to move away from the slavery narrative. After these two works which deal with the internal aspects of transition, a reader may move on to Mary Elizabeth and Their Eyes Are Watching God to see an outer expression of this transition.

Mary Elizabeth and Their Eyes Are Watching God both illustrate for their reader differences between the Old and New Negro. In both pieces the Old Negro is concerned more with practical matters while the New Negro appears freer to dream. Mary Elizabeth's mother, Maggie, doesn't follow her heart and reunite with her first husband when he shows up at her doorstep. Mrs. Pierson can't understand why Maggie made the decision that she did. Mrs. Pierson appears more capable of dreaming, whereas Maggie was more practical in understanding that her and her first husband were both remarried and so running off together wasn't a very practical move. The final step to the formation of the New Negro Movement as a transitional state for the black community is to gain an understanding of how important it is to the black community to be able to make this transition from the master narrative of slavery on to something else, something they themselves define.

Fire in the Flint, Being Old, and If We Must Die all allow their reader to understand how the black community wants to be allowed the basic freedom to be themselves as well as how important this basic freedom is to them. Fire in the Flint shows Kenneth transformation from a black man who wants so desperately to believe that things have changed in the south to a black man who is not only aware of the oppression still occurring in the south, but who is willing to risk and eventually lose his life to fight for change. Being Old and If We Must Die both ask for the space to be able to be themselves. Being Old asks for the space from the white community with a stern voice conveying importance more than urgency. If We Must Die expresses the same desire for space, however, this poem asks for the uprising of the black community, even if it means death. This poem expresses both importance and urgency to its reader.

When all of these pieces are put together the reader can see how the New Negro Movement was a significant point in time for the African American community because it was a time for them to break away from the master narrative of slavery that had up until that point solely defined them to outsiders, and to ask themselves where to go next.

Sources
Bennett, Gwendowlyn. Heritage.
Hughes, Langston. Being Old.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Larson, Nella. Quicksand.
McKay, Claude. If We Must Die.
White, Walter. Fire In the Flint.