Black Literary Suite: Mississippi Renaissance

Abstract

The word “Renaissance” is translated as “rebirth” in French. The classical renaissance is a period between the 17th century that served as a bridge between the middle ages and modern history. Beginning in Italy, the movement spread to the rest of Europe beginning what is now called the Early Modern Age. The Renaissance involved the flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, the political development of diplomacy, and the scientific shift to inductive reasoning and observation. This shift away from the utilitarian approach sought to praise the human and emotional aspect in art and literature. Some scholars refuse to view the renaissance as a period of “cultural advancement” from the Middle Ages but rather as a period of nostalgia for classical antiquity. In African American literature, we commonly recognize the term as attached to the Harlem Renaissance (known at the time as the New Negro Movement), a period between WWI and the Great Depression. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of exceptional black artistic productivity, with black artists--many relocating from the South in order to escape Jim Crow--flocking to Harlem in order to not only create literature, music, and art, but also to unite black artists and the black community in Harlem in order to effect social and political change. More recently, the term has also defined other literary movements such as the Black Chicago Renaissance and the Southern Renascence, both periods of cultural production that began in major metropolitan centers and spread outward. The 2017 Black Literary Suite focuses on The Mississippi Renaissance, placing it in conversation with the aforementioned movements. Mississippi had the second largest population of enslaved people at 55% of the total population, and thus Mississippi had a chance to produce a sizable population of black writers, musicians, artists, and intellectuals. Mississippi native Richard Wright, for instance, became the most famous and influential black writer in the world in the 20th century. A few questions this exhibit hopes to answer: Why is Mississippi important to African American writing? Are there commonalities in form and content found in Black Mississippian texts? How does the classical meaning of renaissance apply to what we call the Mississippi Renaissance?