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Difficulty: MediumThe New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

Read the excerpt below and answer the question that follows.

"But this is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America—this urge within the race toward urge-to-whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as American as possible."
— Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," 1926

Which of the following historical debates within the New Negro Movement is most directly addressed by the passage?

  1. A
    The conflict over whether African Americans should seek emigration to West Africa and the Caribbean or claim their rights as American citizens.
  2. The tension between expressing a distinct African American cultural identity through folk traditions and conforming to mainstream American artistic standards.Answer
  3. C
    The strategic division between Booker T. Washington’s focus on economic self-reliance and W. E. B. Du Bois’s advocacy for the Talented Tenth.
  4. D
    The disagreement between Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association and W. E. B. Du Bois’s Pan-African congresses over global repatriation.

Answer

The tension between expressing a distinct African American cultural identity through folk traditions and conforming to mainstream American artistic standards.
The correct option is correct because Langston Hughes argued that the greatest obstacle for Black artists was the pressure to assimilate and conform to white, standardized American norms ('urge-to-whiteness'), which stifled unique African American cultural expression and folk traditions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source excerpt for key themes and terminology.
The excerpt mentions the 'mountain' as an 'urge toward urge-to-whiteness' and a desire to fit into 'American standardization' at the expense of 'racial individuality.'
Identifying the central conflict in the text is necessary to connect it to the broader historical debates of the era.
2
Connect the identified themes to the cultural debates of the New Negro Movement.
The conflict between 'racial individuality' and 'American standardization' directly maps to the debate over whether Black artists should create distinct art rooted in their heritage or assimilate into white American cultural norms.
This step matches the author's argument to the correct historical context of Harlem Renaissance literary and artistic debates.

Key Concept

The debate over assimilation versus cultural distinctiveness in African American art during the New Negro Movement.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

The New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

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