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Difficulty: HardThe New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

Read the excerpt below from W.E.B. Du Bois's 1928 review of Claude McKay's novel *Home to Harlem* in *The Crisis* magazine and answer the question that follows.

"[The novel] for the most part nauseates me, and after the dirtier parts of its filth I feel distinctly like taking a bath... [The author] has set out to cater to that craving of the white public for the 'nigger-heaven' type of book. He has used every art of description to make it seem that the Harlem Negro is nothing but a creature of raw lust, animalism, and lack of restraint."

Which of the following central debates of the New Negro Movement does Du Bois's critique best illustrate?

  1. The tension between older leaders who argued that art must serve as political advocacy to showcase Black respectability, and younger creators who demanded the freedom to portray working-class realities.Answer
  2. B
    The disagreement over whether African Americans should prioritize practical vocational education or pursue classical academic training to form a leadership elite.
  3. C
    The division between Marcus Garvey's mass populist campaign for economic self-sufficiency and W.E.B. Du Bois's focus on elite-led international congresses.
  4. D
    The conflict over whether Black intellectuals should advocate for emigration and colonization in West Africa or assert their right to full citizenship in the United States.

Answer

The tension between older leaders who argued that art must serve as political advocacy to showcase Black respectability, and younger creators who demanded the freedom to portray working-class realities.
The correct answer is correct because W.E.B. Du Bois's critique of Claude McKay's *Home to Harlem* epitomizes the generational and philosophical debate of the Harlem Renaissance regarding the function of Black art. Du Bois and other older leaders believed that art should serve as political propaganda to combat white racism by displaying middle-class respectability. Conversely, younger writers like Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston believed that artists should be free to portray all aspects of Black life, including working-class culture and vernacular experiences, without being constrained by the politics of respectability.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source excerpt to identify the author, source context, and core argument.
The author is W.E.B. Du Bois, writing in *The Crisis* in 1928, criticizing a novel for portraying Black characters as having 'lack of restraint' and accusing the author of catering to white stereotypes.
This establishes that the conflict is about representation, audience, and the purpose of literature during the Harlem Renaissance.
2
Relate Du Bois's critique to the larger cultural debates of the New Negro Movement.
Du Bois's critique represents the 'art as propaganda' perspective, which believed that creative works should elevate the race and fight prejudice by presenting respectable images of Black life, whereas younger writers favored realistic depictions of the working class and folk culture.
This matches the core debate between lockstep respectability and artistic freedom in the 1920s.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that accurately describes this tension and identify the errors in the distractors.
The option detailing the tension between older leaders advocating for respectability and younger creators seeking working-class representation is correct. The other choices misattribute the debate to education, political nationalism, or emigrationism.
This confirms the correct option while eliminating the distractors based on established historical debates.

Key Concept

The New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates
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The New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

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