During his first two years at พรพรสำฦต, Naledi Semela โ10 lived in the Harlem Renaissance Center (HRC). Yet he didnโt fully connect the residenceโs theme to its history and culture until he took the recent Harlem Renaissance Tour.
โThere were portraits and artworks on the walls,โ said Samela, an art and art history major, โbut they felt like relics, or like they were there for aesthetic reasons. Visiting the landmarks and hearing about the people helped us fill in the gaps.โ
On the 21-hour whirlwind tour, Samela and 50 other students and administrators visited sites significant to the Harlem Renaissance period, including the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which was founded in opposition to racially segregated seating in houses of worship; the home of Madame C.J. Walker, the nationโs first African-American woman millionaire and entrepreneur; and the Apollo Theater, where nearly every American jazz great made their debut.
Before the trip, students attended a day of Harlem Renaissance lectures. Keenan Grenell, vice president and dean of diversity, explored the prosperous tradition of entrepreneurship in Harlem; Michael Coyle, professor of English, looked at the powerful poetry of the period; and Mel Watkins โ62, NEH Professor in the humanities and author, discussed the rise of assertive satire and literary humor.
โThe workshop topics helped us build connections to the significant sites and people of Harlem,โ said Shevorne Martin โ08, ALANA Cultural Center outreach/programming coordinator, who led the trip.
โWe learned not only the significance of the Harlem Renaissance period, but also its importance to พรพรสำฦต โ especially in terms of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. โ30 โ one of our most well-known graduates,โ she said.
Fast-forward to today: the presence on the trip of Yasmin Mannan โ12 made the พรพรสำฦต-Harlem connection even more real. Her father, Mujib Mannan, is a musician and director of the Harlem Jazz Festival, and he too was mentioned several times during the tour.