Judi Woods

The 10th meeting of the Fredonia Shakespeare Club was held on Jan. 10 at the Lanford House hosted by Barbara Albert. 16 members were in attendance. President Joyce Haines welcomed members and thanked the hostess and presenter.

Priscilla Bernatz read the minutes from the Jan. 3 meeting. The minutes were approved as written.

President elect Lucy Richardson, informed members that the club’s new officers will be meeting to decide on topics for the 2019 — 2020 Club year. On Feb. 21, members will vote on next year’s topic. Members are encouraged to submit ideas for consideration. Submit any recommendations by Jan. 31.

The Club’s area of study this year is The World Between WWI and WWII. Judi Woods presented her paper “Women of the Harlem Renaissance” which is summarized as follows:

As World War I was raging, a great migration of Blacks moved from the South to the North to fill the vacancies in jobs left by men going to war and the restrictions on immigration. Over 500,000 Blacks moved north, mainly from rural communities to urban areas, such as Chicago, Washington DC and New York City. It was during this time that Harlem became a magnet for artists, writers and intellectuals in the Black community. Their goal was to achieve through art the equality that black Americans had been denied in the social political and economic realms. In this spirit a wealth of art, in all forms came from this period, a decade roughly from 1920 to 1930, referred to as the heart of the Harlem Renaissance.

As the war ended, racism was running rampant in our Country. It was a very dark and shameful time in our history when white race riots raged in several cities such as the infamous St Louis riot that left hundreds dead and over 6,000 blacks homeless. A time when lynchings were common, over 3,000 from 1885 – 1919, ten of them still wearing their military uniforms from serving in WWI. Segregation was widespread, where Blacks were barred from jobs such as salesclerks and from any upscale restaurant or hotel. Yet even given all these obstacles, the artists found hope and offered change through their various forms of art.

Women artists, writers, librarians and thinkers all contributed to this era of defining for the first time what it meant to be Black and female in twentieth century America. They met this challenge by creating novels, entertainment, music, dancing, poetry and parlors for gatherings of the great thinkers of the time. There were the great blues singers, such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith who wrote and sang of challenges, hardships instilled with rays of hope. Writers of novels and poetry such as Nella Larson. Entertainers and dancers such as Josephine Baker, who became an International super star, civil rights leader and worked for the resistance in France during WWII. The novelist, filmmaker and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, who not only wrote several novels, but recorded by film and writings folklore of the South. Librarians such as Jessie Fauset and Regina Anderson who not only wrote, but helped to encourage, educate, and inspire other young writers of the time including Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. Finally, there were visual artists, such as Augusta Savage with her most famous works Gamin and The Harp, that proudly depicted Blacks as they truly looked and not as a caricature.

The artists of the Harlem Renaissance changed forever the manner in which Black art moved forward. These young artists of the “movement brought notice to the great works of African American art, and inspired and influenced future generations of African American artists and intellectuals. The self-portrait of African American life, identity, and culture that emerged from Harlem was transmitted to the world at large, challenging the racist and disparaging stereotypes of the Jim Crow South.’

They changed forever the stereotype of the black woman. Emerged rather, a new image, one of intellect, creativity and Beauty. Showing us once again how the arts can indeed be a powerful tool for social change.

President-elect Richardson assisted at the tea table.

The next meeting of the Club will be held at the Barker Library, hosted by Mary Croxton who will present her paper “The Roaring Twenties.”