Part 5 Summary and Analysis

Part 5 begins with a brief history of the Harlem Renaissance. The Renaissance took place in the 1920s and early 1930s when nearly 200,000 blacks lived in the Harlem district of New York City. The Harlem Renaissance was a vibrant celebration of the black culture and featured many famous people and places including writers Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston; musicians Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. Harlem would also become known as the heart of jazz with places like the Cotton Club.

Although many saw Harlem as going through a kind of upraising, the author states that the area also had a stable, church going side.

Chapter 15 begins with Bessie and Sadie's first trip to New York with Nanny. All were fascinated by the sights and sounds of the city. Sadie was the first to move to New York in 1916. Bessie...