Invisible Man Research Paper Topics

(Harlem) is romantic in its own right. And it is hard and strong, its noise, heat, cold, cries and colours are so. And the nostalgia is violent too; the eternal radio seeping through everything day and night, indoors and out, becomes somehow the personification of restlessness, desire, brooding."
--Nancy Cunard, Harlem Review, 1933

In 1925, the African-American philosopher Alain Locke published The New Negro, an anthology that contained the works of some of the writers of the period: Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston. In Harlem, "Negro life is seizing upon its first chances for group expression and self-determination," Locke wrote in the introduction. Instead of using more direct political means, African-American artists and writers employed culture to work for goals of civil rights and equality.

• Write a 7-10 page paper on one of the following topics.
• All papers need to be typed, in 12-point font and written in MLA format.
  
• The topics are vague since it is designed to enhance your knowledge of Invisible Man yet leave room for you to explore an area that you are interested in.
• All papers should use specific textual evidence to support your thesis.
• A Works Cited page must be included with the paper in order for the paper to be graded.
• Take time to write this paper. See me for guidance or clarity if you need it.

1. Research the Communist party during the Harlem Renaissance. Write a commentary about how it affected the Harlem Renaissance and/or specific artists from the Harlem Renaissance. Research the people who joined the Communist party, the reasons for joining, and their reasons for leaving the party.

2. Historical Perspectives--Research one of the following topics and address how it influenced the author and/or novel and/or culture of the Harlem Renaissance:
• Amber:Lynch mobs (especially from 1890s on)
• Evictions of African American people
• Woodrow Wilson
• Sarah: Jazz: Bessie Smith, Florence Mills, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong
• Art: Augusta Savage, Laura Wheeler Waring, Aaron Douglass, Louis Mailou Jones, Sargent Claude Johnson, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence
• Dance: Josephine Baker
• Yojin: Jim Crow Laws

3. Literary Influences—Research one of the following influences on Ellison:
• Melville/ Moby Dick
• Colin: Richard Wright/ Native Son
• Dostoevsky (minus Crime and Punishment)
• William Faulkner
• Mark Twain
• Stories of Brer Rabbit

4. Literary Contemporaries—Read other works by authors of the Harlem Renaissance and compare/contrast Ellison’s themes. You should integrate literary criticism with in your paper as well. Authors include:
• Langston Hughes
• Zora Neal Hurston
• Countee Cullen
• Jessie Redmon Fauset
• Dorothy West
• Claude McKay
• Anne Spencer
• Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson
• Paul Laurence Dunbar
• Arna Bontemps
• Angelina Weld Grimke
• Marita Bonner
• Jean Toomer
• Gwendolyn B. Bennett
• Esther Popel
• Marion Vera Cuthbert
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett
• James Weldon Johnson
• Nella Larsen
• Alain Locke

5. Politics—Research the politics of the time and how their ideologies influenced Ellison.
• W.E.B. Du Bois/ NAACP
• Connor:Booker T. Washington/ Tuskegee Institute
• Marcus Garvey/ UNIA

6. Martin: Research the Negro Baseball Leagues.

7. Nate--Research the treatment of African Americans in the Military during the Harlem Renaissance

8. Research Women’s Rights during the Harlem Renaissance.

9. Your own idea that you get approved by your instructor.