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2. HARLEM RAP, FIGURES OF SPEECH: In this chapter we introduce a fun way to explicate figurative language using some of the most artful lyrics of Grammy Award-winning rapper Coolio as well as Harlemese—the granddaddy of rap—an inherently figurative slang that Zora Neale Hurston employs in her hilarious “Story in Harlem Slang” (Spunk collection). [LITERATURE]

3. THE GREAT MIGRATION: The historical backbone of the issue, this chapter covers the events that paved the way for the Harlem Renaissance, from Reconstruction through W.W.I and its aftermath. Powerfully written and searingly honest, the article probes the politics of Jim Crow. [HISTORY]

4. UP FROM BAM—STORIES OF THE MIGRATION: In this piece we examine migration-related short stories by Zora Neale Hurston (Spunk collection) and Dorothy West and link them to students’ experiences. [The two stories we compare and contrast, “Muttsy” by Hurston and “The Typewriter” by West, tied for second place in the 1926 Opportunity (National Urban League) fiction contest. At the time Hurston was already an established writer of the Harlem Renaissance. West, only 17, was an unknown.] [LITERATURE & HISTORY]

5. ROOTS OF THE BLUES: This chapter and the accompanying “Blues Supplement” teach students to understand the structure of the blues and its offspring rock and roll, and to write their own blues compositions. [MUSIC]

6. SONGS OF THE SEVENTH SON: The guiding philosophies of the Harlem Renaissance (those of W.E.B. Du Bois and others) are linked to poems they inspired by Langston Hughes, Helene Johnson, Arna Bontemps and Claude McKay. The chapter also teaches students to interpret poetry and link it to their own lives in very powerful ways. [POETRY & SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY]

7. RENAISSANCE VISIONS—THE ART OF AARON DOUGLAS: Using multiple intelligences and cross-curriculum thinking skills, this chapter teaches students to “read” the visual metaphors and contrasts of the principal painter of the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas. The chapter also looks at the interdisciplinary collaborations between Douglas and poet Langston Hughes; together the two artists created jazz- and blues-inspired poem/drawings. [ART & LITERATURE]

8. BLACK THEATER: This story traces the history of black theater, focusing on the pivotal role of 20s’ and 30s’ plays and musicals, from Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle’s hit Shuffle Along (which introduced the steps of the Charleston) to Langston Hughes’s early comedies. [Written by Caroline Jackson Smith, professor of theater and African-American Studies at Oberlin.] [DRAMA & HISTORY]

9. JELLY ‘N JAZZ: This chapter explores the music of Jelly Roll Morton and teaches students to recognize jazz counterpoint (New Orleans Polyphony) and to write their own jazz improvisations. [Writer Paul Ferguson is the former trombonist of the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey bands, the head of the Case Western Reserve University Jazz Division, the director of the Ohio Youth Jazz Orchestra, a contributing writer for Jazz Player, and the recipient of the 1995 Gil Evans Fellowship in jazz composition.] [MUSIC]

10. LANGSTON HUGHES + POETRY = BLUES: Penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet (1994) Yusef Komunyakaa, this chapter explores Langston Hughes’s blues and jazz-influenced poetry and the use of tension and humor in his work. [LITERATURE & MUSIC]

11. HUGHE’S INFLUENCE ON LATER POETS: This piece was also written by Komunyakaa, who is widely considered to be one of the best African-American poets writing today. [LITERATURE]

12. DAT FEEL GOOD ACHE—DA BLUES: This story chronicles the evolution of the blues, from its birth in the Mississippi (Yazoo) Delta through the Classic Blues in Harlem to the Chicago Blues and the birth of rock and roll. [MUSIC]

THIS ISSUE INCLUDES TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIAL AND GUIDELINES FOR TEAM TEACHING NEXUS—WITH INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES IN LITERATURE, HISTORY, ART, AND MUSIC.