Thesis (M.S.) - Ain Shams University. Faculty of Education. Department of English.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 131 - 139)

black identity and black culture in the Harlem Renaissance movement which emerged in the 1920s and continued through the 1930s, with particular reference to the poetry of Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One, entitled ”The Harlem Renaissance,” discusses the importance of the Harlem Renaissance as the significant intellectual, literary and cultural movement in the twentieth century. It also tackles the several definitions of identity and culture. Chapter Two, entitled ”Black Self-Assertion in the Poetry of Langston Hughes,” focuses mainly on the theme of black self-assertion as exemplified in the racial poems of Langston Hughes. It demonstrates how Hughes asks his black people to recognize their beauty and their self-worth and to disavow the sense of inferiority instilled in them by the white Western world. Chapter Three, entitled ”Radicalizing African American Identity: the Poetry of Claude McKay,” deals with revolutionary black identity as exemplified in the radical poems of Claude McKay. It clarifies how McKay urges his black people to revolt against racial persecution in order to attain their rights of freedom, equality and justice. These three chapters are followed by a conclusion in which the researcher’s findings are presented.

Text in English, abstract in Arabic and English.