Question

Which section from the text best supports the central idea that the Harlem Renaissance provided African Americans with an opportunity to create a new identity by using art to express their feelings and experiences?
Question 5 options:

“In the early 1900s African Americans began moving north where they could find better paid jobs working in city factories instead of on farms.” (Paragraph 3)


“One of the most common stereotypes was that they were primitive, wild people still closely connected to the ‘jungle roots’ of their origins in Africa.” (Paragraph 4)


“Although the poem never addressed race directly, African-American readers found its message of defiance inspiring as they continued to hear about racially motivated violence around the country.” (Paragraph 5)


“Artists held the belief that through intellect, literature, art, and music, their work could challenge racism and enable African Americans to better integrate into American society as a whole.” (Paragraph 6)

Answer 1

The last section ("artists held the belief that through intellect, literature, art...") best supports the central idea that Harlem Renaissance provided African Americans with an opportunity to create a new identity by using art to express their feelings and experiences, since this passage describes how artists found in the visual arts and in other cultural expressions a way to fit in American society without renouncing to their idiosyncrasies, breaking free from the white stereotypes that had, for a long time, characterized them in a degrading and erroneous way. The Harlem Renaissance provided those artists with an opportunity to represent themselves and their culture on their own terms, while integrating them in the Western culture where they rightly belonged.  

Answer 2

“In the early 1900s African Americans began moving north where they could find better paid jobs working in city factories instead of on farms.” (Paragraph 3)