REBIRTH by Terra Sweet

IN THIS ISSUE Editors’ Notes

The Savoy Ballroom

Marcus Garvey

Word Search: Rebirth!

Hidden Picture: Missing Items

Maze: Get to Harlem!

Louis Armstrong

Duke Ellington

Cab Calloway

Billie Holiday

James Van Der Zee

Maze: From South to North!

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson

Norma Miller

The Apollo Theater

Romare Beardon

Colouring Page: Fill In!

Pause for a Puzzle!

A Peek Into the Past

W.E.B. DuBois

The Cotton Club

Jacob Lawrence

Word Search: Black and White Cookie’s Book 46

REBIRTH June 2012 EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Terra Sweet & Kirsten Kastberg STAFF RESEARCHERS & WRITERS ART DEPARTMENT MUSIC DEPARTMENT Anna Kraebber Alex Grueber-Hoang Jacob Helzner Anna McGillis Renata Burnett Isabella O’Dell Jordan Palmer DANCE DEPARTMENT Layla Cole LANDMARKS DEPARTMENT Nasir Gentles Carmel Pe’er Neelan Martin LEADERS DEPARTMENT Todd Davis Declan Henderson Olivier Pham IMAGE RESEARCHERS Terra Sweet & Kirsten Kastberg FRONT COVER DESIGN Todd Davis & Terra Sweet BACK COVER ART Jacob Helzner

Published by the students of 3B at The School at Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, 3B Publishing House, MagCloud Publishing Service. 3B students completed their research using a variety of sources, and they would like to acknowledge the sources they used: www.americanslibrary.gov, www.apollotheater.org, www.artsedge.kennedy-center.com, www.artsmarts4kids.blogspot.comwww.billieholiday.com, www.biography.org, www.blackpast.org, www.historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.comwww.pbs.org, www.issuu.com, www.legacy.nypl.org, www.makingmusicfun.net, www.notablebiographies.com, www.savoyplague.org, www.scholastic.com, www.wikipedia.org Dillon, Leo and Diane. Rap a Tap Rap. The Blue Sky, 2002 / Fredrick and Patricia. Louis Armstrong, Jazz Musician. Enslow, 2001 / Gillis, Jennifer Blizin. W.E.B. DuBois. Heinemann, 2006 / Govenar, Alan. Stompin’ at the Savoy: The Story of Norma Miller. Candlewick Press, 2006 / Haeker, Carlotta. Great African Americans in Jazz. Crabtree Publishing Company, 1997 / Haskins, Jim. Black Stars of the Harlem Renaissance. John Wily & Son, 2002 / Hatfield, Claire. Me and Uncle Romie. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002 / Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Duke Ellington. Hyperion, 2007 / Racza, Bob. Speaking of Art. Millbrook Press, 2009 / Schaeffer, Adam R. The Harlem Renaissance. Heineman Library, 2003 / Venezia, Mike. Duke Ellington. Children’s Press, 1995 / Worth, Richard. The Harlem Renaissance: An Explosion of African-American Culture. Enstow Publishers, Inc., 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UxsvLkUyuM,http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/cab-calloway-sketches/clip-chris-calloway-brooksdiscuss-his-grandfather/1978/, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGFqSkNjHk&feature=youtu.be, http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=782F2301-7BB8-42A6-A0F7-BCB8F2F25382, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu6n86wPMNE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqsc0dhoED0&feature=youtu.be, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ac6OZkyYxg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCOvG_vGzRc&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3JHEY_syrw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CpoKvXuUEM&feature=youtu.be

!EDITORS’ NOTE Welcome to REBIRTH! We are very excited to present our first issue to you, and we hope you will enjoy reading it and learning from it. For the past month and a half, 3B Publishing House has been buzzing with activity and a looming deadline. Hard at work around our conference table, our research team could be found gathering facts and contemplating inferences about the Harlem Renaissance. Team members of our departments – Music, Dance, Landmarks, Leaders, and Art – each chose a reader letter and became experts on that topic. Their individual articles and accompanying comics will give you the essence of these topics. In order to develop such expertise, our research team went through weeks of professional development, which taught them how to become attentive, critical researchers and engaging writers. Always striving to meet the high standards of the 3B Publishing House, our team members learned to vet sources, analyze video footage, take diligent notes, and finally, transform what they learned into a published informational article. As Editors-in-Chief, we are very proud of our research team’s final pieces, and we invite you to peruse the wealth of information and history presented in these pages. And don’t forget to have fun while you’re at it! Sincerely,

Terra Sweet and Kirsten Kastberg, Editors-in-Chief

Dear REBIRTH, I would like to know more about the Savoy Ballroom. Does it still exist? What went on there?

Savoy Ballroom, what do you think? If you thought a fancy shmancy dress-up ballroom, then you are wrong. It was really a come in and just dance kind of ballroom. Although the Savoy was very important it doesn’t exist anymore. A Jewish man named Moe Gale came up with the idea for the Savoy and had it built on the second floor of a mini mall that stretched across the whole block. Moe and his son where so surprised that thousands of people came on opening night. Moe Gale’s boss was a man named Charles Buchanan. Another important person was Herbert White, also known as Whitey. Herbert White was the dance master, which meant he could say “You two,” to two Savoy dancers, “you are going to dance in this dance competition on this day at this time.” During the Harlem Renascence blacks and whites were mixing with each other and in the Savoy many Blacks and Whites danced together. They danced the Lindy Hop ! Carmel Pe’er

" Lana Turner, Harlem Renascence actress, nicknamed the Savoy “The Home of Happy Feet.” " The Savoy has a gigantic marquee with black bold letters saying Savoy with music notes all around it. " Many of the best orchestras played there. " Some kids would go to the Savoy to dance for tips after church (Norma Miller did that when she was a little girl). " “Move it kids!” Big George would say to the kids because he was the doorman of the Savoy. " On Easter Sunday 1931 the Savoy held a “best-dressed couple” contest in the Easter parade. " Mural-size paintings of dancers covered the walls.

Dear REB IRTH, I live in H arlem and there’s a park nea r my hou se called Ma r c us G arvey Park . I think he must be an imp ortant person to have a par k named after him . Who ex actly is Ma r c us G arvey?

Do you know who came from a family of twelve? His name is Marcus Garvey! Marcus Garvey wanted Blacks to go back to Africa and Africa to be free from European countries including: Britain, France, and Portugal. He started something called UNIA or Universal Negro Improvement Association. James Van Der Zee took pictures for him. He met a young woman Amy Ashwood who also thought the same thing about African Americans going back to Africa and to be free. Soon enough he married her. He thought of himself “the king of Africa” but some other Blacks thought, “We have come so far trying to get Blacks and Whites together.” He started a business called Black Star Line which was a business that would send goods and eventually it would send African Americans back to Africa. Later he went to jail being claimed of mail fraud because he had a picture of a ship on the company’s logo with the wrong name. The president let him out of jail early but he kicked him out of the country back to Jamaica. He died in 1940. Nobody knows how Marcus died. It could be of two stokes or getting poisoned. !Declan Henderson

Missing Items By Anna McGillis

Check out this Cotton Club scene! Be a detective and help the people find their items.

GET TO HARLEM! By Carmel Peâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;er

This mom and her son are trying to get to Harlem for a better life. Go through the maze. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go through lines that are in your way.

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Louis Armstrong By Alex Grueber-Hoang

When you think of the name Louis Armstrong you may think of a tough boxer guy, well that’s not true. He is a famous scat singer from the Harlem Renaissance. But that’s not the only thing he did. He is also a master of the trumpet. Louis Armstrong was born in 1901 and he died in 1 972. His father abandoned him when he was very young. Louis Armstrong was poor as a kid so he joined a small band with some other people to make more money, but surprisingly he got paid a lot more money later. Louis was a troublemaker because he fired a gun so he was sent to a home for bad boys. Did you know it was there that Louis got introduced to jazz? He was released from the home when he was 13 and continued learning jazz music. Joe Oliver, a jazz musician mentored Louis Armstrong and he performed a lot of performances. Fletcher Henderson requested Louis to live in Harlem because of his talent in singing. Louis Armstrong became one of the most famous musicians of the Harlem Renaissance.

Duke Ellington By Jordan Palmer

When you think of Duke Ellington you think of a song that is famous like Take The A Train. A Little known fact about Duke Ellington is that he wrote another song with a funny title. The title is East Street Louis Toodle-oo. Duke Ellington was born in Washington D.C in 1899 and died in 1974. His mother and father ordered Duke to take piano classes. But he did not want to go. Duke Ellingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idea of fun was baseball. Duke Ellington was playing the piano better. Duke really liked his notes that he made up by himself. When Duke was nineteen he invited girls to his party because he was trying to show off about how good his notes are an d to hear their opinion instead of just his. When Duke Ellington was older he played the song Take the A Train. Then Duke got married. Billy Stay horn wrote the song take the A train and Duke Ellington played the song. When Duke was playing take the A train he was wearing white clothes.

CAB CALLOWAY By Anna McGillis

When you hear the name Cab Calloway you might think of a cab driving down Amsterdam well guess again! He’s actually a famous jazz musician from the Harlem Renaissance! That took place around 1919 to the 1930s. Cab Calloway grew up in Baltimore but was born in Rochester on December 25, 1907. He got his start by a few lucky breaks for filling in for important shows. He had his first tour with the band Plantation Days. He appeared in shows and movies plus played at the Cotton Club for ten years! He was best known for his hit song Minnie the Moocher. He signed up for college but instead he got put into show business. He was very popular in the 1930s and the 1940s and he often played with Bill Bojangles Robinson, the famous tap dancer. Cab Calloway was hired to play his first show at Savoy Ballroom in NYC but it didn’t go so well. After when he was about to return to Chicago he landed a part in a Broadway comedy. Cab Calloway and his band had an interesting way of music. They were different from most bands. Cab Calloway didn’t always use words in his songs. Sometimes he was like the instruments, it was called scat singing. He wasn’t the only one. A lot of musicians did scat singing! He scat sung in Minnie the Moocher, Kickin’ the Gong Around and many more. He did a bit of acrobatics in Kickin’ the Gong Around. But it all ended when this great musician died in 1994.

Billie Holiday By Isabella O’Dell

Do you want to know more about Billie Holiday? well here’s an interesting fact when Billie Holiday was three her parents were eighteen and sixteen. Nobody ever knew who Billie Holiday’s father was. She did not just know singing she also knew how to play instruments. Billie Holiday first played at the Apollo Theatre when she moved to Harlem. Billie Holiday played at most of the theatres in Harlem. Every single song Billie Holiday did has musical instruments and she sings with other jazz singers like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Billie Holiday had many hit songs that were very low and slow. Billie Holiday was born in April 7, 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. Billie Holiday did not have a good child hood but she was a very talented singer when she was older. Billie Holiday learned to sing without no practicing. In Harlem nobody ever knew how she learned to sing without no practicing. People called her “Lady Day”.

Dear REBIRTH, I’m studying the Harlem Renaissance in school and I love photography. Were there any famous photographers during the Harlem Renaissance? Can you tell me about any you know of?

Buildings shine over the streets of Harlem, and a young man trots around the block. “Snap, snap, snap!” he takes pictures everywhere! This man is James Van Der Zee. He was very famous, he was even called the picture takin’ man! And he was also one of the first middle class African Americans. Nice huh! Well, James was a photographer in the Harlem Renaissance. On June 29, 1886, James was born in Massachusetts, and James was very interested in photography. His first camera was $8. A lot of money back then! Later, James decided to move to Harlem and be a musician. He failed, and did what he wanted, photography! Right before the war, James made a studio called Guaranteed Photos Studio, later called GGG studio. A lot of people went in to take their photos taken, for example, a man walks into the studio. He carefully walks in. James happily takes his photo. “Thanks, come again!” he cheerfully says. He also worked for Marcus Garvey, taking pictures for him. Garvey was a leader. He worked for the Universal Negro Improvement Association (The back to Africa movement). Not only taking pictures, James also edited photos. He carefully painted the photos to make them in color. Van Der Zee was one of the first people to edit photos, at that time people were amazed by this. By 1969 James was so famous after an employee of The Met got his photos collected then he got his own exhibit, Harlem On My Mind! After a while he died at age 92. Let’s hear it for James Van Der Zee! “CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!” !Jacob Helzner

FROM SOUTH TO NORTH! By Jacob Helzner

Start on South and make your way to the North. Once you reach the Mason Dixon Line, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re half way there!

Dear REBIRTH, I’m learning to tap dance and my dance teacher told us a little about a man called Bojangles. I would love to know more about him! Some people might think that Bill Robinson was just a person who danced with Shirley Temple. WRONG! Bill Robinson was a person who did dance with Shirley Temple but was more famous for his tap dancing. People said he “ danced with his feet” so people named him Bojangles. Now he was Bill “ Bojangles” Robinson! Did you know that? Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was born in 1878 in Richmond, Virginia. Some people thought that he was born in Harlem. He would dance at hair salons at the age of six. As he grew up people started to name him “ Bojangles.” His parents died in 1885, when he was seven. Because his parents died he grew up with his grandmother. She would tell him lots of stories. He died when he was seventy-one. Do you think that is old? People would say that he would talk with his feet. Because he would go so fast other dancers could not repeat him. Lots of famous people danced with him including Shirley Temple. He did lots of movies with famous people. He became so famous that people nicknamed him the mayor of Harlem. James Van Der Zee was famous for photos so he made a portrait of him. Now you know that Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer who would wear ties and fancy clothes. He invented his own dance! It was called The Stair Dance. He did the dance with the famous stars. !Layla Cole

BIRTH, or e Dear RE h me m c a e t u I’ve Can yo Miller? a m r o about N s of her o e d i v d seen ol h e w as

an d s g n i c n a d g! amazin

Did you know that Norma Miller practically lived in the Savoy Ballroom in her early teens? Norma Miller had an older sister and also Norma Miller’s dad died shortly after she was born. She was born in Harlem. Her mom wanted Norma and her sister to go to an orphanage because she didn’t have enough money to take care of both of them. Their childhood turned out to be worse because Norma and her sister couldn’t go to the orphanage. How she became famous is Leonard Reid saw her dance outside of the Savoy. He came outside because he got mad at one of his dancers. He asked Norma Miller if she could dance. She said “yes,” he said “do a time step,” and she did. Norma Miller went on the road with Leonard Reid and his dancers. She was on the road for a week, the cops came and got her because she was playing hooky. She was only 13 or 14! The Apollo is a famous theater in Harlem & it’s on 125th st, also know as two fifth. Norma Miller got to dance at the Apollo for a week because Norma Miller and her friends won a Lindy Hop contest. Something that is special about Norma is she did two different things during the Harlem Renaissance. She was a singer and also she did comedy. Can you believe she’s still alive? I can’t either! !Nasir Gentles

Dear R EBIRTH , Everyb ody al ways makes a b ig d eal about the Apo llo Theate r o n 1 th 25 Street. W hy ? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so grea t about it? It l ooks like a regula r old the at e r t o m e. Did you know that when what you call the Apollo theatre first opened in 1914 it was not called the Apollo? It was known as The Hurtig and Seamonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Burlesque Theatre! It opened as the Apollo in 1934, and it lives on a street called 125th Street. Do you know where 125th Street is? It is in Harlem! George Keister designed the theatre. He designed a lot of comfortable seats and a big stage and outside there is a sign that says the APOLLO on it with big fluorescent lights. On that big stage there was singing and tapdancing and comedy performances. Wednesday night was Amateur Night on the radio live from the Apollo. Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey once won amateur night. Singers would sing and the audience would tell them if they liked it or not with boos or cheers. If they won they got a cash prize. Some people became famous there like Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Josephine Baker. They were the best African American singers and musicians at that time. The Apollo became the best African-American theatre in the world. The Apollo theatre had the largest group of black people working in a theatre. It is still open today and reminds people of history and talents of African Americans. After the Harlem Re naissance, Michael Jackson, the Jackson 5, James Brown and Prince performed there. !Todd Davis

Dear REBIRTH, I made a collage at school and when I brought it home my grandpa said it reminded him of Romare Bearden. Who is that?

Romare Bearden said, “Art is the soul of people.” In 1963, he started experimenting with collage because he thought that it really interested him. Romare Bearden was from Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born on September 2nd, 1911. He moved to Harlem when he was eight years old, so he was pretty young. Romare Bearden died on March 12th,1988. He was 77 years old when he died. He moved to Harlem because his parents wanted to. Harlem was a place where a lot of artists, musicians and dancers lived. Romare Bearden decided to paint to express the African American experience in Harlem. He collected patterned papers to do his collages of people in Harlem. He painted people playing jazz. He loved to see his collages when he was done. But before he knew he was done, he experimented with different colors on his collage. Romare Bearden used paper, fabric, foil, paint, ink, color pencil, graphite, and bleached areas on fiberboard. He would compose like how musicians compose. Romare Bearden also had a studio in Long Island City where he kept other stuff that he thought was not really important. A little while after he started experimenting with collage, he hung his collages everywhere in his house. Romare Bearden had a lot of other talents besides collage. He read a lot. There were a lot of books in his studio because he loved to read. He wrote articles about African American art and life. He was interested in painting African Americans so, everyday that he wanted to paint or do collage he went outside and watched African Americans playing, doing a contest or playing music. He was also a set designer for Alvin Ailey. He made political cartoons. His jazz song Sea Breeze, was a classic. When he was in college, he joined the Negro League Baseball team to try it out to see if he liked it. His collages are in museums and galleries and he was very proud of himself. He glued down pieces of newspaper and painted over it to see all the different ways he could do it. He is one of the most important people of the 20th century! Many of Bearden’s paintings brought back memories for the people who looked at them. He didn’t want his paintings to be two-dimensional. He wanted them to be standing out. He wanted his paintings to have moods so the people who saw his paintings would feel that mood. He was most famous for his collages. Bearden’s paintings have a little blur in them. That means they are moving. A lot of his paintings are based on books because he loves to read books. !Renata Burnett 34

FILL IN! By Carmel Pe’er

iu m d e M

Hard

A Peek into the Original: A Harlem Renaissance Magazine for Kids â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Brownieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Book

Images from The Library of Congress

Dear REBIRTH, I’ve been reading about the Harlem Renaissance, and one name keeps coming up: W.E.B. Dubois. What sorts of things did he say and do that make him stand out so much?

W.E.B Dubois had a challenging interesting life. Why don’t you read about it in this article. W.E.B Dubois was born in Barrington Massachusetts on February 23, 1868. His family was poor so he worked in a mill. Some of his ancestors were in the revolutionary war. His parents Mary and Alfred had a rough time and divorced. W.E.B Dubois didn’t feel so good about that. W.E.B Dubois had a big family. He married a girl named Nina. They had two kids. One was named Burghardt and another was named Yoland. Burghardt died when he was about two years old. When Nina died he married Shirley Graham.

He was the first African American to get a PhD from Harvard! His favorite subject was reading. Is it yours too? He grew a beard that he kept for his whole time in college. He went to Fisk University and Harvard. Dubois studied for a PhD from 1882 –1884. He graduated in 1884. He made a book called The Souls of Black Folk. He made a book called The Philadelphia Negro. W.E.B Dubois was the editor of The Crisis. The Crisis was a magazine. Dubois made a group called the Pan African Congress. He worked for another group called The Peace Information Center. Before Dubois worked for the Peace Information Center he worked for the NACCP. He tried to convince people not to use nuclear weapons. Talk about a tough break. Ageing was the hardest stage in his life. He got arrested at age 83 and in 1963 at age 95 because people thought he was a communist spy. !Olivier Pham

Dear REBIRTH, I heard that African Americans were not allowed in the Cotton Club during the Harlem Renaissance. Is that true? Can you tell me more about the Cotton Club and the rules there?

Blacks play here, Blacks come here, In the audience you say? No. All African Americans weren’t aloud in the audience. They were only allowed to perform there. I think it was because Owen Madden was racist, which means he was white and he didn’t like blacks. Owen Madden was the second owner of the Cotton Club and he changed it’s name to the Cotton Club from the Club Deluxe.

The Club Deluxe was the first version of the Cotton Club under ownership of former boxing champion Jack Johnson. The Club Deluxe had 400 seats. 300 less then the Cotton Club. That’s a small amount of seats for a big space. The Club Deluxe operated until 1922 before it changed to the Cotton Club. Back then the Club Deluxe didn’t get very famous people unlike the Cotton Club. A lot of famous African American performers played at the Cotton Club like: Duke Ellington, Fayard Nicholas, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and a whole lot more. !Neelan Martin

TH, Dear REBIR e d about Th e n r a le I n Whe at school, n io t a r ig Great M d r mentione my teache ed Jacob m a n e n o e som he What does . e c n e r w La at h The Gre it w o d o t have Migration?

You look at a piece of art that is made on paper. Do you think paper is the only thing you can make art on? Wrong, actually people can also make paintings with stretch canvas and cardboard. Like Jacob Lawrence. Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 7, 1917, but raised in Harlem. He died in Seattle Washingto n June 9, 2000.

But you know what is weird? Jacob Lawrence did not have a New Jersey accent. Instead he has a very deep voice. He hardly saw New Jersey after he was born because his parents moved to New York and kept on moving around until they found Harlem. They moved to Harlem when Jacob Lawrence was thirteen. All his life he loved the Harlem street scene, he was so impressed when he moved in. Jacob Lawrence was an American painter during the Harlem Renaissance and after, who inspired African Americans and painted in dark browns and blacks with very different vivid colors. He sometimes used cardboard and when the paint was dry he would bend it and twist it to make it look 3D! He always used gouache (pronounced â&#x20AC;&#x153;gawch â&#x20AC;?) and tempera paints. When Jacob Lawrence was twenty-one he worked at The Easel Program. He painted many different series and got them into museums and that brought him fame. One of his series was about The Great Migration. !Anna Kraebber