Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The United States’s postbellum period saw a significant number of changes to the legal, political, economic, and social status of formerly enslaved persons. What were some of the legal decisions made regarding these persons’ rights? What was the reality of the situation? Explain.

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer question invites students to consider the theme The Impact of Racism in America in relation to the historical context preceding the Harlem Renaissance: the postbellum Reconstruction Era. After the Civil War, the former Confederate states grappled with the introduction of laws that were, in theory, meant to support formerly enslaved communities; however, lawmakers created ways to continue disenfranchising these communities, such as the establishment of “Jim Crow” in southern states, as well as the perpetuation of racism in the public sphere. While Larsen’s novel takes place over 50 years after emancipation, during the Harlem Renaissance, the lingering effects of slavery, perpetuated through systematic racism, are very much present. Larsen’s biracial protagonist Helga is not concerned with the politics of change per se; however, she remains a victim of her racist society.