The Harlem Renaissance Project:  
A Multimedia View of the Roaring Twenties at City University of New York

You've heard about the people, places, and events.  Louis Armstrong, 
Josephine Baker, The Charleston, Marcus Garvey, Bojangles, Countee Cullen, 
The Cotton Club, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, 125th Street.  They 
represent an era in African- American culture like no other, and the 
Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1929, provides a multimedia arena for students to 
witness the achievements and hear the views of the people involved.  The 
life of this age, including its social institutions, politics, dance, 
theater, visual arts, music and unique literary brilliance, is available 
in a Windows 3.0/Multimedia Toolbook 1.5 environment.  

The Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1929, is a pilot project in multimedia 
courseware that incorporates photographs, paintings, sketches, poetry, 
excerpts from novels, period music, and documentary footage to portray 
this unique period in African-American culture.  Students who find 
traditional text-based learning difficult or uninteresting benefit from 
multimedia alternatives.  For most learners, the opportunity to see and 
hear the people who made history is a powerful incentive for investigating 
the past.  The Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1929, is designed tosupplement 
individualized learning by serving as a classroom presentation of 
materials for an undergraduate population.  In addition, this program acts 
as a cultural thesaurus for the period and provides students with a set of 
computer-based research tools.  These tools include an on-line notebook, a 
relational database, bibliographic/discographic information, and a dial-up 
utility for accessing electronic bulletin boards and remote databases.  

This software appeals to a broad audience, which includes teachers who 
wish to integrate minority cultural contributions into the curriculum, and 
students who are eager to practice research skills in a computer 
environment.  The main sections of the program are accessible by clicking 
on buttons represented by icons located across the top of the program's 
main screen (See screen at left).  The buttons include: 

    -- Facts & Trivia Ñ a game for students to test their knowledge of the 
       Harlem Renaissance  

    -- Maps & Places Ñ a map and walking tour of significant Harlem  
       landmarks  

    -- Video & Music Ñ multimedia extensions to The Harlem Renaissance  

    -- Bibliography Ñ a comprehensive catalog of written materials on the  
       Harlem Renaissance  

    -- Resources Ñ a database of audio-visual materials  

    -- Plays & Shows Ñ the drama and musical theater of the Harlem  
       Renaissance 

    -- Artwork Ñ a sampler of works of arts from representative artists  

    -- Slang Ñ the vernacular of the day  

    -- Stamps Ñ philatelic representations of African Americans 

    -- Time-Line Ñ important happenings in the Harlem Renaissance,  
       presented against a backdrop of domestic and international events  

The Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1929 project development was funded through a 
cooperative agreement between the Office of Academic Computing of the City 
University of New York and IBM's ACIS.  The project director, Dr. Michael 
FitzGerald, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Medgar Evers College, City 
University of New York, worked with a team of educators from Queensborough 
Community College, City University of New York, Hunter College, City 
University of New York, the New York Public Library, and IBM Corporation 
to develop the materials.  

For more information on the Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1929, contact:
Dr. Michael FitzGerald
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Medgar Evers College
City University of New York.  
.