[seul-edu] virtual tour of 1930s Harlem--->

[mike eschman <meschman@engima.com>]

Virtual Harlem is a learning environment that lets students experience the
Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s as a cultural field trip.

In the early 1900s, particularly in the 1920s, African-American literature,
art, music, dance, and social commentary began to flourish in Harlem, a
section of New York City. This African-American cultural movement became
known as The New Negro Movement and later as the Harlem Renaissance. The
Harlem Renaissance transformed African-American identity and history, but it
also transformed American culture in general. Never before had so many
Americans read the thoughts of African-Americans and embraced their
African-American community's productions, expressions, and style.

We wanted to convey the importance of this movement to students. We
therefore developed Virtual Harlem,1 a collaborative virtual reality (VR)
tour of Harlem in which participants can travel back 80 years to see and
hear historical figures, speeches, and music from that period. We designed
it to help students experience the neighborhood's life and culture on both
visual and critical levels.