Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” The 1920 was a period in time that revolutionized the culture of many people within the United States. The Great Migration is one of the main reason why new cultures started to be seen more in northern parts of the United States. The different cultures seen throughout different areas helped refine the society for the benefit of most people. About six million African Americans from the south started to migrate to the Northeast, Midwest, and Western parts of the United States. Many African Americans settled in Harlem, New York which increased …show more content…
During the 1920s many immigrants including African Americans were moving towards northern parts of the United States. According to Khan Academy, “Membership in the KKK skyrocketed from a few thousand to over 100,000 in a mere ten months. Local chapters of the KKK sprang up all over the country, and by the 1920s.” This suggests, that the shift in culture affected the growth of the KKK and led to more destruction. The KKK’s goal is to maintain white supremacy. This organization would do anything to make sure Jews, Catholics, African Americans, and immigrants stay at the bottom of the hierarchy while they maintain all the power at the top. Additionally, the Lost Generation can also be seen as a negative effect in shaping society during the 1920s. After World War One, many people were lost and confused due to all the tragic deaths. This generation before the war was preparing for adulthood, yet they had to reevaluate their lives and would often go against traditional norms. The phrase “Lost Generation” first began when Gertrude Stein overheard someone call their employee those words and then Ernest Hemingway used the phrase in one of his famous books, "The Sun Also Rises.” Particularly in the 1920s writers moved to Paris, France to escape everything that was happening in the United States such as race riots and chaos. …show more content…
Poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Georgia Douglas Johnson were the most famous during the Harlem Renaissance. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” written by Langston Hughes states, “We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.” The poetry did not only provide African Americans with clarity, but it was used to informed the white people that African Americans won’t allow themselves to live in fear any longer. African Americans were able to have a voice by creating poetry and being able to point out that they’re not here to please anyone and accepted themselves the way they were, instead of how others expected them to be. Langston Hughes continues to point out that, “It was a period when white writers wrote about Negroes more successfully (commercially speaking) than Negroes did about themselves. It was the period (God help us!)” This is saying that African Americans were being accepted more in society and even acknowledged for their achievements through white writers literature. In the same way as literature, art had a positive impact on the transforming of culture. African Americans brought new artistic viewpoints that the European artists admired. George Hutchinson claims, “Early in
The great migration was a mass exodus for African Americans from around America, to Harlem, New York. African Americans came to Harlem in large groups. Harlem had become a symbolic capital for African Americas across America. (1) ency. britt. The driving point for the "Great Migration" was the brutal conditions of south during the reconstruction period. African American's were haunted by racial bigotry and grave violence usually by the means of lynching. In addition to violence, the legal system in south was intentionally antagonistic toward African Americans. The Jim Crow laws in the south were designed to keep African Americans oppressed.
The Great Migration was a huge relocation of African Americans from the Southern states of the United States to northern and Midwestern cities. This occurred between the years of 1910 and 1970. Over 6 million African Americans traveled to Northern cities during the migration. Some northern city destinations include Richmond, D.C, Baltimore, New York, and Newark. Western and Midwestern destinations include those such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit.
The Great Migration period during the age of Jim Crow was a time of major movement of African Americans within the United States. Between the years 1910 to 1930 a huge population increase occurred within African American society that ultimately caused the beginning stages of the Great Migration. As a result, this population increase of blacks influenced them to seek for better opportunities in work, land, and safety for their families. Outside of those reasons, one major factor that forced African Americans to migrate was the influence of Jim Crow laws and practices. Jim Crow was still present during this period and caused colored individuals to seek for more habitable areas outside the South.
Because of that, his writing seems to manifest a greater meaning. He is part of the African-American race that is expressed in his writing. He writes about how he is currently oppressed, but this does not diminish his hope and will to become the equal man. Because he speaks from the point of view of an oppressed African-American, the poem’s struggles and future changes seem to be of greater importance than they ordinarily would. The point of view of being the oppressed African American is clearly evident in Langston Hughes’s writing.
...nly country to force the race into slavery, they were just the last to free the slaves, and also had the worst treatment for the blacks. For years races were discriminated in the country of America, and it still this way today. Poets such as Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Colleen McElroy were evolutionary poets who wrote about their desire for freedom and equal treatment. Langston Hughes poems were more about the building up of the tension that existed in all of his people who were ready to start fighting for their freedom. Colleen McElroy wrote about how the blacks in America still were apart of there past because of the color of their skin and simply just because of where they were from. Lucille Clifton wrote about the desire for the recognition her race and all of the other races of America, besides the Whites, would finally be appreciated for their work.
The months and even the years prior to the Harlem Renaissance were very bleak and the future of life in America for African-Americans didn’t seem to bode very well. Well, progression towards and reaching the era known as the Harlem Renaissance changed the whole perception of the future of the African-American people as well as life for the group as we know it today. It can be best described by George Hutchinson as ”a blossoming (c. 1918–37) of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history [that took place specifically in Harlem]. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts.”. With an increase in the focus of “Black culture”, America seems to be changing its norms with the introduction of this new movement or rather this new “era”.
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
The Great Migration was a time where more then 6 million African Americans migrated North of the United States during 1910-1920. The Northern Parts of the United States, where African Americans mainly moved to was Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland. They migrated because of the work on railroads and the labor movement in factories. They wanted a better life style and felt that by moving across the United States, they would live in better living conditions and have more job opportunities. Not only did they chose to migrate for a better lifestyle but they were also forced out of their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregation laws. They were forced to work in poor working conditions and compete for
Nothing before, or since has equaled the mass expatriation of the 1920's. It was as if a great draft of wind picked up these very peculiar people and dropped them off in a European life style. Europe and the rest of the world were beginning to see a large population of these American expatriates. "... the younger and footloose intellectuals went streaming up the longest gangplank in the world." (Cowley 79) Along with the intellectuals went the wealthy élite, the recent college graduates, the art students, and the recent war veterans aptly called "The Lost Generation". Although many went all over the world, the largest density of these expatriates was in France. "Indeed, to young writers like ourselves, a long sojourn in France was almost a pilgrimage to the Holy Land." (Cowley 102)
The Great Migration was a huge rural movement that occur in the southern United States, it was the movement of 6 million blacks. It began in the earlier 1900 all the way the 1970. The 14 states the blacks were moving from were from the south. The main states were Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The first big movement was between the 1910 and 1930s. There was around a little bit over 1.5 million people moving from rural areas to the industrial cities in the north.
The image of African-American’s changed from rural, uneducated “peasants” to urban, sophisticated, cosmopolites. Literature and poetry are abounded. Jazz music and the clubs where it was performed at became social “hotspots”. Harlem is the epitome of the “New Negro”. However, things weren’t as sunny as they appeared.
During this time African Americans flourished in the music, literature, and art business. However, most of this time was a time of experimentation and great diversity (Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence). There was also a cultural explosion. This means that many people were expanding their horizons to new cultures. The Harlem Renaissance mainly focused on different culture’s styles of music, such as jazz and blues music.
Beginning in the 1919 and lasting through about 1926 thousands of Blacks began to migrate from the southern United States to the North; an estimated 1 million people participated in what has come to be called the Great Migration.[1] The reasons for this mass movement are complicated and numerous, but they include search for better work, which was fueled by a new demand for labor in the North (particularly from the railroad industry) and the destruction of many cotton harvests by the infectious boll weevil ...
One of the most successful poets in this time was Langston Hughes. “Harlem” was one of Hughes’s popular poems during the 1950’s. The poem itself is short in length, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. During this time Hughes wanted to make a difference in poetry. He did not want to be labeled as the young man only speaking to African Americans. He wanted everyone to understand his great works, regardless of color. The poem “Harlem” itself mainly talks about the dreams being wasted being African American, but on the contrary Langston was fortunate all his life. Not all African American were poor and homeless, but some lived very nice lifestyles. Generally, Langston was never part of the struggle during this time. His family were considered middle class and they never went through hardships like the poem “Harlem” seems to be. Both his mother and father had well-paying jobs that supported him and his siblings. Although he was fortune as an African American child, he understood what African
African Americans struggled for years, and they finally made a comeback in the 1920’s. The African Americans during this time period had a huge influence on the American society. The Great Migration had a great impact on African Americans moving to the north to find work, in the industrialized areas. The Harlem Renaissance era showed how blacks had an influence on American literature, music, and arts. The Jazz Age was another great event that occurred during this time period.