HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Throughout the history of African Americans, there have been important historical figures as well as times. Revered and inspirational leaders and eras like, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, Nat Turner and the slave revolt, or Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party. One such period that will always remain a significant part of black art and culture is the Harlem Renaissance. It changed the meaning of art and poetry, as it was known then. Furthermore, the Harlem Renaissance forever left a mark on the evolution of the black culture.
The Harlem Renaissance found its birth in the early 1920’s, in Harlem, New York. The period has been thought of as one of African Americans greatest times in writing. After War World I in 1918, African Americans were faced with one of the lowest points in history since the end of slavery. Poverty increased greatly in the South, as did the number of lynchings. The fear of race riots in the South caused large number of African Americans to move North between 1919 and 1926, to cities such as Chicago and Washington D.C.
The idea that an educated black person should lead blacks to liberation was first founded from the works of W.E.B. DuBois. He also believed that blacks could not gain social equality by imitating the ideas of white people. Equality would have to be achieved by teaching black racial pride with an emphasis on black cultural heritage. The Cultural Revolution began as a series of literacy discussions in bars and coffee shops of lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and (Upper Manhattan) Harlem.
Jean Toomer did one of the first and highly praised works. This would be Toomer’s only contribution to a time that he would later reject. Toomer is also known for his exquisite poetry like; Cotton Song, Evening Song, Georgia Dusk and Reapers. Jane Weldon Johnson had written the controversial “Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man” in 1924 and he had also edited “ The Book of American Negro Poetry.” This collection included many of the Renaissance’s most talented poets. Included was Claude McKay, a Jamaican born writer. Weldon’s collection also included a young talented poet named Langston Hughes. Hughes had a love for music, mainly the blues, which became a bridge between African American Literature and Folk music.
Zora Neale Hurston, an anthropologist originally...
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... Furthermore, with that knowledge going on to have racial esteem, to do great things and influence others, thus making a mark on the world.
The Harlem Renaissance taught future artist to look at art from an all-encompassing view. It knocked down barriers between literary and musical expression. The Renaissance added a new chapter in American History. A chapter that would highlight the African American thoughts and feelings as well as display their many talents.
Bibliography
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press.1971.
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem was in vogue. New York: Oxford University Press.1979.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance - An Introduction." PAL: perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html, 1999.
Roses, Lorraine E. Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100
Black women Writers, 1900-1945. Boston: Gik. Hall, 1990.
Tate, Claudia. Domestic allegories of political desire: The black heroine's text at the turn of the century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to a period at the end of World War I through the mid-30s, in which a group of talented African-Americans managed to produce outstanding work through a cultural, social, and artistic explosion. Also known as the New Negro Movement. It is one of the greatest periods of cultural and intellectual development of a population historically repressed. The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of art in the African-American community mostly centering in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s. Jazz, literature, and painting emphasized significantly between the artistic creations of the main components of this impressive movement. It was in this time of great
The Harlem Renaissance was one of the most culturally important reformations in America. The Harlem Renaissance directly influenced many great civil rights leaders, and one could argue it was the foundation for the battle of equality. Many great members of the Harlem Renaissance committed their whole lives to improving race relations for themselves and for the future of the race. The strength African Americans achieved during the period after slavery through until the Harlem Renaissance provided them with enough strength to persevere. The atrocities African Americans went through during the early 20th century can only be matched by the years of enduring slavery.
Kellner, Bruce, ed. The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1984
According to www.PBS.org The Harlem Renaissance was a name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During this period Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Many had come from the South, fleeing its oppressive caste system in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents. The Renaissance was more than a literary movement: It involved racial pride, fueled in part by the militancy of the "New Negro" demanding civil and political rights.
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was an extremely influential span of time for the Black culture. During these years Blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means of growth, they hoped to destroy the pervading racism and stereotypes suffocating the African American society and yearned for racial and social integration. Many Black writers spoke out during this span of time with books proving their natural humanity and desire for equality.
The Harlem Renaissance, originally known as “the New Negro Movement”, was a cultural, social, and artistic movement during the 1920’s that took place in Harlem. This movement occurred after the World War I and drew in many African Americans who wanted to escape from the South to the North where they could freely express their artistic abilities. This movement was known as the Great Migration. During the 1920’s, many black writers, singers, musicians, artists, and poets gained success, including Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. These creative black artists made an impact on society in the 1920’s and an impact on the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance influenced black African American writers tremendously. Not only did it show that they were capable of achieving great things, the Harlem Renaissance has shaped and created many pathways for people to be able to achieve something that may not have been achieved at the time.
The Harlem Renaissance started a legacy that influenced many generations of African American Writers to come. (Academy of the American Poets) Because of the Harlem Renaissance African American women were allowed to express themselves and their work freely. (Wormser)
During the Great Migration, an influx of African Americans fled to Northern cities from the South wishing to flee oppression and the harshness of life as sharecroppers. They brought about a new, black social and cultural identity- a period that later became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Originally the Harlem Renaissance was referred to as the “New Negro Movement” (Reader’s Companion). It made a huge impact on urban life. The Harlem Renaissance played a major role in African American art, music, poetic writing styles, culture and society.
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of time that black music, art, and literature actually started to become known. This was a very important part in African American history because it was one of the first times in American history that many African Americans could earn a living and be recognized for something they accomplished ( Jackson 1). This time period also influenced blacks to come out of there shells and start sharing with the world there different cultures. The nightlife during the Harlem Renaissance became very alive. People were going to clubs listening to the jazz musicians, dancing on the streets, and just going out and having a good time.
How did the Harlem Renaissance become a hub of Black culture and identity? Around the beginning of the 20th century, a period known as the Great Migration took place. 750,000 African Americans fled the economically depressed rural South and migrated to the urban cities of the North to take advantage of the numerous employment opportunities and racially tolerant atmosphere. 175,000 of these African-Americans settled in New York City. Between the end of World War I and 1924, some significant works made by African-Americans were published; these works revealed the increasing creative fervor developing in Harlem. The groundbreaking book A Social History of the American Negro by Benjamin Brawley was published. The book that really drew attention to Harle...
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great rebirth for African American people and according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the “Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s.” Wikipedia also indicates that it was also known as the “Negro Movement, named after the 1925 Anthology by Alan Locke.” Blacks from all over America and the Caribbean and flocked to Harlem, New York. Harlem became a sort of “melting pot” for Black America. Writers, artists, poets, musicians and dancers converged there spanning a renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was also one of the most important chapters in the era of African American literature. This literary period gave way to a new type of writing style. This style is known as “creative literature.” Creative literature enabled writers to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues that were of importance to African Americans. These issues include racism, gender and identity, and others that we...
... The Harlem Renaissance was a time of growth and development for African-Americans. They wrote novels, performed in clubs, and created the genre of Jazz. However, the Renaissance was imprisoned by its flaws. Rather than celebrating the unique culture of African-American’s, it oftentimes caters to what the White Americans would want to see and hear.
Until the first part of the Twentieth Century, Caucasian artists dominated the world of poetry. White poetry written about the experiences of white people was the only kind of verse most people had ever heard. With the arrival of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's, this relatively cultured world of American poetry was shaken to its foundations. The term Harlem Renaissance refers to an artistic, cultural, and social burgeoning of writings about race and the African American's place in American life during the early 1920's and 1930's. It was a time of political advancements, social criticism, and protest as well as the growth of literature. Harlem was the center of urban black life. Many African Americans, who wanted to write, compose music, effect social change, or to have the best chance of changing their circumstances went to Harlem. Harlem, New York had been considered the heart of African American life, hence the name The Harlem Renaissance. Black urban migration, combined with trends in a American society toward experimentation in the 1920's, and the rise of radical black intellectuals - including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston --all contributed to the particular styles, themes, and the extraordinary success of black artists during the Harlem Renaissance period.
Although F. Scott Fitzgerald was one the best authors to portray the “roaring twenties,” but the 1920s were not all glitter