I. Introduction: The Harlem Renaissance
The village of Harlem, New York was originally established by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1658. It was named after a Dutch city, “Nieuw Harlem. It sits on a 5.5 square mile area of Manhattan north of 96th Street. The 1830s saw the abandonment of Harlem due to the fact that the farmlands failed to produce. The economic recovery in Harlem began in 1837. It boasted prosperous, fashionable neighborhoods that offered a diverse, rich background provided by several institutions and facilities of the day.
The anticipated plan for Harlem was for it to be known as the “place to be”, but due to the real estate market failure in 1904/1905, white-owned properties were rented to African Americans. A migration from the South and West Indies had allowed Harlem to become the cultural center of urban black America. People migrated in record numbers, but just as the cultural aspects of Harlem prospered other walks of life in Harlem suffered dramatically due to the ever increasing population. Having developed a distinctive culture, Harlem was the epicenter for black writers, artists and intellectuals during the 1920s. The Harlem Renaissance was centered on activities influenced by the experimental styles of literature and music that derived from Europe and America. The topic most focused on mainly dealt with being black in an American society and the experiences it entailed. The actual beginnings of the Harlem Renaissance, most scholars, cannot agree upon. However, what is certain is the most significant cause of the demise of the Harlem Renaissance was the Great Depression amongst other factors.
One may ask: Why are the authors of the Harlem Renaissance so special? They are deemed speci...
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N: Raphael Comprone, Poetry, Desire, And Fantasy in the Harlem Renaissance (University Press of America 2005)
B: Comprone, Raphael. Poetry, Desire, And Fantasy in the Harlem Renaissance. University Press of America 2005
T: (Comprone 2005)
R: Comprone, Raphael. 2005. Poetry, Desire, And Fantasy in the Harlem Renaissance. University Press of America 2005
N: C. Trotman, Langston Hughes: The Man, His Art, and His Continuing Influence
(Routledge 1995)
B: Trotman, C. Langston Hughes: The Man, His Art, and His Continuing Influence. Routledge 1995
T: (Trotman 1995)
R: Trotman, C. 1995. Langston Hughes: The Man, His Art, and His Continuing Influence. Routledge 1995
Langston Hughes Papers. James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
There has been much debate over the Negro during the Harlem Renaissance. Two philosophers have created their own interpretations of the Negro during this Period. In Alain Locke’s essay, The New Negro, he distinguishes the difference of the “old” and “new” Negro, while in Langston Hughes essay, When the Negro Was in Vogue, looks at the circumstances of the “new” Negro from a more critical perspective.
Originally referred to as the “New Negro Movement”, the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement during the early twentieth century. It was started by the Great Migration of blacks to the North during World War I. This period resulted in many people coming forth and contributing their talents to the world, inspiring many. One of the poets of this time, Jessie Redmon Fauset, was one of those who wrote about the life of blacks and life in general during this time period. She used her good and bad past experiences as influences for her works.
Reuben, Paul P. "'Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance - Jean Toomer.' PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research Guide. URL" http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/toomer.html
Kellner, Bruce, ed. The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1984
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 influence to society in the 1920’s and an impact on the Harlem Renaissance.
Writers, actors, painters and poets during the Harlem Renaissance inspire writers, actors, painters and poets the same way that musicians during the Harlem Renaissance influence musicians in today’s society and that’s by paving the way for them to be recognized. At the end of the Harlem Renaissance
"A Centennial Tribute to Langston Hughes." Library System - Howard University. Howard University, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
The "Langston Hughes" Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
2. The African American culture blossomed during the Harlem Renaissance, particularly in creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to reconceptualize “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. They also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame about aspects of their lives that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs. Never dominated by a particular school of thought but rather characterized by intense debate, the movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature and had an enormous
"The Harlem Renaissance - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Scholars have defined three distinct phases of the Harlem Renaissance. The first phase was from 1917 to 1923; white bohemian writers...
... 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.
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)." Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River. Prentice, 2002. 534.
Harlem Renaissance. (2007) The Columbia Eletronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.factmonster.com./ce6/ent/A0822748.html
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem." [1951] Literature. 5th ed. Eds. James H. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1027-28.