After enduring centuries of slavery and segregation more than 6 million African Americans migrated to the North, mainly in a neighborhood called Harlem. Before this movement, Harlem was predominantly a white neighborhood with few blacks. This great migration of African Americans created a cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance began after World War I through the middle of the Great Depression. Out of the Harlem Renaissance came great history of African American culture, Intellectuals, Poets, Musicians and Visual artists.
Prior to the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans were oppressed by the black codes. “Southern laws called Black Codes were passed in the aftermath of emancipation in order to control the newly freed black labor force” (Black Codes). Blacks were banned from carrying guns, testifying court, insulting whites and having interracial marriages. The Northern reactions are what got rid of the black codes and helped to establish the Harlem Renaissance. The New
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Music of the Harlem Renaissance expressed feelings of joy, freedom and relief experienced by African Americans. The people of Harlem enjoyed Jazz significantly more than other genres. Jazz music spread from the neighborhood of Harlem to Paris, France. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald named this period of adoration of Jazz the “Jazz Age”.
Black musicians and singers performed in several nightclubs in Harlem. Some musicians of the Harlem Renaissance were Fats Walker, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. These artists greatly redefined and brought awareness to Jazz music. A popular club was the Cotton Club, though restricted to white audience there were mostly black musicians. The large crowd of the white audience proved that African American was changing the music in Harlem, New York. Some Big Band members were Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Bassie and Fletcher
The Harlem Renaissance is a term used to describe the expansion and development of African American culture and history, particularly in Harlem. It is believed to have started around 1919, after World War I, and ended around the time of the great depression. During this time period African Americans writers, artists, musicians, and poets all gathered in Harlem and created a center for African American culture.
Many other African American people were becoming famous through theatres, music, art , and literature. The people that were directly involved with the renaissance were often more of the educated and middle class blacks (Jackson 2) . During the 1920's in the United States the Great Migration was going on. This would cause many African Americans to move away from the south and head north. By doing this, this caused them to populate more and more in New York, which was the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. (Jackson 2).
Musicians during the Harlem Renaissance created a style and movement that simply took Americans by storm. Musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong have inspired others all over the country. The Renaissance itself was not only an observation of life for African Americans, but it also showed Americans that they have a place in society. All of the musicians, writers, and artists shared a common purpose. This purpose was to create art that reflected the Afro American community. Through this era, African Americans provided themselves with their cultural roots and a promise for a better future. Music in this era was the beginning. It was the beginning of new life for musicians and African Americans.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement of blacks that helped changed their identity. Creative expression flourished because it was the only chance blacks had to express themselves in any way and be taken seriously. World War I and the need for workers up North were a few pull factors for the migration and eventually the Renaissance. A push was the growing discrimination and danger blacks were being faced with in the southern cities. When blacks migrated they saw the opportunity to express themselves in ways they hadn’t been able to do down south. While the Harlem Renaissance taught blacks about their heritage and whites the heritage of others, there were also negative effects. The blacks up North were having the time of their lives, being mostly free from discrimination and racism but down South the KKK was at its peak and blacks that didn’t have the opportunities to migrate experienced fatal hatred and discrimination.
During and after World War One , the Great Migration caused many African Americans to move from rural areas of the country to the northern states. Many people flocked to Harlem, New York in hopes that they too would become a part of the culture phenomenon taking place. This culture boom became known as The Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential movement that “kindled a new black culture identity “(History.com). With the turning of the age it seemed the perfect opportunity for Afro- Americans to create a new identity.
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
Frustrated, African Americans moved North to escape Jim Crow laws and for more opportunities. This was known as the Great Migration. They migrated to East St. Louis, Illinois, Chicago's south side, and Washington, D.C., but another place they migrated to and the main place they focused on in the renaissance is Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance created two goals. “The first was that black authors tried to point out the injustices of racism in American life.
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.
A huge player in the Harlem Renaissance was the Great Migration. Before the late 1910s most African Americans lived in rural America. Starting in 1917, African Americans began moving to northern cities in search of work and equality. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica) Once African Americans began moving north their demographics in certain areas became much more dense. During the Great Migration over 6 million African Americans migrated to northern cities like Chicago. New York's African American population rose by 40 percent. (NPR) African Americans migrated in search of opportunity due to the laborer shortage that WWI caused. These newly founded "clusters" of African Americans allowed them to congregate and eventually begin the Harlem Renaissance. This migration also allowed blacks to indulge in the freedom of learning, which rose the literacy rates among blacks drastically. (Hutchinson)
All in all, the Harlem Renaissance was a black cultural movement that took place in the North, particularly in Harlem. Many African Americans stood out, including Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. They were all different kinds of artists who were part of the Great Migration. These artists traveled from the South and other parts of the world to the North because of the increase in black population and culture. Each one of them made a large impact on the Harlem Renaissance and changed black culture forever.
In the New York City neighbourhood of Harlem in particular attracted many african americans intellectuals and artists. Jazz first became popular in the nightclub cultures of big cities, but it wasn't Harlem clubs that one could see the artists fresh and uniquely american music. Jazz came to view in the African American. Jazz was from the mixed influences of ragtime, blues, hot jazz, and even band music that played in Funerals. Works produced during the Harlem Renaissance appealed not just to African Americans but it crossed over to white audiences as well as the musical “Shuffle Along” which in fact became a smash hit on Broadway. The rapid growing record industry who quickly became interested in performers such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, etc. One of the many great legends was Edward Kennedy Ellington but his friends simply called him Duke. Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington orthodoxe black jazz orchestras that began performing at nightclubs in Chicago and for a long run the Cotton Club in New York. They both employed some of the most accomplished Jazz Musicians such as Louis
Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.
... 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.
During the 20th century a unique awakening of mind and spirit, of race consciousness, and
The Harlem Renaissance refers to a prolific period of unique works of African-American expression from about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Although it is most commonly associated with the literary works produced during those years, the Harlem Renaissance was much more than a literary movement; similarly, it was not simply a reaction against and criticism of racism. The Harlem Renaissance inspired, cultivated, and, most importantly, legitimated the very idea of an African-American cultural consciousness. Concerned with a wide range of issues and possessing different interpretations and solutions of these issues affecting the Black population, the writers, artists, performers and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance had one important commonality: "they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective." This included the use of Black folklore in fiction, the use of African-inspired iconography in visual arts, and the introduction of jazz to the North.[i] In order to fully understand the lasting legacies of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to examine the key events that led to its beginnings as well as the diversity of influences that flourished during its time.