Harlem Renaissance Thesis

Sandra Ovalle

Ms. Schlossberg

English II CP

January 10, 2018

Harlem or Heaven

The Roaring Twenties a period when a dramatic social and political change happened. Researching about Harlem was learning about how the people contributed more the music to America’s New Urban Culture. The Harlem Renaissance was a significant movement during the 1920s were African American artists were brought together, explored what it means to be an artist, what it is to create art and literature, as well as what it means to be a proud African American in a community, that influence each to stand-up together in a white-dominant culture, furthermore Harlem was a hotbed of political, cultural and social activity. While researching about the 1920’s, I found out so

much about the Jazz Age, the movement between Americans and African Americans and as well as history after World War I. The Harlem Renaissance was a significant movement during the 1920s were African American artists were brought together, explored what it means to be an artist, what it is to create art and literature, as well as what it means to be a proud African American in a community, that influence each to stand-up together in a white-dominant culture.
History during the 1920’s had its best and worst moments. During the 1920’s great many rights and movements were made such as that woman had a Right to Vote which was “Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote—a right known as woman suffrage. At the time the U.S. was founded, its female citizens did not share all of the same rights as men, including the right to vote.” Than when World War I broke out, American Factories experienced a shortage of workers. Many Black Americans living in the South saw this as a opportunity for a chance at a better life. They migrated and rose to a Northern Cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit. As for the Movement on African Americans and Americans coming together to together that made history. It was one of the greatest moments in the Twenties, it was a social but political movement as well but “In Harlem, it was born in this idea of the New Negro. Someone who stood for the Negro, who advertised for his/her contribution to american culture, who was proud to be black….” For this decade Harlem was a rebirth, a resurrection, for the first time African American writers, artists, and musicians one reknowned for their contributions to world culture. The 20th century was a movement that had already permanently forged a path for the future generations and guides the new era in American Culture and Politics.
The JAZZ Age, The capital of Jazz in the roaring twenties was just a subway ride uptown in Harlem.

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

Armstrong.
Jazz is a one of a kind American style of music that developed in the early twentieth century in the urban areas of the United States of America.

As it grew in influence and popularity, Jazz brought many young people together. It was such a social movement it brought mixed young people together to dance “The Charleston, The Cakewalk, The Black Bottom, The Flea Hop.” Since Jazz was such a influential and persuasive musical style. It had its time as a great social leveler and unifier. It brought together African Americans and Americans, in a love of fast, rhythmic music, which was multiplied through the radio and the recording industry. “What a crowd! All classes and colors met face to face, ultra aristocrats, bourgeois, communists, park avenue galore, publishers, broadway celebs, and harlemites giving each other the once over.” Jazz became attractively to popular Jazz Bands, it traveled widely playing all kinds of venues from restaurants, to dance halls, and even nightclubs. One of the many best renowned nightclubs would have to be the Cotton Club its where hollywood, paris and broadway rubbed elbows, people who came from all over the United States wanted to experience what was going on Harlem in the

20s.
In conclusion, The Harlem Renaissance began after World War I and lasted up until the early years of the Great Depression, because it turns its difficult to have renaissance when everyone is broke and have no money. It was a social and political movement like the European Renaissance but moreover an artistic one. Due to the fact that the country fell into the Great Depression, Harlem slowly began to fade even after all it’s amazing events but who knows History could repeat itself. With many years that came after the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem was an amazing time when Americans and African Americans were brought together, a time when African American artists were discovered. Harlem was the end of time for many people, it was like a promise land. “This period was considered a golden age in African American Culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance , and art…” A place where fantasies came true, a promise land for African Americans. There goal was to find outlets for group expression and self-determination, as of means of achieving equality and civil rights,

Works Cited
Source A
“Langston Hughes & the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Literature 215.” Langston Hughes & the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Literature 215, Youtube, 5 June 2014, youtu.be/ir0URpI9nKQ.
Source B
History.com Staff. "Harlem Renaissance." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2017.
Source C
Youtube. “The Century, America's Time: Boom to Bust (1 of 3)
Source D
“Harlem Renaissance.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/literature-english/american-literature/harlem-renaissnce.