Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance was the first era in American history where African Americans could freely express their cultural, social, and artistic ideas or opinions after the slavery era. In the south blacks were oppressed by whites in the south. Although the civil war had ended and the south had lost the lives of African Americans did not get better in fact conditions for African Americans got worse as a result of the Civil war. The southern slave owners were very upset about losing the war and the United States awarding the slaves freedom, which caused a spike in the violence exercised by whites in the south. The conditions in the south caused many blacks to migrate from the south to northern cities where treatment of the African American race was better and there were more job opportunities. One of the major cities blacks moved to was Harlem, New York. Blacks many of whom were glad to get away from the violence and poor treatment by the south were interested in finding things to keep their mind off the years of oppression and to celebrate their new found freedom. This thirst to express themselves and to celebrate how far they came resulted in a new form of music, Jazz and many changes to fashion, how people talk, and interact. WIth such a large popularity and demand for new forms of expression, many of the best African American musicians, scholars, and artist moved to Harlem to start a new career. Harlem became a hot bed for new styles of dancing, writing, music, and art. These forms of music and art had been practiced by some people but had not gotten a large amount of exposure because they were done by African Americans who were not respected as intellectuals or even human beings at this point in time. With the new found freedom ...

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...risis that showed and opinion from the African American perspective. The creation of Jazz was essential in life as we know it because Jazz was extremely popular amongst the youth. In order to change the world for the long term the youth must be targeted and the old perceptions and thoughts of older more conservative and racist generations must be proven to be inadequate. When the white kids in both the south and the north began enjoying Jazz it gave a lot of spotlight to some of the best Jazz composers which a majority of which were African American. The youths respected the music which helped young whites across the nation develop the respect for black men and their work. As more and more whites indulged in the Jazz music they got a taste of black culture while being shown that humans intelligence, strength, and work ethic does not depend on the color of ones skin.

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