African Americans During The Harlem Renaissance

During the early 1920’s, African American artists, writers, musicians, and performers took part in a cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. This migration took place after World War 1 and brought African Americans of all ages to the city of Harlem located in New York (Holt). There were many inspiring young artists; one of them in particular was Augusta Savage.

There were many notable events taking place in the years 1900-1940, some being Pablo Picasso painting one of the first cubist paintings is 1907 , the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 , the 18th Amendment being added to the Constitution (prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors) and then being repealed in 1933 , the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1920 , Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 , and the list continues. Undoubtedly one of the most influential of events during this time was the Harlem Renaissance. Even with its many leaders and innovators, it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective had it not been for Alain LeRoy Locke: black writer, philosopher, and teacher who influenced black artists to look to African sources for pride and inspiration. Without Locke’s contribution, the Renaissance would not have flourished as much as it did, and black pride would have taken longer to develop and accept.

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In the United States, there has been many cases of Racial injustice. From the beginning of the start of the United States of America it was the injustice to the Native Americans being captured and used for slave labor while their bison be slaughtered for sportsmanship. But this paper is on the specific race of the African Americans. There are many races that have been racially profiled and ostracized by the English people. But the treatment that African Americans have endured even till this day is disheartening. African Americans have gone through enslavement during the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s. Then the African Americans were obstructed by the Jim Crow laws creating the ‘Separate but Equal” propaganda during the late 1800’s into the 1960’s. After the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, people were considered equal until the recent actions of many police officers using deadly force on African American youths in the early 2000’s.

African Americans have come a very long way from 1865; they have fought many battles to earn their place in America’s Society. From the ending of slavery African Americans have had various achievements from their suffering. Some fought, some spoke, some marched, some sat, some cried, some died, some even dreamed, but all of these things left a footprint in history. In this paper I will discuss some very important events in African American history beginning with the ending of slavery which has brought us to the America we all enjoy today.

The early 1900s was a time marked with tragedy in America. Started and ended with the Great Depression in between, it was not America 's finest moment. Prohibition was in place, the Klu Klux Klan was still marching, and the Lost Generation was leaving for Paris. But despite the troubling times, people still found beauty and meaning in the world around them. They still created art and celebrated life. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and literary movement that developed a new black cultural identity through artistic expression. It fused African traditions with slave history and American culture, and revealed to the world what life was like as a black person in America.

During the 1920s through the 1930s, blacks weren’t fulfilled with the way they were living. Before the Harlem Renaissance began, African Americans faced poor conditions in which they were treated. They had no rights and were given nothing during their time in the south. Blacks living in the south were treated as slaves. They were treated like dirt that the people of higher power could walk over. Many African Americans were promised things that they never received. For example, land, they wanted land in which they could use. They were guaranteed this land, but never got what they asked for. These people faced much grief and wanted to change this. They wanted to start a new life of freedom and respect. Thanks to the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans were able to accomplish this. The Harlem Renaissance supported African Americans through art, music and literature.

In a 200-year period spanning from the early 1500s to the late 1600s, three prominent titans of Europe would set their eyes on the New World with the goals of colonization and profit. When Columbus first sailed to the New World, he came across the Taíno, a native people of the island of Hispaniola. Upon seeing them, he remarked, “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces...They do not carry arms or know them...They should be good servants” (Poole). This statement was simply the foreshadowing of something unimaginable; a series of conquests that would leave millions dead and millions more enslaved. Although the Native Americans were treated fairly by the French but at constant odds with the English, the true terror

The Harlem Renaissance originally known as the New Negro Movement was an important part of African American culture and history, which helped African Americans express themselves and celebrate their heritage. Between the years of 1890-1920 close to two million African Americans traveled from the rural southern states to the northern cities. They traveled to these northern cities in hopes to find better opportunities for themselves as well as less discrimination. The Harlem Renaissance lasted from 1918-1935. The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem

African Americans had to push very hard to be seen and noticed. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where they created beautiful works of art to express the strength that they had. Zora Neale Hurston, author of How It Feels to Be Colored Me, expresses the importance of white people seeing and understanding African American’s pride and history. Augusta Savage creates the sculpture Gamin as a symbol for all African Americans. Within Our Gates, starring Evelyn Preer and directed by Oscar Micheaux, gives insight into what went on in the rural south in the 1920s. How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Gamin and Within Our Gates, though different art forms, are similar in that they all demonstrate the same theme of the African American perspective.

This unit covers the second half of the 19th century. The reconstruction of black race and the steps to the Negro Renaissance are described. In this module, African Americans start to live a freedom that is still oppressed by the white supremacy. Jim Crow laws prevent black people from being seen as equal as white people. Discrimination and segregation begin to show up and African Americans will continue fighting for their equality and their humanity.

With the end of slavery came new freedoms for the African American and African American communities but freedom also came with new challenges. During this time, segregation laws were in place limiting African Americans and portraying them as second class citizens. In the 1920’s, the idea of a new identity for the African American, one that was equal to the white majority, would take root and the Harlem Renaissance would begin in New York. Although there were numerous artists who participated in the movement, poets Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen are amongst some of the most prominent figures whom represent the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1950’s, with the end of World War II, came a new group of poets and artists who voiced their criticism on a wide variety of social issues creating the Beat Movement, or Beat Generation. Allen Ginsburg, Gregory Corso, and Diane di Prima are a few of the many artists who participated in the Beat Movement calling for a spread of awareness and societal change. For these poets, it seemed as though no topic was too taboo such as capitalism, war, American Culture, the use of religion, consumerism, and environmental issues. While both were influential movements in American history, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement which sought to unify African American communities by encouraging the adoption of a new image whereas the Beat Movement used individual expression to promote change for a variety of social issues.

In the 1600's Whites bought Africans as slaves and made many Africans serve for life. When Whites were servants, they would serve for short terms such as a few years, but Blacks would have to work for a lifetime (Holt and Brown, 2000). Whites were also punished by receiving whippings, many times in front of other Africans or Blacks if they had sexual relations or committed fornication with a Black person or African(Holt and Brown, 2000). Blacks were considered more valuable, for example, Whites would pay 2000 pounds for a Negro man and pay 1300 pounds of tobacco for a White man.

I always found the 1920’s a very interesting decade as it went from a lively moment to a depressing and struggling one within a split second. Therefore, I believe that I learned all of the concepts pretty well. For instance, I learned about the Harlem Renaissance, the cause and effect of The Dust Bowl, and the lasting political argument of the New Deal in the United States. First of all, the Harlem Renaissance was a time period where African Americans began to embrace their roots and create art/works to reflect their experience living in US society. However, during the Great Depression many Americans were left unemployed. In addition to drastic unemployment rates, the environmental disaster, also known as the Dust Bowl, contributed to many

Today i’m going to tell you about the Harlem Renaissance and how it impacted the African-American culture.The harlem renaissance was retrieved September 23, 2016.The intent of the movement, however, was not political but aesthetic. This movement was for the African-American culture of their musicians, artist, and the teachers.