Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance

     Harlem Renaissance, an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. According to Wintz:

     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.

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.

African Americans were highly influential in politics, music, and literature during the period of Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. A great migration of African Americans made their way north, specifically to Harlem. As a result, Harlem, a neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan, became a center for Afrocentric art, music, poetry, and politics” (P. Scott Corbett, et al). According to the article called “The Harlem Renaissance” published by Stevenson Keira states “As more African Americans became politicians, new political groups also developed alongside

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The years of 1920 and 1990 and “were clear peak periods of African American cultural production.” During these years blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. “It is difficult not to recognize the signs that African Americans are in the midst of a cultural renaissance” (English 807). This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means

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.

 Harlem Renaissance 2015, Wikipedia, accessed 23 August 2015, .  Harlem Renaissance n.d., History, accessed 23 August 2015, .  Harlem Renaissance n.d., Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed 23 August 2015, .  Great Migration 2015, Wikipedia, accessed 23 August 2015, .  Claude McKay 2015, Wikipedia, accessed 24 August 2015, .

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.

In Harlem between the 1920’s and 1930’s the African American culture flourished, especially in areas such as music, art, literature, dance, and even in film. This soon became known as the Harlem Renaissance. With the entire positive and the negative situations of this time period the African Americans still seemed to have it all. The Harlem Renaissance came about because of the changes that had taken place in the African American community after the abolition of slavery because of World War I and the social and cultural changes in early 20th century in the United States. After harsh conditions for African Americans after the Plessy vs. Ferguson Trial many of them decided to move to the North to New York. By

These great numbers of blacks along with economic aggressive black businessmen is how Harlem's newly developed real estate was seized from the white middle-class and was converted into the biggest and most elegant black community in the Western world (Huggins p.14). With this acquisition, Harlem had become a great concentration of blacks from all over the country within the most urbane of American cities (New York) just feeling its youthful strength and posturing in self-conscious sophistication. The growth and flourishing of Harlem came at just the right time for black Americans to rekindle dreams of innocence and a new start in America . An essay written by one of Harlem's most prominent leaders Alaine Locke stated that "without pretense to their political significance, Harlem had the same role to play for the New Negro as Dublin has had for the New Ireland or Prague for the New Czechoslovakia."(Knopf p.115). This idea spread like wildfire causing Harlem to be viewed by many as the "black metropolis or mecca".

The Harlem Renaissance, or back then referred to as the “New Negro Movement,” was a movement that took place in Harlem, New York around the 1920s which consisted of art, music, and creative writing. The Harlem Renaissance was an important and memorable movement because it brought a voice, never before found freedom, and joy to African Americans who had been hushed and persecuted for too long. Shortly after the Civil War ended in 1865 some blacks expected that just because there was more education and jobs available for them that they would finally be treated “equal.” This was until Plessy versus Ferguson case where the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was okay. “Separate but equal” was the legal doctrine used

The Harlem Renaissance is a social, cultural, and artistic eruption that happened in Harlem, New York. The outburst took place in 1925 and included the new African-American cultural expression, and it was considered the birth of African –American Arts. The movement also involved Caribbean and African writers who resided in Paris. The emergence of Harlem Renaissance was due to the fight by African Americans who wanted to be given a chance for a participation in civic matters, cultural and economic self-determination, and political equity between the whites and the blacks. This happened after the civil war was over and reconstruction of the nation was taking place. The freed and emancipated blacks begun to push for this reforms. The year 1875 blacks a total of sixteen in number were elected to the Congress and moved on giving numerous speeches. The regain of power by the white supremacist was a major challenge to the blacks in America. This was characterized with denying Africans their political and civil rights, brutalizing of black convicts, exposure to unpaid labor, and conducting lynch mobs and vigilante acts to black communities. This event led the staging of the first Harlem Renaissance with theater plays like “three plays for a negro” in 1917, been showcased to express the black suffering in the region (Wikipedia, 2016). This was followed by a series of activities to show how the blacks were stereotyped in America with Hubert Harrison writing the article “the father of Harlem radicalism” in the year 1917. This was the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance is still important in our community up to the date because it gave the contribution towards the music industry. The period led to the development of the Harlem stride style in playing piano that up to the date provides a benchmark in the piano art. The Renaissance period provided fashion clothing for which blacks can be identified with the blacks like wearing of the leather jackets (White, Shane and Graham 1998). The period helped to the rise of African-American music, the culture which up to date is one big industry contributing towards the American economy and the black society.

The Harlem Renaissance represents the rebirth and flowering of African-American culture. Although the Harlem Renaissance was concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City, its legacy reverberated throughout the United States and even abroad, to regions with large numbers of former slaves or blacks needing to construct ethnic identities amid a dominant white culture. The primary means of cultural expression during the Harlem Renaissance were literature and poetry, although visual art, drama, and music also played a role in the development of the new, urban African-American identity. Urbanization and population migration prompted large numbers of blacks to move away from the Jim Crow south, where slavery had only transformed into institutionalized racism and political disenfranchisement. The urban enclave of Harlem enabled blacks from different parts of the south to coalescence, share experiences, and most importantly, share ideas, visions, and dreams. Therefore, the Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact in framing African-American politics, social life, and public institutions.

During the 1920’s and 1930’s African Americans began to face a reality that they were not first class citizens in America. This led to the the creation of the Harlem Renaissance movement that strove to promote African American in the Fine Arts. The African

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