Harlem Renaissance Contributions

Setting her independence, Hurston at the age of 14 left her residence to work as a maid of a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan theatrical troupe. Given the opportunity Hurston was sent to Morgan Academy in Baltimore, Maryland by one of her employers. Finishing up her high school studies in Morgan Academy and graduating on June 1918, Hurston studied part-time at Howard University in the same year. While Hurston studied in college she decided to support herself as “a manicurist, a waitress, and a maid in order to support herself” (D. Kaplan 2). Hurston’s talent towards literature started to emerge while studying at Howard. She made such an impact in her first short story titled, “John Redding Goes to Sea" in 1921, that it was included in the university’s literary magazine named “Stylus”. Sociologist Charles S. Johnson, immediately caught the attention of such excellent work who also encouraged Hurston to move to New York City in the year of 1925 (Bomarito 89). Beside Johnson mentoring her to go to New York he also inspired her to enter the literary contest of his magazine entitled “Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life.”

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1912 , the 18th Amendment being added to the Constitution (prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors) and then being repealed in 1933 , the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1920 , Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 , and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.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time period where African American influencers of the arts found cultural identity in a white domain in the city of Harlem New York. The Harlem Renaissance is the rebirth of African American culture in the United States. The rebirth of the African American Culture was not limited to Harlem, because it also took root in other places, such as Washington DC, Chicago, and Illinois. The positive culture of the Harlem Renaissance pointed out some of the injustices African Americans were experiencing throughout the United States, and it was portrayed in their literary arts. Original leaders in the Harlem Renaissance included James Weldon Johnson. James Weldon Johnson was one of the first publishers of contemporary black poetry of the 20th century. The name of the book he published titled “The book of American Negro Poetry” was a reflection of the writings of African American poets in the 1920s. James Weldon Johnson helped revitalize African American culture through his literary works and poetry; the Harlem Renaissance continues to influence the African American culture through the literary arts, poetry, and the influence of the originators of the Harlem Renaissance.

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.

The harlem renaissance was a cultural, social, and artistic event that took place in Harlem, New York, in the early 1900’s.

The Harlem Renaissance celebrated their culture and was flourishing in African American art, literature and music. Like Langston Hughes who wrote his first award winning poetry, “The Weary Blues (1926); which caught a lot of support. Later his poem turned into jazz music, which brought him instant success, and his jazz and blues fits in variety of changing mood. He was a talented youngster who knew how to write poetry and create music that captures the attentions of the people who loves music.

Later, the Share Croppers’ Union was created and it helped black farmers, adding to its core program “the abolition of all debts owed by poor farmers and tenants…” (49). While this sounded delightful to lower class and working class African Americans, there were plenty of middle-class leaders who were against Communism as a whole. Many saw Communism as a “menace.” “The Atlanta Daily World advised blacks to ignore the Communists and instead to ‘battle for our rights legally in the courts, and economically through mass-owned businesses’” (52). Some believed in “black capitalism,” which was an economic system where black people would only purchase and support black businesses. It “critiqued structural unemployment and used economic boycotts as

Harlem was important for many reasons but the one reason it is truly known for is the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of revival among African Americans which inspired a new movement of racial consciousness. It was centered on the works of African-American writers, artists, and musicians in the Harlem fostering a new appreciation for black culture and became known as the New Negro movement. The Harlem Renaissance was shaped significantly by the Great Migration. These African-American intellectuals, activists and artists rebuffed the stereotypes that had bound the “Old Negro” and called for a renewed examination of black life and culture that depicted their lives.Writers like novelist Zora Neale Hurston, poet Countee Cullen, and novelist and songwriter James Weldon Johnson produced great masterpieces which defined a new perspective of African Americans in American society. The Great migration was essential to the birth of the Harlem Renaissance as the Harlem Renaissance was to the post World War II Civil Rights Movement. The Harlem Renaissance had inspired a new African American consciousness which paved the way for Civil Rights

The early 1900s was known to be a rough era for the African American society; however, it was a turning point for their society as well. This turning point was known as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance is known as an influential movement that was primarily caused by the Great Migration that took place between 1910-1920. The Great Migration was a time period that consisted of large numbers of African Americans moving to to the northern parts of the United states--more specifically, New York. This great flood of African Americans to northern states was a consequence of African Americans seeking a better quality of life in an environment where they felt more accepted and where they felt they had more opportunities to better their

The Harlem Renaissance is a cultural, artistic, and social explosion that happened between World War 1 and the 1930’s. Obviously this happened in Harlem. At the time Harlem was a cultural center. The Harlem Renaissance was like the end of a bondage, and the bondage was known as slavery. When the African-Americans moved up north it was because of the White Supremacy went into power down south.

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 was a movement of cultural appreciation of African Americans looking for better life in the neighborhood of Harlem. Producing works in music, literature, and art, stressing the importance of equality and appreciation amongst their different cultures between Whites and Blacks. After The Migration, very important figures of the time of the Harlem Renaissance emerged such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Arna Bontemps, and Claude McKay who contributed literary works which had large influences. The Harlem Renaissance changed the lives of African Americans and viewpoints of their own culture along with other cultures viewpoint of their own.

In order to get a better understanding on how the Harlem Renaissance began, one must start with the Great Migration from the South to the North. Considered the largest migration in U.S. history, record numbers of African Americans started arriving in large numbers in urban areas from many parts of the rural South. This period was also known as the period of economic growth. Due to poor conditions in the South, the North represented hope and progress. As America was in conflict from World War I, the goal of the nation was to support the fight for democracy. And as the war progressed, there was a growing need to fill jobs due to labor shortages in the North. The North being the primary industrial, caused many jobs to become available, and large

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.

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