Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

     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.

The Harlem Renaissance was a nationwide movement that occurred around 1920. After World War I African Americans had very little. They didn’t have many rights or personal values. However, wanted

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

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of great change for the African American community in America that brought many good things. It occurred in a neighborhood in New York after a large population of African Americans immigrated there. The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that created a new black cultural identity in America. During the Harlem Renaissance there were 2 conflicting ideas; the idea of High art and Folk art. High art was the idea that blacks should show their equal to whites to prove that they are intellectual equals and folk art which was the idea that showed more traditional art. During Harlem african cultural rebirth many still questioned which best expresses racial pride, highly educated and trained high art or raw traditional folk art. High Art during the Harlem Renaissance best expressed racial pride by using old educated techniques, showing positive celebration and advanced vocabulary.

History.com (2009) describes the Harlem Renaissance movement as “a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity.” The 1920s and 1930s emcompass a time in history where blacks found themselves ostracized from mainstream society. It was uncommon to see the expressions of black artistry in everyday life, especially on a literary level.

One of the many revolutionary eras in history was the Harlem renaissance. This was a sudden cultural revolution that was realized in the 1920s and it became popularly known as the “Harlem Renaissance” or “The New Negro movement”. This is a particular era that the African American people draw pride in. the era saw a cultural, social, music and art explosion of epic proportions This was aimed at shifting the stereotypical view of black people as uneducated, intellectually deprived farmers to one of a complex, organized and intellectually equal to the whites. The Harlem renaissance took place in 1920s thru 1930s. This era saw a phenomenon rise in famous black writers and marked the onset of blues, musical theatre, blues, dance and poetry. The new art caught on an appealed to the whites as well. Harlem became a cultural and literature center. The African Americans artists and writers were gaining recognition from the white. [2]

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 Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of black literary and musical culture, during the years after War War, which started around 1914 and ended around 1919, in the Harlem section of New York City. The Harlem Renaissance was the most influential times of cultural black history, in so many different aspects. The Harlem Renaissance helped “blacks” in ways that pretty much launched them to a high level them to a higher level in the arts, music, and literature. It is very important because in the 20th century and now in the 21st century, the Harlem Renaissance enabled African Americans to express their feelings through the arts and it also created a trend for other generations because them too could express their feelings.

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an significant era for African Americans. It indicates the beginning of equal rights for the African Americans. African Americans created a cultured past in art, literature, and music because of their unique style. The Harlem Renaissance was a period between the 1920s and mid-1930s when African Americans blossomed in the world of art, literature, and music.

From 1910-1920 populations of African Americans began moving in large numbers from the South to the North with hopes of a better life. By 1920 over 300,000 African Americans had moved North in what is now called the Great Migration. Before this migration Harlem was predominately white, but it became a popular destination for a lot of black families during the migration to the point of it becoming mostly black. This huge increase in the black population led to a Black Pride movement with the goal of black Americans getting credit in cultural areas of life. (Staff.) The Great Migration also led to a huge increase in literacy levels. The Harlem Renaissance began in the early 1910’s however, it drew towards its end during the stock market crash

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement of new works in art and literature from African Americans in New York from about 1910 to about 1940. Harlem was originally a neighborhood consisting of white upper class people until the Great Migration, when large numbers of African Americans flocked to Harlem, causing some Whites to leave. The government in the South had made laws which stated that Blacks could now own their own lands but instead, former laws were reestablished, resulting in these blacks that had now owned land, in debt to former owners, causing the creation of Sharecroppers. They were given a choice between labor contracts which would fundamentally mean they were slaves once more or to be evicted from their homes. Eventually, this caused the Great Migration. These African Americans started migrating to the urban areas of the North to look for better lives and to seek work from businesses looking for cheap labor. (“Sharecropping”, 2010.)

The Harlem Renaissance began with The Great Migration, a period of time where many of the African American population in the U.S. migrated from the south to the north. the reason being that the promise of land had not been delivered, the black codes restricted them, and in turn the African American population was forced into an endless cycle of debt and sharecropping. In the early 1900s, African Americans, also known as Negroes back then were considered inferior, ignorant, unskilled,

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.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of rebirth in Harlem, New York. It was comprised of mostly African Americans. During this time, it was an explosion of culture in which arts, music, and literature came from. It was time a time where African Americans expressed their culture and talked about the injustices that they faced. The most popular genre of this time was jazz. African Americans were subject to racial discrimination, making it hard for them to find jobs. Race riots and lynch mobs were also very common during this time.