Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

The Harlem Renaissance was “variously known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then withered in the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time mainstream publishers, critics took African American literature seriously, and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation as a whole (1).”

The Harlem Renaissance was regarded as a blossoming of African -American culture particularly in the genre of creative art and one of the most influential movement in African- American literary history. While the Harlem Renaissance embraced musical, theatrical, literary and visual arts, the participants within the movementsought to re-conceptualize

The Harlem Renaissance was an event that started during World War One and lasted until the 1930’s. The Harlem Renaissance reshaped art, music, literature and theatre in the African American community. One debated during the Harlem Renaissance was whether folk art or high art best represented racial pride. Folk art best represents racial pride because it does not imitate other people’s art it shows the lives of everyday people, and people could relate to it.

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

After WWI, black people began to portray pride and respect for their race, sparking “The New Negro.” This revolutionary movement is more commonly known as the Harlem Renaissance- a social, cultural, and artistic explosion that took place Harlem, NY. Harlem became the cultural center and attracted many black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Those from the South began to flee from its’ oppressive caste system to escape cruelty. The goal of this movement was to face all the hate they received by accomplishing their freaks and desires without anyone getting in their way.

"Race pride" and "race consciousness" cornerstones to the Harlem Renaissance, were closely linked to a new understanding of the African heritage of Black American(Marx 170). The Harlem Renaissance was a period between 1920 and 1940 of great cultural, economic and identity assertion among talented and expressive African Americans. Its high point occurred between 1920 and 1930 but it had started before then and continued after. The art, literature and music of the Harlem Renaissance expressed the rebirth of the African American spirit and it was born in the minds of its poets and in the hears of its common people. Such emotions were expressed in songs, essays, artwork, and dance. The Harlem Renaissance brought along racial pride for blacks.

During The Harlem Renaissance, artists and writers of the time period would express themselves through the experiences that they gain from the streets of Harlem. Claude McKay’s writings from the Harlem Renaissance demonstrates life during that time period by showing the Renaissance as “defined, and defied the boundaries of The Harlem Renaissance.”

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that led to the evolution of African-American culture, expression through art, music, and literary works, and the establishment of African roots in America. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance with her original and enticing stories. However, Hurston’s works are notorious (specifically How it Feels to Be Colored Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God) because they illustrate the author’s view of black women and demonstrate the differences between their views and from earlier literary works.

I will be writing about the Harlem Renaissance taking place in 1920’s New York. Specifically, I will be discussing the influence African American women have on art, music and literature during the Harlem renaissance. The argument of the paper will be identifying the importance of African American women participating in the Harlem Renaissance and how their participation has influenced modern day African American trends: showcasing media, literature and art. Another major point of my argument is how African American women developed after slavery and into the women of the Harlem Renaissance.

A group of people who had at one point held no power and position in society were now thriving in the nation, as they spread their culture and ideas. It was the start of an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a more than a literary movement, it was a cultural movement based on pride in the Africa-American life. They were demanded civil and political rights (Stewart). The Harlem Renaissance changed the way African Americans were viewed by society. It, “changes the image of the African-American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication”. This era expanded from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s (Wikipedia). It generated great pride in the people

“The importance that art and culture played toward this goal cannot be overstated as During the Harlem Renaissance the utilization of artists, poets, and jazz music were employed instead of political means to achieve the goals of equality and civil rights” (Biography, 2012). The relationships between the two historical art periods existed in the French Colonies

African Americans have long endured slavery and have fought extensively in opposition to the Jim Crow laws and in favor of equal rights for African Americans. The struggle for African American equality has been tiresome and tormenting, like having a ‘white’ society neglect and repress the culture that embraces an African American. After WWI there was a major shift in American history that favored the African American society. In the 1920s and 1930s, “a cultural, social, and artistic explosion” took place in Harlem, known as the Harlem Renaissance, but more accurately defined to historians as the “New Negro Movement.” The Harlem Renaissance was a period in where Harlem became the center for African Americans ethnic identity and innovation

From the 1920’s to the mid 1930’s a literary, intellectual, and artistic movement occurred that kindled the African Americans a new cultural identity. This movement became known as the Harlem Renaissance, which is also known as the “New Negro Movement”. With this movement, African Americans sought out to challenge the “Negro” stereotype that they had received from others while developing innovation and great cultural activity. The Harlem Renaissance became an artistic explosion in the creative arts. Thus, many African Americans turned to writing, art, music, and theatrics to express their selves.

The Harlem Renaissance was an opportunity for African American’s to express themselves through art, music, and writing. Before I started research the Renaissance, I was not very excited about this topic. As I went along with my research, I became more and more interested in how these people used their talents to make a difference in a world that seemed to not want to change.

Harlem Renaissance, a blossoming (c. 1918–37) of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to reconceptualize “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. They also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame about aspects of their lives that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs. Never dominated by a particular school of thought but rather characterized by intense debate, the movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature and had