Harlem Renaissance: The New Negro Movement

Art has always been used to voice emotions or stories in a way that can easily be understood. Conquering nations used art to immortalize their leaders, warriors and conquests. Similarly, conquered nations used art to keep their cultures alive. This pattern of dueling voices, those in power versus the oppressed, is shown throughout American art. From slavery and the Civil War to World War II to the modern day, art has been there to stand up to oppressors and keep faith alive for the oppressed. No era better shows a revolution against oppression and cruelty through art than the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1920s.

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1912 , the 18th Amendment being added to the Constitution (prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors) and then being repealed in 1933 , the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1920 , Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 , and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

From the early 1900s – 1920s the Great Black Migration occurred. In addition, the Great Migration occurred in the early 1900s and ended shortly after the Great War. The Great Black Migration was a time where blacks left the south to seek a better lifestyle in the Midwestern, Northern, and Eastern states. Blacks fled the South to seek better jobs, escape racism and discrimination, and to look for better schooling for their children. The Great Black Migration mostly occurred in the states of Illinois, Missouri, New York, and California. During the Great Migration, more than 100,000 blacks migrated to Harlem, New York. In Chicago and New York City, blacks were empowered by black-owned businesses, newspapers, and communities. Newspaper

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

Many people moved to Harlem because it was culturally diverse. The area attracted many people. At this time period not only did the middle class African Americans migrate to Harlem, but

The was offering economy and social opportunities they had been denied in the South. The cause of Africans Americans staying the South was the sharecropping system that bound many Africans Americans to South farmlands, but also they remained in the South for because of family ties and unable to afford to move expensive. The African Americans believed that ownership would improve their financial as well as be social with the community and they save whatever they have for future purchase. The effect was once they move to North their lives will change eventually. The Chicago and the Great Migration,1915-1950 said, “Social conditions in the South provided many migrants with a strong incentive to leave: following Reconstruction, state legislatures throughout the South had passed laws mandating the separation of the races in every area of social life (marriage, housing, education, transportation, healthcare, recreation, and so on)”(ptd) North provide more options to live but more importantly how to survive. The living conditions were that much satisfying. Poet name Gwendolyn Brooks wrote, “ It’s whites and violet, fight with fried potatoes And yesterday’s garbage ripenning in the hall, Flatter, or sing an aria down these room….But not well! Not for minute! Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now, We think a lukewarm.”(ptd 2). Explains that once African Americans move to the North living conditions had to share apartment with a lot of people, halls were smell because of the garbage. Garbage man wouldn’t even step in the black community to pick the garbage.It will days with garbage in halls. When it come with bathrooms they had to wait in line to use it. All these worth it. But the bathrooms and garbages conditions weren’t problems the problems was communications with the society once move to North they don't have

The period after the Civil War was a time of Reconstruction. During this time the Southern states had passed laws placed a racial caste system that placed African Americans into a second class citizen. They were pretty much segregated in all aspects of life, from schools to the drinking fountains. The set of laws in the South was known as Jim Crow. Before World War 1 almost ninety percent of the African Americans lived in the South and seventy five percent of them in the rural South. As the war began blacks started to migrate more and more to the North because of the demand of labor, the destruction of the cotton crops in the South, and because of the rise in white terrorist, such as the Ku Klux Klan. This group had become very popular in the 1920’s and its members reached to about four million people. It only took ninety days for the African Americans to leave Mississippi. In the mid 1910’s around three hundred thousand Southern blacks moved to the north, this was known as the Great Migration. In New York the Great Migration created a cultural group which has described that era as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance

The mass migrations of blacks into Harlem happened around the early 1900 as living conditions worsen in other parts of the country. Specifically, the KKK in South Carolina, and racial segregation and biases across the south enforced by the Jim Crow Laws, forced black families to go north in search of better housing, jobs and education for their children, and more so, to move away from a culture of lynching and violence. They did not anticipate the violent situations they would face in the North. Due to discrimination they were pushed further and further up Manhattan and into neighborhoods that were over concentrated with blacks and minorities. At times, they faced worsen financial and social conditions that resulted in riots over employment

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.

This great migration eventually relocated hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the South to the North.African American culture was reborn in the Harlem Renaissance.The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and intellectual

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.

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

During the Harlem Renaissance many African American were coming out of the shadow and started a cultural movement. They migrated to the north throughout 1915 to 1918. They moved up north for the urban industrial centers like Harlem, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit which was known as the great migration for the African American community was now getting noticed by the white man. This was a breakthrough for the African American they moved to find better jobs to carve out better lives for their families but they didn 't move for higher paying jo/bs they moved to get away from the segregation, Sharecropping, and racial common violence in the south. The white man began to notice the african american because there were so many

Matthew Anderson Nikkele Shelton AML 2600 October 16, 2014 African American Identity Poetry and literature of the early 20th century greatly emphasizes the depth of the societal struggles African Americans fought during the Harlem Renaissance. During the period following the Civil War a large population of African Americans migrated from the south northward. Harlem being one of popular destinations. With the returning blacks from World War 1 along with intelligent and educated blacks created a diverse culture and society in Harlem. Acceptance and the quest for identity in the white society became the most important drive for the suppressed African American community.