Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance

The beginning of the 20th century many African Americans migrated from the south to the north in what we call today, the Great Migration. Many African Americans found themselves in a district of New York City called Harlem. The area known as Harlem matured into the hideaway of jazz and the blues where the African American artist emerged calling themselves the “New Negro.” The New Negro was the cornerstone for an era known today as the Harlem Renaissance (Barksdale 23). The Harlem Renaissance warranted the expression of the double consciousness of the African Americans, which was exposed by artists such as Langston Hughes. James Mercer Langston Hughes was an African American poet, journalist, playwright, and novelist whose works were

In the 1920’s many African American were searching for a refuge to escape from racism,discrimination, and violence. Many went to place called Harlem, a neighborhood in New York, where they commenced a new style of art, writing, and music. This was known as the Harlem Renaissance, where African Americans had their chance to be known for their skill. Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, were some of the important people who help express the African culture through writing and and music. They became an important figure in the birth of the Harlem renaissance. Even today they are remembered for their African American cultural success.

The Harlem Renaissance is considered a golden age for African American art. From literature to music to art, this period of the early 20th Century highlighted the struggles and experiences in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, a predominantly black area turned cultural center. In order to properly understand the meaning of work produced during this period, one must know the history behind Harlem.

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.

Throughout this poem Hughes has placed many symbols in the readers mind to bring the image of the African American people to thought. He reminds African American readers of their origin and what they have been through by using the

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement, in the early 1920’s, that involved vibrancies of new life, ideas, and perceptions. The large migration of African Americans northward, after World War I, allowed people of color the opportunity to collaborate in the New York City neighborhood, known as Harlem. This renaissance allowed the city to thrive on a refined understanding and appreciation of the arts. Many individuals were involved in this movement including doctors, students, shopkeepers, and painters who were apart of forming and molding the vibrant and inspirational gem (Holt Elements of Literature – Fifth Course 734). In addition, artists, performers, musicians, and writers gathered together in Harlem to start the beginning of one of the most influential time periods in African American history. However, many factors contributed to the huge impacts of this renaissance, including the effects of the Great Migration, why Harlem was the location for this movement, and the achievements of specific individuals during this time period, such as Augusta Savage.

“I too sing America. I am the darker brother.” (Langston Hughes, “I, Too,” from Collected Poems, 46). Langston Hughes had many factors throughout his life that influenced his works. He was an artist that had works that crossed over into jazz, blues, and expressed his culture. During the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes shared his African American pride with others through his poetry, promoting equality and justice, while living life affected by racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws.

I have learned that the Harlem Renaissance was a period of sudden expansion within the African American community during the 1920’s and 30’s. It expanded in literature, visual art, and music, and finally gave African Americans a voice in America. Their opinions were suddenly being realized by whites indirectly through the art they created. They also contributed much to the culture we observe today. Swing, one of the most popular forms of jazz, was made famous by artists such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, and vocalists like Ma Rainey, the “Mother of Jazz”. Visual art depicted images of African American lifestyle and their ambitions, often such as an image of a Negro in bondage, hoping to be released. Literature was the most direct

‘America’ is a complex, layered idea; one that becomes all the more complex when the deeply embedded construct of race comes into play. As a black man born into a time of overt racial prejudice, Langston Hughes was all too familiar with the double consciousness that came with life as an American minority. This roller coaster is the subject of the vast majority of his literary work and has continued to be a major presence and inspiration for literary work everywhere today. Hughes shows a deep loyalty to the ideals that brought the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights into fruition and, through repeated motifs of the American Dream, seeks to bring about calm in a time of social and political unrest.

“The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted.” (Historycom, 2017). The movement allowed African Americans to receive exposure for their art, Moreover, it lasted for over 20 years. The African American Art provided a distinct perspective of creativity from the artists. The Harlem Renaissance was the focal point of African American Music, as a result of the movement was the birth of many Genres.

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 1920s and 1930s were a monumental era for African Americans. This was particularly due to the Harlem Renaissance, a movement which marked a cultural, social, and artistic explosion among African Americans in Harlem, New York. The renaissance attracted black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars, many of whom had recently migrated from the South. Among these artists were individuals like W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen. The largest challenge for many of these artists of the Harlem Renaissance was gaining notoriety in a America which had been culturally dominated by the white race. To become successful, an artist had to satisfy both the white, European tastes as well as incorporating

during this time he quickly became a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Four years later,

Hughes is a child from a mix background, he is part African American, White, and Native American. Comparatively, this poem is possibly a small aspect of

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement and the enlightenment of black minds as a whole. This movement sparked the minds of many leaders such as Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Dubois, and Langston Hughes, these men would also come to be known as the earliest Civil Rights activists. While Garvey and Dubois expressed their views in speeches and rallies Hughes had a different approach and chose to articulate his thoughts and views through literature more specifically poetry. Through his poetry, Hughes became a world renown poet for such works as “Let America Be America Again”, “Harlem” and “I Too” taken from his first book “The Weary Blues.” These poems while written and inspired by the everyday struggles of being an African-American were arguably targeted at white Americans. Hughes wrote a majority of his work during the Harlem Renaissance and as a result focused on “injustice” and “change” in the hopes that society would recognize their mistake and reconcile, but in order for this to happen he would have to target the right audience.