The Harlem Renaissance By Langston Hughes Essay

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).”

     Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes creative intellect was influenced by his life in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Hughes had a very strong sense of racial pride. Through his works he promoted racial equality and celebrated the African American culture. It was in Lincoln, Illinois that Hughes started to write his poetry. In November 1924, he moved to Washington D.C. where he published his first book of poetry. Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America. Langston is also known for his commitment to jazz. Hughes refused to distinguish between his personal and common understandings of black America. He

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

During the 1920s and early 1930s nearly half a million African Americans migrated to the northern cities, in a movement called the Great Migration. Many of the southern African Americans migrated to a city called Harlem in New York. They relocated due to dogmatism and intolerance of melanin diverging out the of pores of many white southerners. The African Americans who migrated found new opportunities both economic and artistic that resulted to the creation of a stable middle class Black –Americans (Dover, 2006). This was the Harlem Renaissance a cultural, social, and artistic explosion. The core of Harlem expressed by Alain Locke is that through art, “negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self-determination.” (The New Negro 1925) Harlem became the center of a literary movement and a “spiritual coming of age” in which Locke’s “New Negro” transformed “social disillusionment to race pride.” The Harlem Renaissance facilitated the rebirth of African American literature, identity, and the birth of black pride. The great works “Passing”, “Miss Cynthie”, and “The City of Refuge” depict this new Negro movement in different classes of Harlem that took place during this great cultural and artistic awakening.

Throughout the history of African Americans, there have been important historical figures as well as times. Revered and inspirational leaders and eras like, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, Nat Turner and the slave revolt, or Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party. One such period that will always remain a significant part of black art and culture is the Harlem Renaissance. It changed the meaning of art and poetry, as it was known then. Furthermore, the Harlem Renaissance forever left a mark on the evolution of the black culture.

Between 1902 and the Great Depression African Americans began relocating towards the urban North in the Great Migration hoping to escape white supremacy. They gathered mainly in Harlem, New York and except for wallowing in self pity they took advantage of the great majority of their race and decided to take a step out in entertainment (Us History). The Harlem Renaissance was a time of cutting down prejudice and showing the Whites that they have pride in their heritage. Major contributors of this time were Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, WEB DuBois, Neale Hurston, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday; all of them ranging from writers and actors to musicians in Jazz and Blues. Self determination, group expression, and showing Black pride was what their aim was and decided to show people in paintings, group dances, and writings (Mifflin Harcourt). The Harlem Renaissance was not confined to the United States alone and actually was a large movement in Europe, and the Caribbean. Writers and Poets were determined to show their readers the background they came from, no matter how rough it was, and wanted to show them that their pride was not broken. Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and WEB DuBois were three major writers during the time, and contributed to the main them of Racial Pride that conveyed to the rest of their people and gave hope towards a new age where prejudice would be no more; a time where the background you came from didn’t determine who you

In his family life and childhood, Hughes had great experiences and learned from his family what it was like to be a proud African American. Langston’s family consisted of prominent figures in his life such as his great uncle, John Mercer Langston. His great uncle was a “lawyer, professor, statesman, abolitionist, and the first African American elected to Congress in Virginia” (Wallace 14). His grandmother’s late first husband was on Harpers Ferry when it was raided by John Brown in 1859. Because of this, his grandmother, Mary Langston, in 1910 “was honored by President Theodore Roosevelt as the last surviving widow of the Harpers Ferry insurgents” (“Langston Hughes.”). Langston’s father, James Nathaniel Hughes, was not around for his childhood because he thought more of himself and had big ambitions; he even started to not like the “black poor” (Wallace 14). His grandma took care of

The Harlem Renaissance was a significant historical movement that originated in Harlem, New York and helped establish the city as an African American cultural center. This period, which lasted from the 1910s to the mid 1930s, is considered a golden age for African American music, art, literature, and performance. As a resurgence of African American art and urbanization began to form, new artistic and social expression began to simultaneously develop in other urban areas as well. The Harlem Renaissance soon became the epitome of a culture that already existed in America, but that never fully developed into its own centralized productive mecca. Previously, African Americans used art as a method to escape discrimination and persecution, but

She later moved to Eatonville, Florida with her family where her father was elected mayor of the town in 1897 and in 1902. Saldy In 1904, Hurston's mother died and her father remarried to Matte Moge shortly after. Hurston then was sent away to a Baptist boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida where eventually her father stopped paying her tuition and the school had no choice but to expelled her. Nonetheless, she began working and saved up enough money to begin attending Morgan College in 1917 where she began her literary career. Hurston was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance being one of the pre-eminent writers on the twentieth century in African American literature. Her famous novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was

During the 1920’s a new movement began to arise. This movement known as the Harlem Renaissance expressed the new African American culture. The new African American culture was expressed through the writing of books, poetry, essays, the playing of music, and through sculptures and paintings. Three poems and their poets express the new African American culture with ease. (Jordan 848-891) The poems also express the position of themselves and other African Americans during this time. “You and Your Whole Race”, “Yet Do I Marvel”, and “The Lynching” are the three poems whose themes are the same. The poets of these poems are, as in order, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude Mckay.

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

The Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement that began in the 1920s, brought an excitement and a new found freedom and voice to African-Americans who had been silent and oppressed for a long time. The evolution of African-American culture, expressed through art, music and creative writings, and establishing roots in European-American society became known as the Harlem Renaissance. (“Harlem Renaissance”)

I most related to Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem.” The idea of what happens to lost dreams crosses my mind fairly often, as the different paths that arise in my life all lead towards different dreams. I’m left wondering if I’ll ever make it as a full-time artist or if I’ll fall into another career path. Much like the poem’s questions, I wonder if my dreams will wither or explode on me if I don’t follow them. Similarly, my consideration of the topic isn’t extensive, and neither is the poem; the only way for me to know the answer is to keep moving forward. All of the possibilities in the poem are pertinent to my life, and I wonder which outcome my dreams will fall

American literature is a distinct reflection of its time, the Harlem Renaissance period was significant for its progressive ideas on civil rights. This period was one that expressed the struggles and oppression that African-Americans faced throughout the 1920’s. The Harlem Renaissance brought forth the everyday struggles, yet highlighted the beauty of a culture cultivated through oppression. Harlem in New York City became the beacon of African-American culture that spread socially aware music, art, and literature. Harlem became the destination to which approximately 300,000 African-Americans migrated to, while fleeing the South’s economic and social strife. Harlem bloomed with jazz music and fashion making its nightlife the envy of white entrepreneurs. This period produced a series of activist writers whose work was a stepping stone to civil equality, such as W.E.B. De Bois, James Weldon Johnson, and the most influential Langston Hughes. Seen as the most influential activist writer to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes was the first to incorporate all aspects of African-American culture never shying away from issues even his own culture criticized him for. He often criticized through his literary work, black middle class Americans who imitated Caucasian customs and lifestyle.

His mother moved to Michigan, and his father moved to Mexico to escape the discrimination the South offered to African-Americans. Hughes attended Columbia University in 1920, but only completed one year. He worked various jobs as a merchant seaman, night club in Paris, and a busboy in Washington D.C. Hughes also covered the Spanish-American War and was part of the American Communist party. In one of Hughes's essay titled, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," he outlined his philosophy on the Harlem Renaissance and saw the problems ahead of black artists: "One of the most promising of the young Negro Poet," meaning, I believe, "I want to write like a white poet," meaning subconsciously, "I would like to be a white poet;" meaning behind that, "I would like to be white." And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has never been afraid of being himself." (Shoomp.com). the quote itself sums up what African-Americans artists have to face during this time. Whites dominated the literary industry and black artists had a chance to overcome the adversity, but knowing the consequences and timid to be themselves, ultimately led to the Harlem Renaissance and the upcoming poet, Langston