The Harlem Renaissance By Langston Hughes

     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:

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.

     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 the Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston, departure and reflection the idea of the harlem Renaissance using black community uniting, new beginnings- the great migration from south to north, embracing black/african culture and heritage, and lastly she uses self expression through art to bring forth the more important ideas.

A reflection of the truth. The Harlem Renaissance is real. It is identified as a spiritual re-awakening, a rebirth in culture, a sense of pride and self awareness. However, African Americans were not always allowed this prodigious freedom. Prior to the Harlem Renaissance African Americans were slaves; considered a piece of property who had no rights whatsoever. Despite, their harsh history, Civil Rights were enforced, this helped bring them out of their misery; which is why the harlem renaissance is such an important era for the African American culture. Zora Neale Hurston plays a very critical role in the identification of Harlem Renaissance. She was born in Alabama on January 7, 1891. Both of her parents were former

The Harlem Renaissance was a period from the end of World War I through the middle

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.

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]

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an important cultural change for America in the early 20th century. This time period lasted from the 1910’s through the mid-1930’s and was considered the golden age for African American culture. Rapid overdevelopment led to many vacant buildings in the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in the 1880’s. Landlords who were desperate to fill these buildings allowed for African Americans to be the majority in these neighborhoods.

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.

During the 1920’s and 1930’s African Americans began to face a reality that they were not first class citizens in America. This led to the the creation of the Harlem Renaissance movement that strove to promote African American in the Fine Arts. The African

The Harlem Renaissance represented a time of an intense battle between feminine self-expression, self-discovery and the resistance of change and traditional values. It produced a wellspring of differing opinions, beliefs, and styles, arguably launching one of the greatest forms of artistic expression for the African American woman and American culture in general. Edward Christopher Williams’s novel When Washington Was In Vogue, is an excellent example of how this struggle between conformity and non-conformity manifested itself into the seductive body of the modern flapper, namely, Caroline Rhodes and how her transformation throughout the narrative reflected a desire to maintain the traditional roles meant for women and the preservation for the African American, ultimately dismissing the modern flapper as a phase that would deteriorate shortly before the alter.

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

“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” This poem, Harlem, created a whole play based on one line (Hughes, 1055-1056). Langston Hughes wrote the poem Harlem due to his major role in the Harlem Renaissance. A Raisin in the Sun was concocted by Hughes one line, this play tells the story of an African American family living in the slums during a time when racial dilemmas were at an all time high. The family receives money from Mama’s husband passing away, but the family has disputes on how the money should be spent (Hansberry, 443-512). Throughout the play the title has significance by Hughes poem Harlem, African American lives in the 1950s, and the different dreams of the family members.

Credited as being the most recognizable figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes played a vital role in the Modernist literary movement and the movement to revitalize African American culture in the early 20th century. Hughes’s poems reflect his personal struggle and the collective struggle of African Americans during this cultural revival.