The Harlem Renaissance Movement By Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, And Ralph Waldo Ellison

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

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.

The Harlem Renaissance was different than I thought it was. I had imagined it was a time of African American’s gathering together in small groups and reading poems and writing stuff. When I began researching, the things that I found blew my mind. Seeing all of the big names of the Renaissance was cool because I have heard these names all my life, but never realized why those names were significant. Being a student in band, the name Louis Armstrong has been a name I have heard since 6th grade. Up until this project, I never knew the extent of the impact he made on the world of music.

“The era of the Harlem Renaissance is: a name that was given to the cultural, social, and artist explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of world war 1 and the middle of the 1930s. During this period, Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artist, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars”. (www. Pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow\” stories. Events_

The “Harlem Renaissance” which we also refer to as “The Jazz Age” and/or “New Negro Movement” was the time where underprivileged African Americans migrated to the north mostly to Chicago and New York in search for a better life. This was a time of a cultural, social, and creative movement that enhanced the African American Community mostly in New York and Chicago between the years of 1917 and 1935. The Harlem Renaissance was the defining moment when African American photographers, writers, musicians, poets, artists, actors, scholars, dancers, composers and etc. migrated from the south to escape the oppression of Caucasian supremacy and poor conditions. They traveled in order to be able to express their talents freely. The movement allowed oppressed African Americans to express their creativity, skills, intelligence and determination. The Harlem Renaissance is the movement that contributed a fundamental part of the culture we know today. During this time African Americans started to embrace things of their culture such as music, theatre, and art.

It was a time when African Americans made a huge change in the way white society viewed them and their culture. The goals for many black Americans of the movement was, “…to reconceptualize “the Negro” apart from white stereotypes…they also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame…that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs.” (Hutchinson.) They wanted to create race pride and create more opportunities for themselves, it was odd among literary and artistic movements for how closely related it was to civil rights and reform organizations. (Hutchinson.) The Harlem Renaissance was all about breaking down the racism barriers around African American culture that society constructed through literature, music, theater and art. Paul Robeson, “…believed that arts and culture were the best paths forward for Black Americans to overcome racism and make advances in a white-dominated culture.” (Staff.) By breaking down the barriers around African American culture they were breaking down the barriers of

It was a safe haven for the historically tyrannized black community; Harlem was a place the black community could flourish without the fear if other groups’ unapproval or obstruction. In this time, African American culture blossomed, and names such as Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alain Locke became household name. This era, which would become to be known as the Harlem Renaissance, allowed blacks to break free of the limitations they had felt in the South; African Americans went from being objectified and devalued, to being misplaced in Southern society, to finding their cultural voice in Harlem. Through artistic pursuits by the age’s most memorable blacks, the Harlem Renaissance changed the social perception of blacks in America and heavily contributed to the rise of the mid-1900’s Black Civil Rights

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

The Harlem Renaissance, also known as “The Negro Movement” was the rise of African American cultures, it gave African Americans the chance to express themselves through literature, art, and music, it was a leading factor in The Great Migration, but the Great Depression of the 1930s brought this celebration of black voices and black ways to an end. The Harlem renaissance came about during the 1920s and took place in Harlem, the center of New York. American writer, philosopher, and educator, Alain Locke, described this time as a “spiritual coming of age”. Although the Harlem Renaissance was a good time for the African American community, a few whites did not see it that way, which caused great controversy with white venues and audiences.

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.

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

The Harlem Renaissance spanned from the 1920’s to the 1930’s. It was also known as the “New Negro Movement” and the “flowering of Negro Literature”. It took place in Harlem, New York. It was an artistic explosions for african americans, where they could express themselves.