The Harlem Renaissance 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).”

     The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.

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

The Harlem Era was a time of rebirth of African American arts in all forms. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in the early 1920’s. During the time of this Era it was known as the “New Negro Movement”. Poets like W.E.B Dubois and Langston Hughes Were great supporters of this movement. Although, they were on different sides, one of the big questions during this time was Racial Pride. Pride in being black became a huge part in essay, art and poetry of this generation. However, many black Writers had opposed ideas of how to show racial pride. W.E.B Dubois thought that by creating high art that would prove themselves as intellectual equals to white people. On the other hand, Langston Hughes spoke against this idea and thought the best way to show pride in being black is to create folk art, which celebrated African American culture and the lives of everyday people lives. Anyways, which one actually does show racial pride?

The 1920’s were a period or rapid growth and change in America. After World War I American’s were introduced to a lifestyle of lavishness they had never encountered before. It was a period of radical thought and ideas. It was in this time period that the idea of the Harlem Renaissance was born. The ideology behind the Harlem Renaissance was to create the image of the “New Negro”. The image of African-American’s changed from rural, uneducated “peasants” to urban, sophisticated, cosmopolites. Literature and poetry abounded. Jazz music and the clubs where it was performed at became social “hotspots”. Harlem was the epitome of the “New Negro”. However, things weren’t as sunny as they appeared. Many felt that the Harlem Renaissance itself

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.

This motion got the ball rolling; and marked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement which lasted from 1954-1965. As more people called for equality, oppositions to this movement became Specifically, the South remained extremely racist and upheld their Jim Crow laws. Outraged African Americans, and ally white Americans were fed up with the lack of equality and the white resistance. Grassroot social movements that included sit-ins, marches, speeches and sprung up all around the country and brought into light the horrible injustices of racial inequality. Alongside with organizations like the National Advancement for American Colored People, or the NAACP, great things were accomplished during this period. With the victories of court cases like Brown v Board of Education, caused the standing ideology of ‘separate but equal’ to be repealed by the United State Supreme Court and lead to the desegregating of the nation. The end of the Civil Rights Movement was marked by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made it illegal to discriminate against people based on their color, race, religion, nationality, or sex. Unfortunately, even with the amazing work done during the second reconstruction era, and much like the original Reconstruction Era, we are left with an imperfect system. There are still holes in the legislation created and there are promises that have yet to be met, and people of color are still disproportionately disadvantaged

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of African American culture through music, literature, and art. Also the art that was created was like no other art America had seen before. During this time different types of genres of music were created such as rock and jazz. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of prosperity but also hatred towards African Americans due to racism.

A group of people who had at one point held no power and position in society were now thriving in the nation, as they spread their culture and ideas. It was the start of an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a more than a literary movement, it was a cultural movement based on pride in the Africa-American life. They were demanded civil and political rights (Stewart). The Harlem Renaissance changed the way African Americans were viewed by society. It, “changes the image of the African-American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication”. This era expanded from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s (Wikipedia). It generated great pride in the people

It was a way to help the African American community break through many of the limitations others had expected and placed upon

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 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

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

William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois was an American civil rights activist, a scholar, poet, agitator, pan-Africanism and NAACP co-founder. He was a college student and been through racism and decided to take a stand. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in February 1909. He wrote “Returning Soldiers” as an editorial of Crisis magazine. The racism still occurs, more than that the equal among black and white during that period does not happened.

The African American welcomed any change. Although, the war brought no real changes for them. After the war, their fear and anger intensified and black veterans came home tired of the oppression and ill treatment and set out to protest them. They were ready to fight back for equality. Black in the south was speaking up and as a result, Alabama threaten the secession over granting equal rights to blacks. In New Jersey and Washington bus companies refused to hire black drivers and the Navy begin their own set of discriminative practices. These are just a few of the events that would eventually lead to the Civil Rights Movement.