The Harlem Renaissance Essay

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 is the dynamic period of artistic revolution influenced by a production of a literary, musical, intellectual movement, prospering from outgrowth of African- Americans cultural identity through the 1920s to the mid-1930s.

Thousands of white Americans came to Harlem to experience the night life. The nightclubs in New York appealed to the whites as they were very famous. Jazz music was thriving in the area. It originated in the Unites States among African-American musicians. It was at this time that jazz was at its most famous point. Many people would host rent parties which were very popular at the time. Apartment owners would hold a party and would charge a fee to those who wanted to enter. They used this money in order to pay off their rent (Worth). The influence of jazz also brought musical reviews. Soon white novelists, dramatists and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their works. Composers used the literary works of African-American poets in their songs. Negros began to merge with Whites into the classical world of musical composition (Wikipedia). Soon, the works of artists were being displayed in nationwide magazines. Their culture began to spread with great velocity.

“The Harlem Renaissance coincided with the Jazz Age, a time of innovative ideas and modernism with rapid cultural and social changes.” (www.american-historama.org) The new music that was created during this time ranged from classical music all the way to blues, and it was also the birth era for the musical genre of Jazz. A popular area for musical artists to hang out and perform together was at the Cotton Club. A majority of the most influential artists that played in the Cotton Club during the Harlem Renaissance Era are listed as follows: Chick Webb, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Adelaide Hall, Lottie Gee, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Avon Long, Aida Ward, Edith Wilson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Paul Robeson, Bill "Bo jangles" Robinson, Josephine Baker, Fats Waller, and Lena Horne. Some of these artists created a whole new way of creating and manipulating music. For example, Billie Holiday “pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo”. “She was one of the first black women to work with a white orchestra” which was a huge deal in her day and time as well. (historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com) So many other artists contributed new styles and musical techniques that helped shape the music that we as a society still listen to and create

"Race pride" and "race consciousness" cornerstones to the Harlem Renaissance, were closely linked to a new understanding of the African heritage of Black American(Marx 170). The Harlem Renaissance was a period between 1920 and 1940 of great cultural, economic and identity assertion among talented and expressive African Americans. Its high point occurred between 1920 and 1930 but it had started before then and continued after. The art, literature and music of the Harlem Renaissance expressed the rebirth of the African American spirit and it was born in the minds of its poets and in the hears of its common people. Such emotions were expressed in songs, essays, artwork, and dance. The Harlem Renaissance brought along racial pride for blacks.

The harlem renaissance was the golden age of the African American culture. Many things grew in the African American culture which included things such as, literature, music, stage performance, and art. This was also a time where many black African American families moved to northern cities in order to look for jobs since there was a decrease in the availability of jobs in the south. Many African American families moved to Manhattan, New York. The migration of the these families to the south lead to Americans fighting to keep these new families out of these neighborhoods because, it was originally supposed be an white upper class neighborhood in 1880.

During the early 1920’s, African American artists, writers, musicians, and performers took part in a cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. This migration took place after World War 1 and brought African Americans of all ages to the city of Harlem located in New York (Holt). There were many inspiring young artists; one of them in particular was Augusta Savage.

     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:

The Harlem Renaissance started in the 1920’s to the 1930’s and it represented aspiration for African Americans in their time of need. Harlem is located in the West Side in New York City, is use to be the largest black urban community. In the Harlem Renaissance they discovered different types of entertainment throughout this time. According to the article, “The Harlem Renaissance” it states, “During this period Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Many had come from the South, fleeing its oppressive caste system in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents” (PBS).

openings in jazz history. During the time of the Harlem Renaissance, everyone had different opinions on the new style of music. Some enjoyed listening to the new style of

Second, there was an event that occurred from the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age, which was called the Harlem Renaissance. During the Harlem Renaissance, a numerous amount of African American put forth their talents and intellect. This is a prime example of a form of expression or cultural expression because a trend was set for more African Americans to start “Expanding their horizons and embracing the concept of the “new Negro” movement (P. Scott Corbett, et al). Even though discrimination was still around, this progressive movement helped African Americans contribute to literature, music, politics and more. In which helped shape and form a path for African-Americans to rediscover their black culture, for African American artists, writers, and other famous leaders to “formulated an independent black culture and encouraged racial pride, rejecting any emulation of white American culture” (P. Scott Corbett, et al).

     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 represents the rebirth and flowering of African-American culture. Although the Harlem Renaissance was concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City, its legacy reverberated throughout the United States and even abroad, to regions with large numbers of former slaves or blacks needing to construct ethnic identities amid a dominant white culture. The primary means of cultural expression during the Harlem Renaissance were literature and poetry, although visual art, drama, and music also played a role in the development of the new, urban African-American identity. Urbanization and population migration prompted large numbers of blacks to move away from the Jim Crow south, where slavery had only transformed into institutionalized racism and political disenfranchisement. The urban enclave of Harlem enabled blacks from different parts of the south to coalescence, share experiences, and most importantly, share ideas, visions, and dreams. Therefore, the Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact in framing African-American politics, social life, and public institutions.

The Harlem Renaissance was a wonderful allotment of advancement for the black poets and writers of the 1920s and early ‘30s. I see the Harlem Renaissance as a time where people gather together and express their work throughout the world for everyone to see the brilliance and talent the black descendants harness.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of rebirth in Harlem, New York. It was comprised of mostly African Americans. During this time, it was an explosion of culture in which arts, music, and literature came from. It was time a time where African Americans expressed their culture and talked about the injustices that they faced. The most popular genre of this time was jazz. African Americans were subject to racial discrimination, making it hard for them to find jobs. Race riots and lynch mobs were also very common during this time.