The Harlem Renaissance: The Negro Movement

The Harlem Renaissance was a golden age in African American culture where white America started to recognize the contributions of blacks in culture, social, and artistic aspects. Humanitiestexas.org states, “Traditionally the Harlem Renaissance was viewed primarily as a literary movement centered in Harlem and growing out of the black migration and the emergence of Harlem as the premier black metropolis in the United States. Music and theater were mentioned briefly, more as background and local color, as providing inspiration for poetry and local color for fiction.” Writers like Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Countee Cullen were all poet who played enormous roles during the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullens

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.

There were many notable events taking place in the years 1900-1940, some being Pablo Picasso painting one of the first cubist paintings is 1907 , the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 , the 18th Amendment being added to the Constitution (prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors) and then being repealed in 1933 , the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1920 , Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 , and the list continues. Undoubtedly one of the most influential of events during this time was the Harlem Renaissance. Even with its many leaders and innovators, it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective had it not been for Alain LeRoy Locke: black writer, philosopher, and teacher who influenced black artists to look to African sources for pride and inspiration. Without Locke’s contribution, the Renaissance would not have flourished as much as it did, and black pride would have taken longer to develop and accept.

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.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social, and artistic movement that took place in Harlem, New York. This mainly took place starting from the end of the First World War until the mid-1930s. Harlem, at this time, was the center of the African-American culture, and Harlem appealed lot of black artists, writers, scholars, musicians, poets, and photographers. Lots of these artists had fled from the South because they needed to get away from their oppressive caste system so that they could express themselves freely, and display their talents. The Harlem Renaissance was considered to be the “rebirth of African-American arts”. This movement mainly started around 1918 and ended during the mid-1930s. Some of the major writers during this time of the Harlem Renaissance were Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Countee Cullen, Zoe Neale Hurston, and Marcus Gravey. Lots of these themes that these writers wrote about are themes that to this day artists try to make a point of emphasis, including the American Dream, effects of racism on the black population, black identity, and human rights (Wormser).

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.

Over the course of time, many different movements have occurred. The most influential types have ranged from revolutionary movements to feminism. These movements have changed the course of society and kept a different outlook on new ideas. A very important idea that needed to be stressed was the freedom of African Americans. For so long they were slaves and treated extremely poorly. Eventually, they became free people. However, they were still not viewed as equal. It took many years to move even one step in the right direction. A specific movement did help the African America appear independent and equal. One of the most influential movements and still occurring to this day is the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance is the cultural movement of the 1920’s. The movement essentially kindled a new black cultural identity through art, literature and intellect.

The Harlem Renaissance, or back then referred to as the “New Negro Movement,” was a movement that took place in Harlem, New York around the 1920s which consisted of art, music, and creative writing. The Harlem Renaissance was an important and memorable movement because it brought a voice, never before found freedom, and joy to African Americans who had been hushed and persecuted for too long. Shortly after the Civil War ended in 1865 some blacks expected that just because there was more education and jobs available for them that they would finally be treated “equal.” This was until Plessy versus Ferguson case where the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was okay. “Separate but equal” was the legal doctrine used

In order to get a better understanding on how the Harlem Renaissance began, one must start with the Great Migration from the South to the North. Considered the largest migration in U.S. history, record numbers of African Americans started arriving in large numbers in urban areas from many parts of the rural South. This period was also known as the period of economic growth. Due to poor conditions in the South, the North represented hope and progress. As America was in conflict from World War I, the goal of the nation was to support the fight for democracy. And as the war progressed, there was a growing need to fill jobs due to labor shortages in the North. The North being the primary industrial, caused many jobs to become available, and large

The Harlem Renaissance was the first period in the history of the United States in which a group of black poets, authors, and essayist seized the opportunity to express themselves. The Great Migration was the movement of six million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North during 1916 to 1970. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many African Americans headed north in search for a better future. Due to the aftermath of World War One , it brought many African Americans into the thriving New York City. Moreover, during the early 1920s the African Americans developed their own culture by the creation of art, music, literature, including the battle in fighting for their civil rights and the effect of the Great Depression.

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.

Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic matter during the 1920’s and the 1930’s. Countless African Americans who participated in this faction showed a different side of the “Negro Life.” It rejected the stereotypes that were given to them. This period in history was thronged with artists, musicians, and writers who portrayed their thoughts into their pieces. Artists of such comprised of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. It was an influential and intoxicating party, inspiring others to fight for what they desired believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. It gave African Americans racial pride, they gained more respect through the movement; additionally, the music, writing, and art challenged the stereotypes that faced them.

With the end of slavery came new freedoms for the African American and African American communities but freedom also came with new challenges. During this time, segregation laws were in place limiting African Americans and portraying them as second class citizens. In the 1920’s, the idea of a new identity for the African American, one that was equal to the white majority, would take root and the Harlem Renaissance would begin in New York. Although there were numerous artists who participated in the movement, poets Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen are amongst some of the most prominent figures whom represent the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1950’s, with the end of World War II, came a new group of poets and artists who voiced their criticism on a wide variety of social issues creating the Beat Movement, or Beat Generation. Allen Ginsburg, Gregory Corso, and Diane di Prima are a few of the many artists who participated in the Beat Movement calling for a spread of awareness and societal change. For these poets, it seemed as though no topic was too taboo such as capitalism, war, American Culture, the use of religion, consumerism, and environmental issues. While both were influential movements in American history, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement which sought to unify African American communities by encouraging the adoption of a new image whereas the Beat Movement used individual expression to promote change for a variety of social issues.

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