What Was The Overall Impact Of The Harlem Renaissance

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston in 1937 was written during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement. The New Negro Movement came about as a rejection of the racial segregation between blacks and whites. The black women felt this effect of racism more acutely than the black man. For centuries, Black women have been called the “mule of the world” and had been giving the status of inferior to white and the black man. Their Eyes Were Watching God encloses many elements of both racism and sexism. It is a story set in central and southern Florida. It follows the novels protagonist Janie in her search for self-awareness as she goes through three marriages. Elizabeth A. Meese has argued that one of

The film Their Eyes Were Watching God, based off of the novel by author Zora Neale Hurston, is a story of a young woman named Janie who spends the film narrating her life story to a friend. Janie’s story is one of self-exploration, empowerment, and the ability to express her freedoms both as a maturing woman and African American, throughout her life experiences. As she navigates through sexism and racism to find herself it becomes more evident that it will be more difficult than she initially thought to reach a point of happiness.

The article “The Negro Digs Up His Past’’ by Arthur schomburg on 1925, elaborates more on the struggles of slavery as well as how history tend to be in great need of restoration through mindfully exploring on the past. The article, however started with an interesting sentence which caught my attention, especially when the writer says ‘’The American Negro must remark his past in order to make his future’’ (670). This statement according the writer, explains how slavery took away the great deal freedom from people of African descendant, through emancipation and also increase in diversity. The writer (Arthur Schomburg) however, asserts that “the negro has been throughout the centuries of controversy an active collaborator, and often a pioneer, in the struggle for his own freedom and advancement” (670).

The Harlem Renaissance was cultural, social and movement that took place in the 1930’s. During this time white America started to recognize the contributions of African American’s. Many great works came out of the Harlem Renaissance. Such as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, W.E.B Du Bois. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the many authors that contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston an African American author, whose work emerged during the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston as a revolutionary, who made a difference throughout her life and through her work. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing several works of literature, contributing to the acceptance of African Americans, and by helping to preserve folklore and African American culture.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was written in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston. This story follows a young girl by the name of Janie Crawford. Janie Crawford lived with her grandmother in Eatonville, Florida. Janie was 16 Years old when her grandmother caught her kissing a boy out in the yard. After seeing this her grandmother told her she was old enough to get married, and tells her she has found her a husband by the name of Logan. Logan was a much, much older man. This book later follows Janie through two more marriages to Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. All three marriages extremely different from one another, along with Janie’s role in each marriage. Janie always had her own individual personality, her true self, but she also had an outer personality, the person she would pretend to be for each of her husbands. The Book took us through a journey of each of these marriages and through the journey of Janie finding herself.

The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination… the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land (qtd. in W.T.L. 235).

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

Locke's primary goal in the essay "The New Negro" is to migrate from monolithic notions of an "Old Negro", as well as from the exhausted frameworks of bourgeois intellectual black leadership toward an idea that gives creative agency and credibility to the "rank and file" of Negro life (Locke, New Negro: 6).

One of his most influential writings was “Enter the New Negro”, its open the mind of those who have come across it. The treatment of African Americans seemed as it has changed from the 1920 to the 1930s but mistreatment still remained. At this time African American needed to convey the images left behind by their ancestors into something greater to please and uphold their legacy, not the legacy of themselves but a legacy for the African American community altogether. Locke speaks of the mistreatment when he states;

The “new” negro no longer embodied “old” characteristics that defined a black man. Society had always taught a black man how to act; however, now he was adapting to the world. Locke declared that ‘the Old Negro’ had long become more of a myth than a man” (Locke, 1). A furthered and detailed definition of an “Old Negro” was that he “was a creature of moral debating historical controversy” (Locke, 1). The four

I was satisfied once I realized “New Negro” was about the bold consciousness African-Americans brought into the light from years of believing this consciousness was inadmissible. One could assume that “New Negro” is about a changed mindset, but it was more than just a mindset. It was a movement. Without the work of African-Americans pioneering in the Harlem Renaissance, where would society be musically? It is no secret that the African-American culture is used all throughout our society. Locke presented that using art in this movement is very effective and connects with people on a deeper

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

The essay The New Negro by Alain Locke’s defines what Locke believes to be the “Old Negro and the “New Negro. This paper will compare and contrasts Marcus Garvey The Future as I See it and Langston Hughes various poems on why Locke would have characterized them as either Old Negroes, New Negroes, or both. I believe Locke, Garvey , Hughes were determined to see Blacks succeed. Each writer expresses their idea in their own unique way, but they all wanted freedom, equality, and respect.

SUMMARY: Hannah Williamson’s literary analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God includes very detailed information that she gathered while reading the novel and researching afterwards. There is information not only about the book and its content but also information about the author and the time period the novel was written in. Her analysis discusses the literary techniques, significant quotes, a detailed list describing the characters in the novel, and many more.

In 1925, philosopher and leading black intellectual Alain Locke published the short essay The New Negro. In this essay, Locke describes the contemporary conditions of black Americans, and discusses the trajectory and potential of black culture to affect global change in its historical moment (Locke 47). Locke wrote this essay in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, a period in which black artists and intellectuals sought to reconceptualize black lives apart from the stereotypes and racist portrayals of prior decades (Hutchinson). The New Negro and the discourse around Locke’s work attempted to push forth a bold project: that of reshaping the cultural identity of black America with respect to the existent structures of American culture, as