...The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement. It was a boom of black expression, a clash of black art . The Harlem Renaissance took place in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, in the 1920’s through the early 1930’s. It was the end of World War I and the middle of the Great Depression. There were many important people involved in the Harlem Renaissance. These are most people who were involved in the Harlem Renaissance… The Harlem Renaissance was important and still is today because it was a contribution to ever struggling black community. It had people who helped make changes with problems such as segregation. They were talented black individuals who didn’t make black race like just slaves. They showed that they are strong talented people. Novels * Arna Bontemps — God Sends Sunday (1931), Black Thunder (1936) * Countee Cullen — One Way to Heaven (1932) * Jessie Redmon Fauset — There is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun (1928), The Chinaberry Tree (1931), Comedy, American Style (1933) * Rudolph Fisher — The Walls of Jericho (1928), The Conjure-Man Dies (1932) * Langston Hughes — Not Without Laughter (1930) * Zora Neale Hurston — Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) * Nella Larsen — Quicksand (1928), Passing (1929) * Claude McKay — Home to Harlem (1927), Banjo (1929), Gingertown (1931), Banana Bottom (1933) * George Schuyler — Black No More (1931), Slaves Today (1931) * Wallace Thurman — The Blacker the Berry (1929)...
Words: 758 - Pages: 4
...The Harlem Renaissance's Impact on American Literature The Harlem Renaissance also known as the "New Negro Movement," was a cultural movement that spanned in the 1920's to the mid 1930's. It was a time in history that displayed the unique culture of African American expression, through literature, art, music, and dance. This African American culture grew out of Harlem, New York and symbolized freedom from the oppression of slavery. It was described as the spiritual coming of age in which African Americans had a chance to express their creativity. The Harlem Renaissance is noted as being a literary movement were African Americans could celebrate their heritage and reveal the truth about their life and the first time their literature was taken seriously by critics and publishers. The birth of the Harlem Renaissance came out of Harlem, New York in the early 1920's, "it was a time for a cultural celebration. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and the struggle for abolition." (U.S History, 2008) It is described as racial pride and an intense desire for equality. It represented a time by the end of the war in 1919 where African Americans was going to be much more aggressive than their prewar brothers. Harlem was considered the capital of the black world, because it attracted thousands of blacks from the South and the West indies. It provided economic and education for African American artist. In Harlem, people demanded respect from those who continued to keep racist...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...The Harlem Renaissance From 1920 until about 1930 an unprecedented outburst of activity among African-Americans occurred in all field of art. Beginning as a series of literary discussions in the lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) sections of New York City, this African-American cultural movement became known as “The New Negro Movement’’ and later as the Harlem Renaissance. More than a literary movement and more than a social revolt against racism, the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African- Americans and redefined African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become “The New Negro,” a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke. One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926. In his influential book The New Negro (1925), Locke described the northward migration of blacks as "something like a spiritual emancipation." One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926. In his influential book The New Negro (1925), Locke described the northward migration of blacks as "something like a spiritual emancipation." In the 1920's African-Americans seemed to have passed...
Words: 2049 - Pages: 9
...Harlem’s Own Language “Story in Harlem Slang” by Zora Neale Hurston is written entirely in Harlemese. It contains a three-page appendix, at the end of the story, with the translated slang she used to aid the reader. Harlemese is used to describe things taking place in Harlem and to create a sense that Harlem is its own place, almost a country inside of a country for Blacks. During this time many Blacks believed that living in the North was much better than living in the Jim Crow consumed south. The idea that Zora Neale Hurston centers the story around is the idea that the North is not necessarily better than the South for blacks for various reasons like poverty and other hardships Blacks encountered by “Russian” or running to the North. “Story in Harlem Slang” begins with Jelly who is a pimp. A pimp in Zora Neale Hurston’s slang is a male prostitute. Jelly is all about pleasuring women in exchange for food, money and weed. Because pimping is not easy and it is hard for him to find food Jelly wakes up late to avoid “dirtying plates”. Jelly throws on his zoot suit and heads to the corner where he proceeds to find women to pleasure so he can feed himself and his desire for “scrap-iron” and “reefer” which are liquor and weed respectively. Jelly spots one of his “colleagues” on the street and thinks he can get some weed out of him if he brags about his success on the street correctly to him. His colleague is Sweet Back who is also a Harlem pimp. Sweet Back and Jelly compete with...
Words: 988 - Pages: 4
...Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance period was when the world found out that there was indeed a distinctive and varied "negro/black American" culture and it was centered here in Harlem of New York City. It was a culture movement that began around 1920s. Before it was called the Harlem renaissance it was known as the "New Negro Movement", that was named after the anthology edited by Alain Locke in 1925. The Harlem Renaissance grew out of the changes that had taken place in the black community since the abolition of slavery, and which had been accelerated as a consequence of the First World War. It can also be seen as specifically African-American response to an expression of the great social and cultural change taking place in America in the early 20th century under the influence of industrialization and the emergence of a new mass culture. This movement impacted urban centers throughout the United States. Across the cultural spectrum (literature, drama, music, art, dance) and also in social thought (sociology, philosophy), artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical experiences of black America and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. Challenging white superiority and racism, African-American artists and intellectuals rejected merely imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans and instead celebrated black dignity and creativity. Asserting their freedom to express themselves on their own terms as artists, they explored...
Words: 1744 - Pages: 7
...9th, 2013 Zora Neale Hurston autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road, sketches her own life living in Eatonville, Florida, was the first organized self-government African American community. Many people saw the African American community as racism and segregation. Hurston implies that the nicest people she met in her early stages were whites who showed her compassion. According to her official website Zora Neale Hurston, “Dust Tracks on a Road, was her account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural south to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.” Many people viewed Dust Tracks on a Road, as a fantasy life she idealized not the actual truth. While others believed in Hurston’s portrayal. Zora Neale Hurston was the fifth of eight children of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, on January 7, 1891. When she was 3 years old, her family moved to Eatonville, Florida. Zora Neale Hurston felt like Eatonville was “home” so she claimed it as her birthplace. Hurston glorify it in her stories as a place where African Americans could live as they desired, independent of white society, once her father became mayor. She would later call Eatonville, Florida a utopia. Hurston's childhood in this all black environment may have shaped her later views on race. Zora Neale Hurston represented Eatonville as a perfect place in reality. It was a Negro town, a self sufficient, independent place, filled with African...
Words: 1912 - Pages: 8
...The definition of Renaissance is the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning. The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American cultural movement that focused on literature, music, theater, art, and politics. The Harlem Renaissance is important because it’s something that brought African Americans together as a whole. It allowed them to get the opportunities that people tried to strip them of. This was being human and normal. After the war the African American people began to migrate to Harlem and that’s when it all started. Harlem was the place the largest group of African Americans moved to during the African American Great Migration. Most African Americans came for work and a hope for a new life. Places such as The Apollo Theater and The Cotton Club, and Musicians, Writers and Actors were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. That’s what made the Harlem Renaissance. It was time for a cultural celebration.” African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and the struggle for abolition. The end of bondage had not brought the Promised Land many had envisioned.” “The Harlem Renaissance” ushistory, Independence Hall Association, 22 May 2014, http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp , 2008-2014 A music theater that has history, which means it wasn’t an ordinary place. An extraordinary place called the Apollo Theater. The Apollo Theater is located in Harlem, New York on 125th Avenue between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglas...
Words: 1500 - Pages: 6
...The movement contained literary, artistic, and intellectual, and created a new black cultural identity. The major key people involved in the Harlem Renaissance were Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Rudolf Fisher, Wallace Thurman, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston. The precursor of the Harlem Renaissance began with the Great Migration of African-Americans to the North from the South. This occurred during World War I, when factories suffered from a shortage of workers, due to their men being shipped over to Europe. This shortage was seen as an opportunity by the many African Americans living down South. So many of them made their way up North and so began the black movement. Many major American cities began having their black population increase drastically. Those cities being Chicago, Detroit, and most infamously New York. The downtown New York neighborhood of Harlem attracted many of the culturally significant African-Americans. Some of those being W.E.B DuBois, Claude McKay, Count Basie, and Paul Robeson. Many artistic works produced during the Harlem Renaissance didn’t only appeal to blacks, but also appealed to whites. Nothing is more closely connected to the Harlem Renaissance than Jazz. Many musical clubs popped up in New York during the Harlem Renaissance, and none more famous than the beloved Cotton...
Words: 1508 - Pages: 7
...head out their doors. One of the many music played on these radios was, of course, Jazz. The convenience that the radio gave to people brought more awareness to Jazz and broadened the audience for the music. Along with influencing the changing cultural music in New York during the Harlem Renaissance, Jazz music also inspired the fashion-side of the society: Men had begun to wear baggy pants, and young women cut their hair short. Loose high-cut dresses were practically mandatory for flappers due to dancing along with the fast-paced rhythm that Jazz music consisted of (McClendon). Unfortunately, like all other good things, the prosperous age that began in 1920 came to an end as America—along with the rest of the Western industrialized countries—entered the Great Depression in 1929 (Garraty). The American culture that was heavily based on credit backfired as the stock market on Wall Street crashed, sending millions of people into poverty because of it. When everyone was mourning over the negative impacts of the Great Depression, Jazz music was there to lift the moods of the...
Words: 1603 - Pages: 7
...When the Negro Was in Vogue Selected Comments by Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman Langston Hughes on Shuffle Along The 1920's were the years of Manhattan's black Renaissance. It began with Shuffle Along, Running Wild, and the Charleston. Perhaps some people would say even with The Emperor Jones, Charles Gilpin, and the tom-toms at the Provincetown. But certainly it was the musical revue, Shuffle Along, that gave a scintillating send-off to that Negro vogue in Manhattan, which reached its peak just before the crash of 1929, the crash that sent Negroes, white folks, and all rolling down the hill toward the Works Progress Administration. Shuffle Along was a honey of a show. Swift, bright, funny, rollicking, and gay, with a dozen danceable, singable tunes. Besides, look who were in it: The now famous choir director, Hall Johnson, and the composer, William Grant Still, were a part of the orchestra. Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle wrote the music and played and acted in the show. Miller and Lyles were the comics. Florence Mills skyrocketed to fame in the second act. Trixie Smith sang "He May Be Your Man But He Comes to See Me Sometimes." And Caterina Jarboro, now a European prima donna, and the internationally celebrated Josephine Baker were merely in the chorus. Everybody was in the audience--including me. People came back to see it innumerable times. It was always packed. . . . When I saw it, I was thrilled and delighted. . . . It gave just the proper push--a...
Words: 1535 - Pages: 7
...Chapter 21: The Roaring Life of the 1920s Section 1: Changing Ways of Life I. Rural and Urban Differences A. Between 1922 and 1929, migration to the cities accelerated, with nearly 2 million people leaving farms and towns each year (small town values change) 1. City dwellers judged one another by their accomplishments more often than their background a. City dwellers tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating (shocking and sinful in small towns) 2. Cities could be impersonal and frightening b. Life was fast paced and neighbors were not as neighborly B. Prohibition: the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited 3. 18th Amendment: ratified Jan, 1919 and repealed by the 21st Amendment in Dec, 1933 C. Positive Opinions/Results of Prohibition: 4. Progressives wanted it banned to stop family violence, crime, and poverty c. Support for prohibition was found in the rural native-Protestant dominated West and South d. The church-affiliated Anti-Saloon League led the drive to pass Prohibition e. Woman’s Christian Temperance Union considered drinking a sin 5. WW I reformers advocated prohibition as a war measure f. People were concerned that many German Americans owned many of the brewers g. Drinking reduced the efficiency of soldiers and workers 6. Learned we must...
Words: 2900 - Pages: 12
...Hayes-Tilden election In 1876, the two major candidates running for President were Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, and Samuel J. Tilden, a Democrat. The first returns indicated a victory for Tilden, who had won the popular vote with 4,284,020 votes to Hayes' 4,036,572. But Tilden's 184 electoral votes -- the votes that would decide the Presidency -- were still one short of a majority, while Hayes' 165 electoral votes left him 20 ballots away. The votes of three Southern states and one western state still had not been counted. The 20 electoral votes remaining in dispute were one from Oregon and 19 from the three Southern states that still retained Republican-controlled electoral boards -- Florida (4), Louisiana (8), and South Carolina (7). What complicated the matter was that Democrats in these states had won the state elections, mostly by violence and fraud. Both parties claimed victory. Spanish-American war As wave after wave of racial fury inundated the South at the end of the nineteenth century, a flicker of hope suddenly seemed to appear. America declared war on Spain in 1898, and black soldiers were needed to fight for their country. Out of America's 25,000-man standing army, 2,500 were experienced black veterans. For over twenty years, they had been fighting America's Indian wars on the deserts and plains of the West. The Cheyenne called them "Buffalo Soldiers" for their courage in battle and their rough, shaggy appearance. Wilmington Riots In 1898, Wilmington, North...
Words: 1339 - Pages: 6
...struggles of the Great Depression laid the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Art would play an important role in influencing the future. Despite its limitations, the New Deal, through the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Federal Arts Program (FAP), was responsible for reshaping the cultural agenda and “marked a significant turning point in the production of black culture.”1 The artists of the Great Depression built upon the work done during the Harlem Renaissance. New Deal art extended and affirmed art that translated “politics into cultural terms.”2 The FAP looked for a “new sense of authentic American culture – one that championed national values and traditions by celebrating regional and racial diversity.”3 As a result, many artists worked to place African Americans in the historical narrative of the United States while combating long held stereotypes. None were less important than Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Dox Trash, and the creators of the Harlem Hospital murals. Throughout the decade, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) continued its struggles to gain social and political equality for African Americans. The NAACP employed many avenues to achieve its goals. An Art Commentary on Lynching and the Marian Anderson concert were two such...
Words: 6080 - Pages: 25
...EVENT: Black Vace newspaper – in the library 2pm on Friday 4/27 Donations to PFAU library. HBCU – groups all over the world to come together. • Mixed races – either intentional or unintentional. o Mulatto – ½ black (this is an offensive term which the root word is mule) o Quadroon – ¼ black o Octoroon – 1/8 black Video – Fisk singers and early white gospel video • Literacy was a problem – acapella singing. • Gospel – “Good news” • Fisk = HBCU in 1866 Video: the history of gospel music 02 • In the African heritage it had to be the music, the preacher and the religious. o Had to be the preacher and the response • Music was to be free but then brought Christianity which was pulled out from that they say. • Involving percussion tones • Melees tone – not singing the tone right to but to shape it. We wear the mask poem: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 – 1906) • Mask – façade, disguises you, hides you, masquerade, protection, performers. Performance v. rituals • Ritual o Gospel • Performance o For others/benefits o Entertainment o Image Video: Education on Minstrel – goes into the Images topic • Developed in 1820. • T.D. Rice • Jim crow presents himself as an African (black face) by performing how the Africans perform. Performance within a performance. • Compromise of 4, etc. o Paid performances • Call and response Images: • Co-opted • Corruption of the history image • Massive available – were everywhere. • The images like...
Words: 3558 - Pages: 15
...Bibliographic Essay on African American History Introduction In the essay “On the Evolution of Scholarship in Afro- American History” the eminent historian John Hope Franklin declared “Every generation has the opportunity to write its own history, and indeed it is obliged to do so.”1 The social and political revolutions of 1960s have made fulfilling such a responsibility less daunting than ever. Invaluable references, including Darlene Clark Hine, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); Evelyn Brooks Higgingbotham, ed., Harvard Guide to African American History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001); Arvarh E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., eds., The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001); and Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, eds., Dictionary of Afro- American Slavery (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1988), provide informative narratives along with expansive bibliographies. General texts covering major historical events with attention to chronology include John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000), considered a classic; along with Joe William Trotter, Jr., The African American 1  Experience (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001); and, Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold, The...
Words: 6155 - Pages: 25
