The Harlem Renaissance: 'The Decade That Roared'

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1912 , the 18th Amendment being added to the Constitution (prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors) and then being repealed in 1933 , the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1920 , Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 , and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 Harlem Renaissance originally known as the New Negro Movement was an important part of African American culture and history, which helped African Americans express themselves and celebrate their heritage. Between the years of 1890-1920 close to two million African Americans traveled from the rural southern states to the northern cities. They traveled to these northern cities in hopes to find better opportunities for themselves as well as less discrimination. The Harlem Renaissance lasted from 1918-1935. The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem

The early 1920’s was a time of change and a new beginning for African Americans. The Great Migration to the North, between 1915 and 1930, was the starting point of a new chapter in African American lives. African Americans escaping discrimination and poverty, walked into what is known as the Harlem Renaissance. This era was a time of rebirth and positive influence for African Americans all over the world. African Americans migrated to many places in the North, however, many settled in New York City in a neighborhood called Harlem.

Brendan Campbell 12/8/14 In the 1900’s African Americans faced two main struggles in the South: segregation and discrimination. Due to these hardships, the Southern African Americans migrated North. This was called the Great Migration; which was a movement of 6 million Southern African Americans into Northern cities like Chicago and Harlem.

in the 1920s the reason why this movement began was due to the harmful effects of

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.

The Harlem Renaissance, which is also known as the “New Negro Movement”, was a movement that was considered to have spanned throughout history from 1918and lasted until the mid-1930s. The main reason for the migration from the north to the south resulted from the Jim Crow Laws. Most Negroes felt they would be better off in the north than in the south. However the Ku Klux Klan was renounced by the republican whites but Democratic whites maintained power in the South by denying blacks the right to exercise their civil and political rights with lynch mobs and other forms of corporal punishment.

“African American life, identity, and culture that emerged from Harlem .. challenging the racist and disparaging stereotypes of the Jim Crow South.” (N.A.A.Identity) Everyone was very elaborate, from the way they dressed to the work they created. The art of African Americans in the Harlem Renaissance gave people more knowledge about the political world. The art of the Harlem Renaissance expressed the political ideas of the black people. The 20th century African Americans were informed about what was going in the political world.

Secondary, creative expression is one of the most important aspects. All artistic creation including visual arts, literature and music represented the thought of the African American. In the Harlem Renaissance, there are many notable creators include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jacob Lawrence, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Count Basie and Duke

Without the Harlem Renaissance we wouldn’t have some of the very influential people we know today such as Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and etc. Also Duke Ellington’s music became very popular and very influential to other jazz players, which contributes to all of the genres of music we listen to today such as rap, r&b, blues, and etc. African Americans today wouldn’t be as successful today if not for the persistence and determination of those far less fortunate than us, before us. We can only hope to be as influential and important as those who have paved the way for us. We today are trying to fill and follow the path and legacy they have left behind for

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement of new works in art and literature from African Americans in New York from about 1910 to about 1940. Harlem was originally a neighborhood consisting of white upper class people until the Great Migration, when large numbers of African Americans flocked to Harlem, causing some Whites to leave. The government in the South had made laws which stated that Blacks could now own their own lands but instead, former laws were reestablished, resulting in these blacks that had now owned land, in debt to former owners, causing the creation of Sharecroppers. They were given a choice between labor contracts which would fundamentally mean they were slaves once more or to be evicted from their homes. Eventually, this caused the Great Migration. These African Americans started migrating to the urban areas of the North to look for better lives and to seek work from businesses looking for cheap labor. (“Sharecropping”, 2010.)

“Mention of the Harlem Renaissance conjures up images of glitzy nightclubs, glamorous figures, great literary achievements, and the birth of new trends in painting and sculpture, as well as a growing intellectual movement.” It was the becoming of and the publicization of black culture that was born during times of enslavement. The Renaissance was the first opportunity that African Americans felt they had had to exhibit their culture and uniquely-black talents without fear of repercussion or prejudice; due to the sense of heritage identity granted to the African Americans by their collective Harlem settlement, it no longer mattered what racist whites thought of

During this time, slavery was at its lowest. Many African American slaves were moving to the North to gain their freedom and actually feel free for once. Instead, white supremacy was quickly, legally, and violently restored to the New South and they didn’t believe that black slaves

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.

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