Harlem Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance

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Victoria Gonzalez Mrs. Smith English 6 26 June 2015 The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a huge transition for people of African American descent. It started in the early 1920’s and ended during the late 1920’s as well. People had moved from the southern states where Jim Crow laws were enforced, where discrimination was at its highest. Many people who were writers, entertainers and actors took this as an opportunity to grow as artists. During this time, culture was one of the only things they had left. Those who lived within Harlem needed the positivity to look up to during these hard times. Hughes was a famous writer who had a deeper meaning to his work, which some people have lived by. James Mercer Langston Hughes had an enormous …show more content…

He was born on February 01, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. It was in Lincoln when Hughes began writing poetry(James 7). After graduation from high school, he spent a year in Mexico, followed by a year at Columbia University in New York city. By the time he started attending this school, he had already released his first poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”(Langston 2). After attending this school for a couple of years, he was traveling on the other side of the world doing several different types of jobs. He traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman for quite some time. He returned to the United States in 1924, where he had already made a name for himself (Biography 2). Langston Hughes addressed his poetry specifically to African Americans, speaking about their real life situations and feelings towards everything. “Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the …show more content…

All having different backgrounds, they all came together to uplift Harlem, New York during this time. The Harlem Renaissance has affected not only African Americans, but all of America. Although there were many downfalls for African Americans, this was the time in age when their culture was all that they had. Art, music, poetry and acting were what they took pride in. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Arna Bontemps all contributed during the Harlem Renaissance. By writing poems, children's’ books, and short stories, people had gained hope with what these artists have created. During the Harlem Renaissance, culture was one of the very last things that could have been

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