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Harlem Renaissance impact on today's music
A cultural journey in the Harlem Renaissance
A cultural journey in the Harlem Renaissance
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The Harlem Renaissance is one of the most prominent moments in history in which we can witness African American culture in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance started as the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a cultural mecca for African Americans. The movement quickly became an explosion of social and artistic expression. Lasting from the 1910s to the mid- 1930s, the Harlem Renaissance, is often considered the Golden Age in African American culture. For most of the country this was the first time that any minority had brought so much attention to their culture.
This “Golden Age” manifested itself mainly through the literature, music, stage performance, and art. Some of the most influential African American artists,
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The neighborhood of Harlem in northern-Manhattan was intended to be an upper-class white neighborhood. But, rapid overdevelopment created a problem of too many empty buildings. As the landlords became desperate to fill in the buildings a movement was started. In the early 1900s, multiple middle-class African Americans found themselves moving into this neighborhood as it became affordable. Soon after, outside factors, such as natural disasters, found more and more African Americans moving into the neighborhood. One of the largest contributing factors was the outbreak of Boll Weevils in the south.
This great combination of African American families is what really jump started the movement. Cultures that been lost over generations were being reintroduced through music, dance, and other art forms. In this time fo growth several figures became prominent. Often they were the first African Americans to become popular doing their particular job. Poets such as Claude Mckay and Jean Toamer became increasingly popular. Artists such as Aaron Douglas and the sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, began to explore African themes in their works. Many of these prominent figures are still remembered today as the best of the
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However, it was not really the people that made this cultural movement so large. It was the culture they all represented. The culture that still surrounds African Americans in our society today. This what the Harlem Renaissance was all about. It is also why the people listed previously are such noteworthy figures in American history. Instead of expressing themselves they expressed an entire culture.
Works Cited
Source 1: “Langston Hughes.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes.
Source 2: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Lois Mailou Jones.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Mar. 2016, www.britannica.com/biography/Lois-Mailou-Jones.
Source 3: Ellington, Edward "Duke" (1899-1974) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed, www.blackpast.org/aah/ellington-edward-duke-1899-1974.
Source 4: The Harlem Renaissance(You Choose)
Source 5: History.com Staff. “Harlem Renaissance.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance.
Source 6: “The Harlem Renaissance.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp.
Source 7: “Harlem Renaissance.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 23 Jan. 2018,
The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to a period at the end of World War I through the mid-30s, in which a group of talented African-Americans managed to produce outstanding work through a cultural, social, and artistic explosion. Also known as the New Negro Movement. It is one of the greatest periods of cultural and intellectual development of a population historically repressed. The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of art in the African-American community mostly centering in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s. Jazz, literature, and painting emphasized significantly between the artistic creations of the main components of this impressive movement. It was in this time of great
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural revolution that happened mainly in Harlem, New York but also in other parts of America. The Harlem Renaissance took place from 1918 until 1937. The Harlem Renaissance was never about a single entity or event but the gathering of the best and brightest minds around the America. These great minds helped create one of the biggest cultural movements in American history. The work contributed during the renaissance helped future African American artist in the future. Many historians contribute the Harlem Renaissance to the beginning of the civil rights movement.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement of blacks that helped changed their identity. Creative expression flourished because it was the only chance blacks had to express themselves in any way and be taken seriously. World War I and the need for workers up North were a few pull factors for the migration and eventually the Renaissance. A push was the growing discrimination and danger blacks were being faced with in the southern cities. When blacks migrated they saw the opportunity to express themselves in ways they hadn’t been able to do down south. While the Harlem Renaissance taught blacks about their heritage and whites the heritage of others, there were also negative effects. The blacks up North were having the time of their lives, being mostly free from discrimination and racism but down South the KKK was at its peak and blacks that didn’t have the opportunities to migrate experienced fatal hatred and discrimination.
The Harlem Renaissance is a term used to describe the expansion and development of African American culture and history, particularly in Harlem. It is believed to have started around 1919, after World War I, and ended around the time of the great depression. During this time period African Americans writers, artists, musicians, and poets all gathered in Harlem and created a center for African American culture.
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.
In the 1920s, the great migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North sparked an African–American cultural renaissance that took its name from the New York City neighborhood of Harlem but became a widespread movement in cities throughout the North and West. Also known as the Black Renaissance or the New Negro Movement, the Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics turned their attention seriously to African–American literature, music, art and politics(Hornsby, 1993; Hazen, 2004).
The History of this person is important because without his painting of The Great Migration people like us today wouldn’t be able to put a strong picture together about the migration of African-Americans to the North. The paintings show us the hardship that they faced in the South moving to the North. For the African American migrating from the south, didn’t know what to expect moving North as shown in the picture
An era of written and artistic creativity among African Americans that occurred after World War I, and lasted until the middle of the 1930’s depression; This is the definition that you would probably get for the Harlem Renaissance if you looked it up in a book, but the Harlem Renaissance was much more than that. The Harlem Renaissance was an expression of redefined African Americans who felt a sense of self-pride, and promoted the celebration of their African American herita...
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement in the 1920s in which African American writers, painters and musicians flourished, changing American culture. It was a time of cultural celebration because African Americans had gone through centuries of slavery and other social problems. The Harlem Renaissance helped
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was an extremely influential span of time for the Black culture. During these years Blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means of growth, they hoped to destroy the pervading racism and stereotypes suffocating the African American society and yearned for racial and social integration. Many Black writers spoke out during this span of time with books proving their natural humanity and desire for equality.
All in all, the Harlem Renaissance was a black cultural movement that took place in the North, particularly in Harlem. Many African Americans stood out including Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. They were all different kinds of artists who were a part of the Great Migration. These artists traveled from the South and other parts if the world to the North because of the increase in black population and culture. Each one of them made a large impact on the Harlem Renaissance and changed black culture forever.
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.
During the Great Migration, an influx of African Americans fled to Northern cities from the South wishing to flee oppression and the harshness of life as sharecroppers. They brought about a new, black social and cultural identity- a period that later became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Originally the Harlem Renaissance was referred to as the “New Negro Movement” (Reader’s Companion.) It made a huge impact on urban life. The Harlem Renaissance played a major role in African American art, music, poetic writing styles, culture and society.
... The Harlem Renaissance was a time of growth and development for African-Americans. They wrote novels, performed in clubs, and created the genre of Jazz. However, the Renaissance was imprisoned by its flaws. Rather than celebrating the unique culture of African-American’s, it oftentimes caters to what the White Americans would want to see and hear.
The Harlem Renaissance refers to a prolific period of unique works of African-American expression from about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Although it is most commonly associated with the literary works produced during those years, the Harlem Renaissance was much more than a literary movement; similarly, it was not simply a reaction against and criticism of racism. The Harlem Renaissance inspired, cultivated, and, most importantly, legitimated the very idea of an African-American cultural consciousness. Concerned with a wide range of issues and possessing different interpretations and solutions of these issues affecting the Black population, the writers, artists, performers and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance had one important commonality: "they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective." This included the use of Black folklore in fiction, the use of African-inspired iconography in visual arts, and the introduction of jazz to the North.[i] In order to fully understand the lasting legacies of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to examine the key events that led to its beginnings as well as the diversity of influences that flourished during its time.