The Harlem Renaissance: Creation of a New Nation

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The Harlem Renaissance created a new racial identity for African-Americans living in the United States, after the First World War. This new racial identity caused the African-Americans to become a nation within the United States. A nation is defined as a group of people that share common language, ethnicity, history, and culture. A nation of people may or may not have sovereignty. Harlem, a neighbourhood in Manhattan, New York City, emerged as the “race capital”1 for African-Americans living in the Northern states. Many African-Americans migrated from the Southern states to the North because of an influx of available jobs after World War I. Influential writer James Weldon Johnson described Harlem as “being taken without violence.”2 The borough was flooded with Southern African-Americans looking for work. They were apt to work in the factories, and would rather that, than work in the Mississippi Valley on cotton farms.3 As the economy began to prosper a distinct African-American middle class began to emerge. This was mainly due to an increase in jobs and education. The increase in education and the emergence of a middle-class began to bring intellectuals to the forefront of the African-American nation. Influential African-American writers, artists, and politicians began to emerge in their respective communities. Harlem became the hub of a social revolution. The African-American culture began to spread. Art, novels, and poems became centers of the African-American community. The white Americans began to notice and acknowledge, these impressive works of art. Jazz music, or the blues, became a worldwide-recognized American music style. The Harlem Renaissance also led to a large change in many political disputes led by leaders such a ...

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...cKay. A Long Way From Home, pp. 87-94.

16. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 1, W.E.B. DuBois. Returning Soldiers, pp. 37-39.

17. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 1, W.E.B. DuBois. Returning Soldiers, pp. 37-39.

18. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 2, Phillip Randolph and Chandler Owen. The New Negro- What is He? pp. 39-42.

19. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 2, Phillip Randolph and Chandler Owen. The New Negro- What is He? pp. 39-42

20. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 12, Alain Locke. The Survey Graphic, Harlem Issue, pp. 78-82

21. Ferguson, Section 3, Document 31, W.E.B. DuBois. Criteria of Negro Art, pp. 160-169.

22. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 6, Claude McKay. Harlem Shadows and the Liberator, pp. 56-59

23. Ferguson, Section 1, Document 9, Langston Hughes. The Weary Blues, pp. 68-72.

24. Ferguson, Section 3, Document 32, Alain Locke. Art or Propaganda? pp. 170-172.

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