The Harlem Renaissance

1101 Words3 Pages

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of great commotion spanning the 1920s, also known as the “New Negro Movement.” One of the more well-known movers and shakers of the Harlem Renaissance is Langston Hughes. He amongst other artist brought new forms of black cultural expressions into urban areas that had been affected by The Great Migration. Harlem was the largest area affected by said Great Migration. Though the Harlem Renaissance was centered in Harlem the power and strength contained in the words of artist such as Langston Hughes reached Paris and even the Caribbean. Langston Hughes was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement. His vast amounts of work are what brought attention to the struggles and realities of the time period.
The Harlem Renaissance was an explosive expression of how black people felt during the 1920s and Langston Hughes did a magnificent job capturing and expressing the feelings of the black struggle. During the 1920s The Great Migration of black people to the north were treated better on paper than those in the south. They experienced de facto segregation as oppose to the de jure segregation they’re fellow black people faced in the south; though the treatment in the north was better there were still race riots and much racial tension. The Harlem Renaissance was explosive. It brought much attention to the reality black people faced on a daily basis. The renaissance shed light on how harsh life was for the African American and the traumatic feelings that they suffered. Without the Harlem Renaissance the struggles of the black American during the times of racial tensions may not have been thrust out into the light and shown as broadly as it was. Hughes essay entitled “The Negro Artist and the Racia...

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...essions on paper helped to bring a spotlight onto the black artist and thrust the ways of African American expression into broad daylight. Langston Hughes influenced much of the Harlem Renaissance by making people think and feel. He was able to move people with his words and show the world the pains of the concepts of passing, Hughes acknowledged his privilege received due to fair skin, “good” hair and used it to show the society around him that where it was helping him it was hurting his fellow people. Langston offered the notion that the colored person was not so different from any other race.

Works Cited

Lewis, David L. The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. New York: Viking, 1994. Print
Hughes, Langston. "Chapter 4." The Ways of White Folks. New York: Vintage, 1990. 52+. Print
Hughes, Langston. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 409. Print.

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The Harlem Renaissance

Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance