Harlem Renaissance Influence

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The Harlem Renaissance (or New Negro Movement) was a cultural movement in the United States during the period of 1920-1930, headed by prominent African-American writers, artists, and actors. This Renaissance was a mixture of spiritual and cultural flourishing, symbolizing the transition from “old times” to new. It was at this time that African-American culture flourished, which gave the world many truly talented and outstanding writers. The cultural movement of the Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact on the culture of the United States as a whole. It was at this time that a new image of the African American emerged: an educated, talented, and gifted person. Poetry and prose of African Americans were also something new and challenging (Edwards …show more content…

In the 20-30th of the twentieth century it was called "The New Negro Movement" by analogy with the collection of works by Negro authors. "The New Negro", published in 1925 under the editorship of Alan Locke, writer and philosopher, is often called the father of the "Harlem Renaissance." (Edwards 58) The philosophy of the "New Negro" was based on the idea of "building of a race" (Faturoti). Its main component was the realization of the inevitable equality of races. It was argued that from now on the blacks should not tolerate the unjust situation that the whites gave to them. The formal proclamation of the equality of races, in fact, was not respected (Faturoti). In The New Negro, Locke suggested that as soon as the idea of racial self-consciousness, confidence and political awareness prevails in the minds of African Americans, they will become a force of the masses and incarnate into concrete actions. In addition, the black population of America will be able to achieve de facto …show more content…

However, for the first time in the literary work, Locke embodied new concepts of the personality of an African American, previously claimed only in journalism. Ambiguity in interpreting the image of an African American and the depth of psychological problems associated with crossing the racial barrier and self-identification of heroes in a complex system of racial relationships allows people to overcome the pattern of black people in a white literary audience. Moreover, it also allows creating new images of an African American for both a mulatto and a black, by outlining key themes of racial discourse for African-American literature in the 20th

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