Social Studies Research Paper 8

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Recommended: Influence of African American literature and importance

During the early 1900s, African-Americans faced many struggles in the south. Due to these struggles, over 6 million Southern African-Americans moved to northern cities such as Harlem and Manhattan, between 1915 and 1970. This move is known as the Great Migration (Wilkerson). During this time, African-Americans began sharing newfound styles of art, music and literature (Liccone 3). This renaissance, the Harlem Renaissance, was influenced by the Great Migration because once the African-Americans moved north, they found interest in all kinds of art and freedom to share it. Writers like James Weldon Johnson contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing about their feelings and experiences of that time. The Great Migration played a huge role in literary works of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Great Migration occurred from 1915 to 1970 when vast amounts of
African-Americans moved further north. These African Americans wanted to escape difficulties present in the south. At this time, southern economy discriminated against African-Americans.
The economy wanted blacks to feel as if they must stay with their previous owner in the south and work as a sharecropper. A sharecropper works all day long doing the same, or very similar, jobs as slaves did, such as picking cotton but, they received a small earning (Wilkerson).
Sharecropping is believed to have replaced slavery after reconstruction because slavery was declared illegal. In addition to sharecropping, African Americans also faced the Jim Crow Laws and the Ku Klux Klan in the south. The purpose of the Jim Crow Laws was to keep African
Americans and whites separated in public places such as bathrooms, buses, restaurants and more (Wilkerson). The Ku Klux Klan committed acts of v...

... middle of paper ...

...eat Migration because it shares a story of an African-American man who falls in love with NYC. While this poem was written, other African-Americans were falling in love with other cities of the north. Johnson’s writing is very much related to stories of men of the Great Migration because it is one of these stories, James Weldon Johnson’s. Johnson is a poet who was inspired by his journey to New York and has put his love into words.

The Great Migration affected the new culture found in the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration gave artists, musicians and writers new emotions that they used in their work. This work became the Harlem Renaissance. Writers like James Weldon Johnson gave society feelings for cities such as Manhattan even if they have never been. The work gave African-Americans who are still in the south motivation and hope to be in the north someday.

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