The Harlem Renaissance: The Great Migration In New York City

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During the span of the 1920s, The Harlem Renaissance was starting to take off. The development and expansion of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City are what gave this renaissance its name. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural stand up for African-Americans that involved black writers, artists, and musicians to embrace their black heritage and show others across the nation what blacks are capable of. The Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was meant to be strictly white in the 1880s, but they overdeveloped the neighborhood too fast which led to many empty buildings. In the 1900s, middle-class black families started to move to Harlem, the white residents of the neighborhood tried to keep them out but failing at this, they eventually left the neighborhood. Figures like Du Bois led many African-Americans from the South to the North in what became known as the Great Migration. In 1915 and 1916 many natural disasters happened in the South, which caused black workers to be out of jobs, so they had to move up North. The Great Migration played a big part in the Harlem Renaissance by getting millions of black people up North, who eventually contributed to the Renaissance. …show more content…

Individuality blossomed during the 1920s and jazz was the perfect way to express individualism. Jazz was the “peoples” music, it was for the soul. Nightclubs were the perfect way to embrace jazz music. The Harlem Renaissance was largely defined by the clubs and characters who constantly made jazz music better and better. Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton were the top men in jazz music. Many people would go out to nightclubs every night to hear them and others play. Harlem Renaissance music was more than music for most people, it was a way of

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