In Harlem, New York the “New Negro” was born by various intellectuals, artists, musicians, and writers who celebrated cultural creativity and nobility throughout the African-American community. A span of ideas on what it meant to be African-American influenced many people to partake in art, music, and writing. During the 1920’s, the endless innovation made Harlem the “Mecca” for African-American civilization. Contributors and leaders recognized this as a resurrection of identity and spirituality which created, the “Harlem Renaissance.” Although the Harlem Renaissance shaped the African-American community substantially, there was still dispute. White Americans weren’t educated about African-American culture, segregation kept both races from coming together, and discrimination within the black community made light-skinned people suppose they were superior to dark-skinned people. When daylight transformed to nightlife, white people wanted to partake in the fun which usually brought along immense opportunities for writers and musicians.
Harlem night’s intrigued white people to come to the part of town they would never consider visiting. Flashing lights, admirable music, and alluring experiences gave white people an opportunity to seek a different world from what they were used to. In abundance, African-Americans were not fond of white people intruding their neighborhood. They believed white people thought the renaissance was created for their amusement. Noticing the issue, New York native Langston Hughes wrote in his autobiography entitled, “The Big Sea” a passage expressing his animosity, “Nor did ordinary Negroes like the growing influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly onl...
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...tunities, the Harlem Renaissance spanned a cultural movement which flourished art, music, and literature within the African-American community. When World War I ended, many African-American soldiers struggled with respect from white Americans when they returned home from days of battling and hard work they served developing an identity of the “New Negro.” The “New Negro” attitude challenged the intrusiveness and racism African-Americans encountered from the stereotypes white people shamed upon them. By rejecting and refusing to imitate the styles of Europeans and white Americans, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement to celebrate creativity and nobility throughout African-Americans. Without the powerful influences and creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, we wouldn’t have the films, music, fashion, excitement, and entertainment we see throughout the world every day.
The "New Negro," the Black writers in 1920/30, tried to get out of the dominant white assimilation and practice their own tradition and identity in autonomous and active attitude. In virtue of their activities, the Harlem Renaissance became the time of sprouting the blackness. It offered the life of the black as the criterion to judge how well the democracy practices in America and to weigh the measure of the dream of America. Their vitality and artistic spirit, and dreams were so impressive that the Harlem of the 1920s has never been eluded out from the memory of American (Helbling 2).
Harlem soon became known as the “capital of black America” as the amount of blacks in this community was very substantial. Many of the inhabitants of this area were artists, entrepreneurs and black advocates with the urge to showcase their abilities and talents. The ...
Harlem provided a source of entertainment for many people. With its Jazz Clubs and poetry readings it was the “hip” place to be. This was a shock to many African-American’s, who had never before had the opportunity to perform in such affluent surroundings. Oftentimes funding for these clubs or programs was provided by White Americans. This in itself was not a problem. However, the Harlem Renaissance became so dependant on the funding that when it stopped coming, there was no means by which to keep any of the clubs or literary cafes open. Some clubs in Harlem even discriminated against Black audience members. The popular Cotton Club, which featured solely Black performers, even went so far as to ban African-Americans’ from its audience entirely. Even in the Mecca of supposed racial equality, these sorts of discrimination were still prevalent. Advertisements for products produced by African-Americans were also skewed. Para...
"Harlem was like a great magnet for the Negro intellectual, pulling him from everywhere. Or perhaps the magnet was New York, but once in New York, he had to live in Harlem"(Hughes, The Big Sea 1940). When one is describing a “fresh and brilliant portrait of African American art and culture in the 1920s (Rampersad 1994),” the Harlem Renaissance would be the most precise postulation. The Harlem Renaissance proved to America that African Americans also have specialized talents and should also be able to exhibit their gifts. The Harlem Renaissance also obtained the notoriety expeditiously that participants of this movement needed to modify America’s perspective of black environments. To sum up, the Harlem Renaissance “New Negro Movement” was a cultural movement that celebrated black life and culture. This movement assisted in gaining a new significance and vigorous race relation in the United States; it awakened black communities all over the world-- especially Harlem to utilize their gifts and talents and make the best of it.
The Harlem Renaissance was a major step for the advancement of African Americans in the American Society during the 1920s.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural revolution that happened mainly in Harlem, New York but also in other parts of America. The Harlem Renaissance took place from 1918 until 1937. The Harlem Renaissance was never about a single entity or event but the gathering of the best and brightest minds around the America. These great minds helped create one of the biggest cultural movements in American history. The work contributed during the renaissance helped future African American artist in the future. Many historians contribute the Harlem Renaissance to the beginning of the civil rights movement.
The New Negro Movement, widely known as The Harlem Renaissance, rolled into Harlem, New York – and touched the whole of America – like a gale-force wind. As every part of America reveled in the prosperity and gaiety of the decade, African Americans used the decade as a stepping stone for future generations. With the New Negro Movement came an abundance of black artistic, cultural, and intellectual stimulation. Literary achievers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen rocked the world with their immense talent and strove to show that African Americans should be respected. Musicians, dancers, and singers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and Bessie Smith preformed for whites and blacks alike in famed speakeasies like The Cotton Club. Intellectuals like Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, and Alain Locke stood to empower and unify colored people of all ages. The Harlem Renaissance was not just a moment in time; it was a movement of empowerment for African Americans across the nation, and remains as such today.
The Harlem Renaissance, originally known as “the New Negro Movement”, was a cultural, social, and artistic movement during the 1920’s that took place in Harlem. This movement occurred after the World War I and drew in many African Americans who wanted to escape from the South to the North where they could freely express their artistic abilities. This movement was known as The Great Migration. During the 1920’s, many black writers, singers, musicians, artists, and poets gained success including Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. These creative black artists made an influence to society in the 1920’s and an impact on the Harlem Renaissance.
Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.
Lewis’s viewpoint is not without it’s truths. The Harlem renaissance was overseen by a number of intellectuals such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Dubois. Booker T. Washington‘s, a highly influential speaker of the age, words appealed to both Caucasians and African-Americans. Washington forged an interracial bridge of communication through his unique tactics in the quest for equality. He believed in more subtle ways of gaining equality through hard work, cunning, and humility. He stated, “The wisest among my race understands that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.”(Salley, 15) With this statement, Washington himself denies that this new awakening in equality and arts could be forced,...
The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During this period, Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Many had come from the South, fleeing its oppressive caste system in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents. The Harlem Renaissance was more than a literary movement, it involved racial pride, fueled in part by the militancy of the "New Negro" demanding civil and political rights (pbs.org). African Americans were moving from the south to the north and bringing their culture with them to. Without the Harlem Renaissance there would not have been such a drastic change in our literature and music. The Harlem Renaissance played a great role in the ending of racial discrimination later in history(harlemrenaissanceimpact). If the Harlem Renaissance didn’t exist there might have not been any change towards African Americans or change to white America. There were many people such as Louis Armstrong a trumpet player/singer, Langston Hughes a poet/playwright, Madam C.J. Walker a Civil Rights Activist, and Jessie Fauset a Author, Poet, and Educator who had major impacts on the people of the Harlem Renaissance. Moving to the north gave the African Americans somewhat a better life, there was still racism going on and it kind of got worse as more African Americans moved to the north. African Americans had to fight against racial oppression from the white people, They would have to follow a set of rules called the “ Jim Crow Laws” which segregated the black from the whites. Also Many African Americans would have to face the terror of the “KKK” which was a group of white men who thought people of color had to die,
James Weldon Johnson once said that "Harlem is indeed the great Mecca for the sight-seer; the pleasure seeker, the curious, the adventurous, the enterprising, the ambitious and the talented of the whole Negro world."("Harlem Renaissance") When one thinks of the Harlem Renaissance, one thinks of the great explosion of creativity bursting from the talented minds of African-Americans in the 1920s. Although principally thought of as an African-American literary movement, the Harlem Renaissance's influence extended through every form of culture: art, dance, music, theatre, literature, history, and politics. Along with the great contribution this period made towards art and entertainment, the Harlem Renaissance also made a great impact on a social level. The Harlem Renaissance gave birth to the first African-American cultural identity and played a significant role in the political thought of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
During the 20th century a unique awakening of mind and spirit, of race consciousness, and
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was an extremely influential span of time for the Black culture. During these years Blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means of growth, they hoped to destroy the pervading racism and stereotypes suffocating the African American society and yearned for racial and social integration. Many Black writers spoke out during this span of time with books proving their natural humanity and desire for equality.