The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The years of 1920 and 1990 and “were clear peak periods of African American cultural production.” During these years blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. “It is difficult not to recognize the signs that African Americans are in the midst of a cultural renaissance” (English 807). 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.
In 1923 Jean Toomer’s Cane was published by the Boni and Liveright publishing company and received favorable reviews. The book was released during the heart of the Harlem Renaissance and promoted the encouragement and interest in African American culture. For the next forty years, Cane was not printed and seemed to fade away as an influential book. Many publishers claimed Cane was too insubstantial to reprint and denied the revival of the book. In 1967 the book was finally reprinted. The reprinting came during a time known as The Second Renaissance. During The Harlem Renaissance and The Second Renaissance, both times of revival and rebirth of a culture, Toomer’s novel was printed. Thus showing the significance o...
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...where his art would dominate the prejudices and societal limits undermining the inner talents each and every person has no matter the race. The Harlem Renaissance, with assistance from Cane, had a positive outcome on African Americans by allowing them to conquer the social construct placed upon their race and achieve success by revealing their inner dignity.
Works Cited
English, Daylanne K. “Selecting the Harlem Renaissance.” Critical Inquiry 25 (1999):
807-821. JSTOR. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2712631.
Toomer, Jean. Cane. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988. Print.
McKay, Nellie Y. Jean Toomer, Artist: a Study of His Literary Life and Work, 1894-
1936. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1984. Print.
The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to a period at the end of World War I through the mid-30s, in which a group of talented African-Americans managed to produce outstanding work through a cultural, social, and artistic explosion. Also known as the New Negro Movement. It is one of the greatest periods of cultural and intellectual development of a population historically repressed. The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of art in the African-American community mostly centering in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s. Jazz, literature, and painting emphasized significantly between the artistic creations of the main components of this impressive movement. It was in this time of great
That’s when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artist, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers”(Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). African Americans writers during this time was capturing the beauty of black lives. Blacks were discovering many reasons to have pride in their race. Racial pride was helping them achieve equality in society. People were starting to write the way they wanted, instead of the ways whites wanted. Creating their
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 ...
Gates, Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. Print.
In the introduction to The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, David Levering Lewis states the Harlem Renaissance was not a cohesive movement, but a constructed and forced phenomenon that was “institutionally encouraged and directed by leaders of the national civil rights establishment for the paramount purpose of improving race relations.” (Lewis, xiii) However, after researching many influential artists, politicians, and orators of the time, I must disagree. While, yes, the movement of an entire cultural and racial awakening can only be seen as a phenomenon and the movement itself was by no means cohesive, these powerful men and women needed no institutionalized encouragement. Each of their works were their own with diverse ideas and methods, yet somehow, came together to form an interconnected goal within the movement.
In 1923 Jean Toomer’s Cane was published by the Boni and Liveright publishing company and received favorable reviews. The book was released during the heart of the Harlem Renaissance and promoted the encouragement and interest in African American culture.* For the next forty years, Cane was not printed and seemed to fade away as an influential book. Many publishers claimed Cane was too insubstantial to reprint and denied the revival of the book. In 1967 the book was finally reprinted. The reprinting came during a time known as The Second Renaissance. During The Harlem Renaissance and The Second Renaissance, both times of revival and rebirth of a culture, Toomer’s novel was printed. Thus showing the significance of the novel during times of resurrection for African American culture. The book explains how other races in the North and in...
All in all, the Harlem Renaissance was a black cultural movement that took place in the North, particularly in Harlem. Many African Americans stood out including Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. They were all different kinds of artists who were a part of the Great Migration. These artists traveled from the South and other parts if the world to the North because of the increase in black population and culture. Each one of them made a large impact on the Harlem Renaissance and changed black culture forever.
James, Johson Weldon. Comp. Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 832. Print.
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual movement that was expressed through art, literature, and music igniting a new cultural identity. At the time it was called the “New Negro Movement” named after Alain Locke a well-known philosopher and writer. The base of the movement involved the Great migration of African Americans from poor to urban areas and from South to North. Escaping its harsh caste system so they can find a place where they could uninhibitedly express their talent. Among those artists whose works accomplished acknowledgment were W.E.B Du Bois, Alain Locke, and Langston Hughes.
The months and even the years prior to the Harlem Renaissance was very bleak and the futures of life in America for African-Americans didn’t bode seem to bode very. Well progression towards and reaching the era known as the Harlem Renaissance changed the whole perception of the future of the African-American people as well as life for the group as we know it today. It can be best described by George Hutchinson as ”a blossoming (c. 1918–37) of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history [that took place specifically in Harlem]. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts...”. With an increase on the focus of “Black culture”, America seemed
2. The African American culture blossomed during the Harlem Renaissance, particularly in creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to reconceptualize “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. They also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame about aspects of their lives that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs. Never dominated by a particular school of thought but rather characterized by intense debate, the movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature and had an enormous
During the Great Migration, an influx of African Americans fled to Northern cities from the South wishing to flee oppression and the harshness of life as sharecroppers. They brought about a new, black social and cultural identity- a period that later became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Originally the Harlem Renaissance was referred to as the “New Negro Movement” (Reader’s Companion.) It made a huge impact on urban life. The Harlem Renaissance played a major role in African American art, music, poetic writing styles, culture and society.
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great rebirth for African American people and according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the “Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s.” Wikipedia also indicates that it was also known as the “Negro Movement, named after the 1925 Anthology by Alan Locke.” Blacks from all over America and the Caribbean and flocked to Harlem, New York. Harlem became a sort of “melting pot” for Black America. Writers, artists, poets, musicians and dancers converged there spanning a renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was also one of the most important chapters in the era of African American literature. This literary period gave way to a new type of writing style. This style is known as “creative literature.” Creative literature enabled writers to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues that were of importance to African Americans. These issues include racism, gender and identity, and others that we...
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...
During the 20th century a unique awakening of mind and spirit, of race consciousness, and