Harlem Renaissance Shaped The Culture And Perceptions Of The New Negro

For African Americans during the early 1900’s was a scary place. . People were filled with racism and hate towards those who are black. Ever thought of how much power a group of people have if they all unite for a similar purpose? The Harlem Renaissance shows exactly that. The African Americans of this time came together with the purpose of social change. Digging back into their roots to show the world just how beautiful it is. They chose to express their culture in writing, music, and art.

The 1920s was a time of great change. From fashion to politics, this period is known as one of the most explosive decades in American history. After WWI, America became one of the world’s most formidable superpowers. The rise to power prompted the 1920s to become a decade of evolution for women’s rights, African American’s rights, and consumerism.

One only hopes to be born into an era like the 1920s. Until, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Prohibition, and until coming into contact with the KKK. There were many exhilarating parts of the 1920s that everyone knows about, such as, the Harlem Renaissance, Women’s Rights and inventions that made everyday life so much easier. From 1920 to 1929, life was the “bees-knees”.

Imagine Harlem, New York in the mid 1920’s; the rising amount of free African Americans to find a new life with jobs in the North. Imagine the burst of African American culture, the new music, art, and literature. This image represents the Harlem Renaissance; the rebirth of African American culture. The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to the cultural and social movement which took place in Harlem, New York between the end of World War I and towards the middle of the 1930s. The Renaissance focused on the culture of African Americans and the new forms of music, art, and literature. Specifically, jazz and blues, poetry, dance, and musical theater became more apparent. After struggling for years for the abolishment of slavery, African Americans

Years before we started our constitution with “we the people…;” years before we distinguished society to be separated into colors -- black, white or somewhere in between; years before we pledged together to be “...one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all…,” we lived under the British rule. However, with the sacrifices of many men who made history come to life, we gained our freedom. Soon our America turned into my America -- my as in the “white” America. The cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance approached later on in the early twentieth century, where vibrancies of new perceptions emerged in the minds of many African Americans. However, this white America proved to be an obstacle, taking away the freedom and excitement that the African Americans felt after years of oppression. The

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States. They have endured severe oppression and racism for many years and suffered under Jim Crow Laws as well which were created specifically

The Harlem Renaissance also known as The New Negro Movement was an explosion of African American culture during the 1920s to the mid-1930s through literature, dance, music, theater, and paintings. The Harlem Renaissance may have been located in the heart of Harlem but the impact was felt all across the United States. The Harlem Renaissance gave a voice to a race that had only been seen as slaves.

During the 1920’s while segregation existed between blacks and whites, The Harlem Renaissance also known as the New Negro Movement developed in Harlem New York City. The Harlem Renaissance allowed was very benficial to African Americans because it allowed them to express themeselves. ‘Harlem gave African American people a new sense of their own beauty and power” (Haskins,2). During the harlem Renassance African AMericans expressed themselves through different types of art such as music, poetry, dance,and paintings.

In 1917 a new movement for African Americans began to form, it was known as the New Negro Movement and consisted of the most significant African American artists, musicians, and actors. It was in part a cultural movement and a freedom movement, showcasing the greatest minds of the time. For the first time, American Blacks felt it was their time to start a political effort to influence their culture. This movement lasted 10 years between the 1920s and 1930s. And was based in Harlem, New York. African American artists used this time to escape southern democratic oppression, while black leadership was forming and shaped into an ideology of Alain Locke. He was a prominent philosopher that influenced Black people during the Harlem Renaissance. The most significant African Americans that I believe stood out during the Harlem Renaissance are Duke Ellington, Alain Locke, and Jesse Owens.

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. The Harlem Renaissance started the Civil Rights

“It is time to wake up Washington as it has never been shocked before,” were the famous words spoken by black labor leader A. Philip Randolph. After WWII in the 1940’s African Americans wanted to see change following the war. African Americans became more assertive for equality and the rights they knew they should be given. During this time the NAACP worked to end the discrimination within the armed forces. There was an organization called CORE, congress of racial equality that wanted to protest without using violence, which lead to the sit ins in the south that challenged the Jim Crow laws. During this time artist, Elizabeth Catlett created her painting” Civil Rights Congress” in 1949. The image portrays a little African American boy about

The Harlem Renaissance during the 1920's and 1930's were best known as the "New Negro Movement." It was a time when intellectual growth was at a peak for African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was much more than history and culture. It sparked uniqueness and self-confidence in the daily life of many African Americans, an also redefined how people all over America, and the world, viewed African Americans. A very important figure during this time was a woman named Zora Neale Hurston. She wrote a very inspiring book called The eyes were watching god, which focuses on the daily life of African Americans and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing understanding for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great cultural growth in the black community. It is accepted that it started in 1918 and lasted throughout the 1930s. Though named the ‘Harlem’ Renaissance, it was a country-wide phenomenon of pride and development among black Americans, the likes of which had never existed in such grand scale. Among the varying political actions and movements for equality, a surge of new art appeared: musical, visual, and even theatre. With said surge, many of the most well-known black authors, poets, musicians and actors rose to prevalence including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Eulalie Spence. The development of many unique styles of such art was also started due to the Harlem Renaissance, much

The 20th century can be fairly considered as the most important period in the history of African American people because it is just the time when racism discrimination was overcome. For many years before the beginning of the struggle for rights of African-American people, there was a legal system based on white supremacy. African Americans didn't have a real opportunity to vote. Segregation was spread everywhere: black people were not allowed to take seats in public transport which belonged to whites, they could not attend universities and schools for white people, it was even forbidden to drink from the same drinking fountains. Many shops and stores, cafes and restaurants refused service African Americans and treated them as inferior people.

In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide. The history, popularity and influence of jazz on human culture make it the seminal American art form.