American Literature: Literature Changed Over Time

• African Americans – The cultural transition from the 1970-1960 promoting African Americans literature, was also a musical and vocal movement for a culture coming of age after the liberation of slavery. The fierce anxiety of post-Civil War racism created a “voice” through artistic creativity, making a deliberate statement of the status of America through African American eyes. The timelines show artist telling a story of character and circumstance. • Asian Americans – The timelines showed advancement in music, literature and theatrical fields. They also showed more popularity of this sub-culture during the last fifty years.

Immigrants, fleeing their homeland to escape oppression for religion or to find better opportunities for employment, were drawn to the booming American land of industrialization and urbanization. Old immigrants from Western Europe entered the country prominently in the 1880’s. But from the 1890’s to the outbreak of World War I, New Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe flooded the country. These immigrants, bringing with them lesser-practiced customs and religions that could shape the culture of America, mainly congregated with people of similar nationalities in ethnic neighborhoods in the growing cities, thus limiting their assimilation into American society. Another factor limiting the influence of immigration on America was the resistance of the “native” Americans to the New Immigrants.

Saeed Jones’s debut poetry collection, Prelude to Bruise (2016), is an essential contemporary piece of work comprised of narrative free verse’s that tackle an African-American historical past that is present in our existing society. During the 1960’s African American Studies began to be implemented in American universities due to the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Nationalism (penguin dictionary). While the title of the collection implies the commencement of bruising and its inescapability, the growth of the poems throughout indicate steady progress in our society. Much of the collections focus is on historical contexts of Jones past and beyond, integrating brutality, race, violence and power. An African-American Studies reading of the collection reveals that the brutal past of African-Americans still weighs on modern society.

During the era of the Harlem Renaissance, a variety of different magnificent poets utilized poetry to express the feelings and pain that was inflicted upon them during that time period. A long time after the African Americans gained freedom and rights they still suffered. The Harlem Renaissance was a very crucial point in American history. People struggled to break down the racial barriers that were commonly associated with the Jim Crow laws. Many African Americans ought to express themselves through art and literature to exercise their rights.

The Harlem Renaissance was a phase of a larger New Negro Movement that had arisen in the early 20th century and in some ways ushered in the civil rights movement of the late 1940s and the early 1950s. The social foundations of this movement included the Great Migration of the African Americans, from rural to urban spaces, and the dramatically advancement of literacy. The creation of national organizations dedicated to helping African American civil rights, and “uplifting” the race by developing race pride. The Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and meaningful movement that sparked a new black cultural identity that lasted until the 1920s to the mid 1930s. Essence summed up by critic and teacher Alain Locke in 1926 when he declared that through art “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination”.

The Harlem Renaissance, or the New Negro Movement as it was known at the time, was an intellectual, artistic, and social outpouring that celebrated black culture with themes of what it meant to be black in America. This movement lasted from the 1920s through the 1930s and included artists and intellectuals such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, and Duke Ellington. The Harlem Renaissance went beyond art, literature, and music, there were also political, social, and economic aspects as African-Americans questioned how the United States viewed them and how they viewed themselves. The New Negro and the rise of Harlem came about at a time when African-Americans began to urbanize and form a unique urban culture.

The Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro Movement was inspired by Marcus Garvey he was also the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Alan Locke is the author of “New Negro” and editor of The Crisis magazine.This movement expressed the pride in blacks and this motivated so many African Americans to celebrate their culture through literature and art. Harlem Renaissance helped shape American culture, while adding its own elements to the American’s.

Our nations strong will and determined attitude paved the road of early industrialization in the early and mid 1800 's. The steamboat, transcontential railroad, and Erie Canal were early accomplishments in transportation that began to push our country towards bigger and better feats. In the 1800 's American economy boomed, American affairs became more successful, And Americans began to disperse all across North America. The political, economic, and social changes brought about by developments in transportation from 1820 to 1860 caused the nation to prosper and spring towards our country 's long desired belief in manifest destiny. The rise of transportation mechanisms ultimately increased the employment rates and caused land ownership to become more common.

The Harlem Renaissance was of the embracing of literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts it was set apart for whites. Many of Hughes writings were derived from the African American culture and the struggles of their society. The infusion of jazz into his writings created a positive stain in the community. One of Hughes biggest writings was of “The Weary Blue,” which was one of the original Jazz infused poetry. Many of Hughs writings envolved societal culture issues.

Morrison is among the pioneer of those contemporary black writers who have redefined African- American writings in more ways than one. This assignment will focus on the aspects of gender bias and double consciousness in The Bluest Eye. The Bluest Eye works at different layers of the lives of black people. At one level it accounts for the racial discrimination faced by Afro-Americans throughout their life time. At another level, it is a clear narration of how internalized concepts of beauty works in the minds of blacks and they themselves become their oppressors.