Essay On Harlem Renaissance

As Hunter mentions, “By the end of the (19th) century, African Americans had deployed a multitude of strategies in the workplace, in their neighborhoods, and in the political arena to protect their personal dignity and the integrity of their families and communities”.

The purpose of this essay is to provide a thorough yet concise explanation on the ways in which The Harlem Renaissance helped shaped the culture and perceptions of the “New Negro” in modern era of the 1920s and early 1930s. I will analyze the socioeconomic forces that led to the Harlem Renaissance and describe the motivation behind the outburst of Black American creativity, and the ideas that continue to have a lasting impact on American culture. In addition, I will discuss the effects as well as the failures of the movement in its relationship to power and resistance, highlighting key figures and events that are linked to the renaissance movement.

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.

As America saw an end to World war 1 and entered the 1920s, the country was faced with rapid changes in American society. These changes challenged the old traditional American values and introduced tension between modernists and traditionalist. Tension grew in churches and schools after new scientific discoveries were being made which supported the idea of evolution, rather than the bible. American society saw dramatic changes in it’s old, familiar culture as the Harlem Renaissance emerged and women gained more rights, which began taking affect on the customary American lifestyle.

For many years black folks have been suffering under white rule. For many year blacks have been hindered from success, but now blacks have the opportunity to work their way up next to whites if they unite and follow either Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. Dubois. W.E.B. Dubois believes that blacks should demand that blacks fight for their freedom now. On the other hand, Booker T. Washington realizes that the whites aren’t ready for equality with blacks and that they need to gradually increase their freedom by becoming economically successful first then by gradually becoming free.

After enduring centuries of slavery, African Americans began a movement that spanned the 1920’s into the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance was the literacy, intellectual, and artistic movement that kindled a new African American cultural identity. Writers and actors such as the most prolific, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer casted off of the influences of white poets, jazz, short stories and poems to move the black culture by urging African Americans to stand up for their rights in their powerful arts.

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”.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, artistic, and musical explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. This time period, was also known as the "New Negro Movement", named by Alain Locke. The Movement included new African American expressions of their culture. These changes took place across areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States that were affected by the African-American Great Migration, in which Harlem was by far the biggest. The Harlem Renaissance is considered to be the rebirth of African-American arts. This rebirth of African American arts contained musical, artistic and literary works that had major impact in this Renaissance. Though it mainly took place in Harlem, Manhattan in New York City, many black writers, and artists from African and Caribbean areas who lived in Paris during this time also majorly influenced the Harlem Renaissance.

We chose a website because of convenience and our love for technology. While creating the website, we could easily work together to get everything accomplished at the same time. Also since one of us has a busy schedule, it made it easier to be somewhere with wifi to work on it. Both of us love technology and wanted to find a way to incorporate it into our National History Day admission.

Even though culture was booming everywhere during the 1920’s, nowhere was more exuberant than Harlem. The huge social, cultural, and artistic explosion in Harlem was called “The Harlem Renaissance” or “The New Negro Movement.” This movement’s main cause was to create a new black identity, to show blacks that they should be proud to be black. This movement gave light to many poets, authors, such as Langston Hughes, and gave birth to new styles of art such as Jazz. Jazz was described as “the essence of black music.” Even though this movement is known as “The Harlem Renaissance” it spread all over urban areas of the Northeast and Midwest of the United States.

How has the Harlem Renaissance helped shape American culture. The Harlem Renaissance has impacted the 21st century greatly. 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.The Harlem Renaissance movement ended in the late 1930's because of the Great Depression, but The Harlem Renaissance continues to be an inspiration to many.

The 1920s and 30s was a very important time period for African Americans. This was a period of enlightenment, opening up many new doors for talented African American musicians, poets, and artists. There were many artists during this time, but Aaron Douglas was special because not only did he incorporate African art in this work, his work was very inspirational to people of all cultures. His work was a wonderful example of the New Negro movement. He responded to the need for African American writers, artists, and intellectuals to embrace their cultural heritage and define their own collective personhood through the arts. Also known as the father of African American art, Aaron Douglass played one of the leading roles in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. (Earle, Susan 2007)

The eight early twentieth century artists that we researched each represent or impact the Harlem Renaissance through their art. While I was searching, I was surprised to notice names such as Van Gogh and Picasso appeared on our list, but after further research it began to make sense that if artists went to Europe, they were bound to bring back art styles that were common in Europe. Also, when I was investigating the paintings, many patterns began to stick out. I would say the art shown does not have an analytical or political tone but a more colorful, expressive, light-filled, and emotional feel. For example, most of the artists used very vivid colors in mostly bright settings as opposed to dull black and white colors. Additionally, humans were the focus of all of the paintings. In some, humans were doing mundane actions such as reading or dancing, while in others it was just a simple portrait.

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

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