Essay On The Harlem Renaissance

The African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. He argued that the "Negro Literary Renaissance" notion overlooked "the stream of literary and artistic products which had flowed uninterruptedly from Negro writers from 1850 to the present", and said the so-called "renaissance" was largely a white invention. Duke Ellington gained popularity during the Harlem Renaissance.

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. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was most famous for his musical contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. His profound love for his jazz music added to the sounds of the “New Negro Movement”.

• Scott Joplin bought jazz into homes all over the country, and the Ragtime craze was on. It really caught on in New Orleans allowing Jazz to flourish due to its less rigid social backgrounds. New Orleans became the first true jazz centre. • This encouraged the popularity and growth of jazz music. • Jazz went from only playing in New Orleans to becoming a staple of the America airwaves, dance halls and homes” • The 1930’s brought a new style of jazz “big band swing”.

Thus, modernism was in a transient stage where writers were attempting make strives to move from the old forms of literature. In observation of Langston Hughes, he was considered a modernist that contributed a major part in the African American community. He was one the founders who incorporated jazz and poetry. This was during the period of the Harlem Renaissance when the African American culture was at its highest.

Starting around the year of 1918 and thriving all through the 1920’s, abandoning commonly used stereo-typical terms and projecting their beliefs that they shouldn’t be considered second class citizens. They were politically, socially, and culturally declined, and yet they all wanted to be a part of the American society. They had ambition, and the Harlem Renaissance gave them leeway to become socially acceptable. The ideas that kicked off this revolutionary movement came from a play which denied black face and customs of minstrel show that were considered common stereotypes. Then came along radical literary works which laid the framework for ideals that became an instruction sheet for the movement.

The Harlem Renaissance took place in the 1920s , the African-Americans developed a new culture and they could freely express themselves / ideas . Before this , they experienced the Jim Crow laws from the south . The African-Americans escaped it by moving to harlem . The Harlem Renaissance helped the Africans shine with their culture and arts . The whites came to harlem to enjoy the blacks music and shows .

Babe Ruth would not become a baseball legend, Louis Armstrong would not be one of the best musicians of the decade and Langston Hughes would not have been the inspiring writing he was. Without these African Americans who followed their dreams, like Hughes implied through disturbing imagery, society would have been extensively hurt. With the use of imagery, Hughes is able to get this idea across. In numerous negative outcomes, he directly states in vivid details all the horrendous things that will happen if these dreams are not achieved. This allows the reader to think of dreams as a physical object that needs to be tended to, like, as Hughes compares it to, a festering sore.

Langston Hughes, the brilliant poet and author of the twentieth century, once wrote that it was the “mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people - the beauty within themselves.” This mission delegated to all artists was no easy task; especially African-Americans who were consistently persecuted and ignored by white supremacists. For example, if you had an idea - an idea that would change the way that people think of you - but were persecuted and attacked for presenting it, would you make that idea a reality? The African-American artists of the 1920s and 1930s went against all oppression and published wonderful works, making them one of the first people of color to openly share their masterpieces in a racist America. This period of mass publication in the 1920s was known as the Harlem Renaissance.

They were attracted by the freedom and artistic nature of it. When white popular musicians started to integrate the Bebop style with their own music, it became that much more popular, not only in America, but around the world. Jazz became a way to unify cultures through music. It helped to bring down barriers. It reflected a new time in America, one where cultures became more integrated, but still had room to be individual.

Langston poetry always showed his strong commitment to social justice in the 1930s, throughout the Great Depression, his political beliefs turned radical[endnoteRef:15]6. He portrayed heavily on his urban experience in work[endnoteRef:16]6. Hughes used element of spirituals for the African Americans church in the finals version of the poem[endnoteRef:17]6 ? When Sue Wears Red?[endnoteRef:18]6.

The concert was held at Jazz at the Bistro. It was a tribute to the great trumpet player and St. Louis native Clark Terry. The concert was performed by contemporary trumpet virtuoso Byron Stripling and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band. Clark Terry was a well-known and highly respected trumpeter and flugelhorn player who has had a tremendous influence on jazz and jazz culture in the music’s rich history. Clark Terry’s music deeply moved numerous jazz legends like Byron Stripling, who once said, “You don’t have to be a jazz fan.

The Harlem Renaissance was a burst on African American’s expression of culture, arts, and writings throughout the 1920’s. It was in Harlem, New York, the movement allowed many African American poets, painters, musicians, authors and philosophers to express the beliefs in their people's culture. They wanted to be equal to white people so they showed that through their talents. Louis Armstrong was a key asset to the Harlem Renaissance due to his inspiring music and playing his instruments for African Americans people during this period. Louis Armstrong was a pivotal musician in the twentieth century, but it was his contributions and his role he made during the Harlem Renaissance movement that is most substantial.

One of the most important literary figure was Langston Hughes. When the “Harlem Renaissance” became popular, Langston Hughes’ influences, style of writing, and themes made him different than the others. Langston Hughes was influenced by people and events. The people that influenced him were Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman.

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.

Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance", because of the number of black writers that was coming up. Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes was best known for describing the black life from the 20s to the 50s, in novels, short-stories, plays, and poems. He was also known for the influence jazz had on all of his creative writings.