In 1914, because of the pause of European immigration, black farmers from the south could get jobs in northern cities. With the new abundance of African Americans in NYC and their creative contributions to nightlife, music, and entertainment, the Harlem Renaissance started. The Harlem Renaissance inspired many pieces of music, literature, and art and revolutionized the future of black America. (Bodenner) During this time, new styles of music emerged, the most prominent being Jazz.
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 1920’s The decade of the 1920’s is best described as “Boom to Bust.” In the beginning people were having a very good time, not just at parties but economically and culturally. Even though the 18th amendment was passed in 1919, making the sale of alcohol illegal, people still drank, mostly in secret. There were tons of inventions that really got people moving and spending such as electricity/lights, the automobile, credit, and the modern radio. Everyone in the 1920’s was feeling good, making a lot of money, and buying whatever they wanted, but all of the ended with the crash of the stock market.
The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of black arts and culture primarily in the north; it was where African Americans expressed themselves through music and other art forms to show that they were free and that they had the right to express their emotions as well as their thoughts. The Harlem Renaissance shaped America and the African American culture as it is today. They got to experience things they never experienced before. Although, this event in history is called the Harlem Renaissance it wasn’t only for Harlem.
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 1920s gave way to an explosion of media and entertainment amongst middle and upper class citizens. The Harlem Renaissance was a showcase of African American artistry and sophistication. Jazz music played a key role in this cultural awakening. The generation which participated in the Harlem Renaissance was the first of black people not being born into slavery. Though they were living in post slavery America, African Americans were still combating systemic oppression and demonizing stereotypes.
The Harlem Renaissance made a impact that led into the Civil Rights movement. African Americans used this time to recreate a more positive image for themselves. For an example, W.E.B DuBois was one of the lead politicians during the Harlem Renaissance made a great impact that led into the Civil Rights movement. He wanted to use art in a positive way and advance political change for civil rights.
The Harlem renaissance and The Great Migration helped improve life for African Americans because they helped them. The quote tells us that the Harlem Renaissance helped African Americans get their culture back and share it with the world. “The Harlem Renaissance produced new and exciting art, literature, and music, it also helped to shape and express what it meant to be Black in America. For hundreds of years, Black people had been enslaved and oppressed in the Americas, denied their history and identity” (10). The quote shows us that The Harlem Renaissance Influenced the Civil Rights Movement because it helped African Americans gain a new spirit of self-determination and pride.
A factor that continues to influence people today is the Harlem Renaissance writers, musicians, and artists. Within their work, these artists found ways to express themselves and create art that reflected current issues. They used to place themselves in rooms they weren't allowed to play in to close the racial gap. An article titled “Harlem’s Renaissance” written by Michael Lasser, describes a musical written by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles called Shuffle Along. Lasser says “The show lasted for 464 performances… Broadway producers never again systematically excluded African Americans from the theatre, although black songwriters and performers faced different forms of discrimination through the twenties and beyond” (Lasser 53).
The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history, which occurred in the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The cultural movement was an opportunity for African Americans to celebrate their heritage through intellectual and artistic works. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, was a product of the Harlem Renaissance. One notable piece of literature by Hughes is “Dream Deferred”. However, the discussion of African American culture isn’t limited to the 1920s.
African Americans lived in a world of racial injustices and cultural restrictions until the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where there is an African American literary and art movement in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood. It is the turning point in African American culture, as well as their place in America. The African Americans were starting to become equal in American society. While the Renaissance built on earlier traditions of African American culture, it was greatly affected by the trends of the Europeans and white Americans.
The Harlem Renaissance was the cultural explosion that took place in Manhattan during the 1920’s and 30’s after World War I, peaking at 1928. It was here where African-American culture bursted into a flurry of nightclubs, speakeasies, community centers, cafes, publishing houses, and galleries. 1920-1930 was a party that lasted a decade, and Manhattan was the center of it. The Harlem Renaissance resulted in what came to be the Jazz Age and the blues, introducing musicians such as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong; all at the Cotton
The Harlem Renaissance was a black literary and art movement that began in Harlem, New York. Migrants from the South came to Harlem with new ideas and a new type of music called Jazz. Harlem welcomed many African Americans who were talented. Writers in the Harlem Renaissance had separated themselves from the isolated white writers which made up the “lost generation” The formation of a new African American cultural identity is what made the Harlem Renaissance and the Lost Generation unique in American culture because it influenced white literacy and it was a sense of freedom for African Americans.
The representatives of Harlem Renaissance believed in democratic reforms, they thought that art and literature were means of changes and impact on white people. They believed in themselves and assisted to political organizations of that time – “National Association for the Advancement of Colored
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.
