The Harlem Renaissance: Civil Rights Movement

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 Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation where ninety percent of black Americans lived. This gave black people hope for a new better life in the Northern states where those laws weren’t enforced. This renaissance was a cultural party that helped expose black writers, musicians, poets, artists, etc. This changed the culture forever and the talent started to spillover within the black community. Art was pushed to its limits and was a form of a statement and representation.

Have you ever thought of the changes that had to take place for all races to gain equality? The Harlem Renaissance was the revolution in America's history when the black community was being accepted and they were getting closer to equality to all. There were many things that sparked the Harlem Renaissance such as, such as jobs, opportunities for freedom and self-expression. The Harlem Renaissance is considered a Renaissance as it involved a change in the majority of society creating a rebirth type of event. The social change in this Renaissance was caused by the whites and blacks both starting to converge and easing the racial tensions.

One writer of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes.Hughes cast off the influences of white poets and and used blues and jazz to write his poems. Claude Mckay urged African Americans to stand up for their rights in his work. Jean Toomer wrote plays,short stories, and poems to capture the spirit of his times. Zora Neale Hurston was noticed quickly with her moving novel, “THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD”. In conclusion these were some of the people that changed African American traditions for the better.

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.

One example of his work that shows this is the poem, Enslaved. In this piece, McKay talks about how African Americans have been oppressed throughout history and shows the sadness he has for his people, “My heart grows sick with hate, becomes as lead,/ For this my race that has no home on earth(7-8).” He also wants his people to be liberated and be able to live as equals with white people, which they've been denied the right to do. Another poem which shows how the themes of the Harlem Renaissance shaped his writing is If We Must Die. In this piece, McKay talks about how he doesn’t want black people to die in vain like that had been throughout history but rather let them die with honor and dignity because they matter just as much as the white people, or “the murderous, cowardly pack”. In the line, “ If we must die-let it not be like hogs/ Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,/ While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,/ Making their mock at our accursed lot./ If we must die-oh, let us nobly die(1-5)”, McKay tells of how he wants his people to die nobly rather than having white

This movement inspired a rise in African-American artists and gave them a way to express their feelings in many art forms. Langston Hughes, a popular writer from this point in history, used his magazine to lift young African-American artists on to

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 given its name because cultural, social, and artistic explosion took place in Harlem between 1918 and mid-1930’s. During this period Harlem was the go to place for black writers, artists, musicians, poets, and many others. A majority of people came from the South, because they were fleeing its caste system to find a place where they could freely express themselves and their talents. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Walter White and James Weldon Johnson were amongst the many artists who became very well known. Du Bois, editor of THE CRISIS magazine, the journal of the NAACP, published the poems, stories, and visual works of many artists.

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”.

They have provided educational opportunities, legal actions, and monetary support for the advancement of our people. Most importantly, the NAACP has taught Black Americans that it is their right to dream. So what has this taught America? America has learned that the fight for equality and against discrimination is ongoing. Additionally, the movements fight for equality has become the basis for other progressive movements.

He displayed courage for African Americans through his work which in turn encouraged many to take action, if they had not already. His beautiful, attention grabbing paintings completely captured culture