The Harlem Renaissance
1918-1935
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Sokchea Som, Sabrina Amato, Paige Aquino
Historical
● What is happening?
○ celebrating culture
○ Lead primary by African American communities in Harlem, NYC
● What are the big, impactful events?
○ Great Migration
○ The migration led to the blacks being reborn
● The prosperous northern economy motivated blacks to move north
● Blacks ended up in “urban slums”( The Harlem Renaissance)-new
African American traditions were started and kept alive.
● Great Depression
Philosophical
How do people think? What are people thinking?
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Discovery of shared common experiences in their past histories and their uncertain
present circumstances
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Start of a rare opportunity for whites to collaborate with black intellectuals,
social activists, educators, and artists (Jessie Fauset-black role)
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Voices of Protest and Ideological Promotion of Civil Rights Inspiration
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Ignition of an Explosion of African American Cultural Pride
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Time of Celebration
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Distinctive Thinking Patterns and Divergent Creativity
Philosophical
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Who are the big thinkers?
○ Political? (Civil Rights Activists)
■ Madam C.J. Walker
■ Walter White (author/journalist), A. Philip Randolph
■ James Weldon Johnson
○ Secular?
■ Alain Leroy Locke:
● “New Negro”
● “Realism and idealism should be combined in striking for a world
order.”("Famous Harlem Renaissance People.")
■ W.E.B. DuBois: He believed each race should be free and able to “in its
own way, to develop for civilization its particular message, its particular
ideal, which shall help guide the world nearer and nearer that perfection
of human life, for which we all long, that ‘one far off Divine event”
("Famous Harlem Renaissance People.")
Music
● Music played a huge role in the Harlem Renaissance
● Popular music genres include:
○ Jazz (developing into blues)
■ complex cords, improvised solos, brass and woodwind
instruments with trumpets, trombones, and saxophones leading
○ Big Band or Swing
■ no microphones (bigger bands, bigger sound), used composers,
very little improvisation
● Popular musicians:
○ Duke Ellington
○ Louis Armstrong
○ Bernie Smith
Scientific & Technological
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First Commercial Radio Station (1919)
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saved the lives of millions of people
used to treat and change the lives of those with diabetes
Model T and Assembly Line (1924)
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news and music could be broadcasted across the country
inexpensive
Discovery of Insulin (1920)
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inexpensive car that many could afford
cars improved the quality of people’s lives
assembly line promoted efficient and fast means of production (the idea still used
today)
Television (1923)
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very rough and crude version
more improved and popularized after WWII
Literary:
Types of Literature
● Poetry like sonnets
● Plays
● Short Stories
● Novels
● Music
● Essays
Literature:
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Authors to Know
James Baldwin
Countee Cullen- poet, novelist, & playwright
Langston Hughes- wrote poetry & short stories; “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Jessie Fauset-novelist,essayist,poet,editor
Claude McKay
Zore Neale Hurtson- “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
James Weldon Johnson- writer & poet
Alain Locke
Eric D. Walrond
Hubert Harrison
Richard Bruce Nugent
Wallace Thurman
Jean Toomer
Literature:
Stylistic Characteristics
● How are they writing?
○ Langston Hughes
○ James Weldon Johnson
● What are they writing about?
○ African Americans standing up for their rights
○ Realistic portrayal of African American daily life
○ African Americans taking pride in heritage and “racial identity”
(Mathers)
○ They debated African Americans where they belong in the life
○ Feelings of being “alienation..experienced by minorities in
American society...and wanted to uplift those burdened by
racism”(Enoch Pratt Free Library)
In Conclusion
The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of literature and culture for
African Americans. A whole group of people that faced discrimination and
unthinkable hardships went from enslaved and illiterate to free and literary
over a span of fifty years into the Harlem Renaissance. New diverse thinking
and creativity was released and, with the advancements in technology and
scientific discoveries such as the television, the movement spread throughout
the country and all over the world. Jazz, blues and swing emphasized their
culture along with literature. Many poems, short stories, plays, novels and
essays discussed their past hardships and/or advocated their civil rights
movement. The Harlem Renaissance empowered the once oppressed voices of
African Americans to escape into the American culture.
“The best of humanity's recorded history is a
creative balance between horrors endured and
victories achieved, and so it was during the
Harlem Renaissance.”
― Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of
Poetry
Word Cited
●
"Black History in America- The Harlem Renaissance." Black History in America- The Harlem Renaissance. Web. 25 Nov.
2014.
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“Harlem Renaissance.” Encylopedia.com. HighBeam Research. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
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"The Harlem Renaissance." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
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Hutchinson, George. "Harlem Renaissance." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 24 Nov.
2014.
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"TimeLine 1918 - 1935." Timetoast. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
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Matterson, Stephen. "1920's-Mid-1930's Harlem Renaissance." PBS. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
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"Enoch Pratt Free Library." African American Department. Enoch Pratt Free Library. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
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"Famous Harlem Renaissance People." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.