African American Women During The Harlem Renaissance

From the 1920s to the mid-1930s in Harlem, New York, the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance took place in which not only inspired many to young writers, singers musician and other artists to put themselves out there and to not be afraid to be themselves. Of the Harlem Renaissance, the ones who stood out the most were, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith,and Lucille Bogan to name a few. In this list actually there is many whom consider themselves to be apart of of the LGBTQ community such as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith and Lucille Bogan. The African American Women of the Harlem Renaissance fought homophobia and heteronormativity by sharing their thoughts and feelings through their lyrics, about being bisexual, gay or lesbian. During the Harlem
The Harlem Renaissance was more known songs based on people’s experience and treatment, and when thought of this back then, they did not think of it as about also sexual orientation and yet some did. Some participants of the Harlem Renaissance chose to hide it from the public while some had no shame in showing who they were. The reason for this was because having relations with the same-sex could get you thrown in jail back then. Even some of the singers in the Harlem renaissance was accused of having same-sex relations. One of these singers was Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, in which even while being accused, she ridiculed them for not having evidence. In “Singing The Lesbian Blues In 1920s Harlem” the author, Lisa Hix, states,” When Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey- known as ‘The Mother of Blues’- sang,’It’s true I wear a collar and a tie, … Talk to the gals just like any