Preview

The Harlem Renaissance: an American Experience

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
856 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Harlem Renaissance: an American Experience
The Harlem Renaissance: An American Experience
Painter Aaron Douglas, the "father" of African Art, stated in 1925, "Let 's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let 's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it" ("Harlem Renaissance" 1, par. 4). These words of triumph and strife epitomize the state of living during the Harlem Renaissance in the United States. Liberation, cultural pride, and expression in the arts embodied this period in American history. Beginning at the end of World War I and continuing on until the brink of the Great Depression of the 1930 's, feelings of both acceptance and segregation contrived discord between blacks and whites living among one another. Effecting black Americans as well as America in general, this movement had a profound impact on our country that to this day is apparent in everyday life.
During the time that coined the term, "The Roaring 20 's," hot nightclubs were filled with both blacks and whites, dancing and socializing to the latest blues and jazz tunes. This movement brought black Americans to a whole new realm of opportunity. Blacks began to make their "mark in politics, art, literature, music, science, the social sciences and every aspect of American life into which they could win their way" ("Harlem Renaissance" 2, par. 1). In the urbanized northern cities such as New York, Chicago, and Detroit, blacks had the chance to live without the constant fear of the KKK, lynching, or extreme poverty that engulfed the South. Also, because of overbuilt apartment houses, blacks could rent or buy new housing, with white neighbors, for the first time in history. With newly created industry jobs, blacks lived comfortably as members of the working class. The spirit and lifestyle of the black American was greatly changed by the Harlem


Cited: Knight, Franklin W., and Clayborne Carson. "Blacks in the Americas." Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. "The Harlem Renaissance." The American Library of Montpellier. 8 March 2005 . "The Harlem Renaissance." 8 March 2005 .
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance
    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis: The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance was a time in which African Americans had an intellectual and inventive movement that thrived with the twentieth century. The Harlem renaissance contribution was based on the influential events of the “New Negro Movement” extended throughout the world. After the Civil War, a great number of people migrated to urban areas. Areas like these were such as Chicago or in New York City. This is where a different way of life developed for African Americans. (Fiero, pages 100-101).…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On The Harlem Renaissance
    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay On The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, artistic, and social period of creation and new modes of thought. Jazz, a new type of music swept the streets of New York City in the 1920’s. Every jazz artist has taken the style and made it their own over the years and added onto the legacy of what jazz is. Today, jazz is not only still its own popular entity, but nearly all modern music can trace some part of itself back to jazz.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance: African-American's Cultural Movement
    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance: African-American's Cultural Movement

    Harlem Renaissance was African-American’s cultural movement that began in 1920, it was blossoming of African American culture in terms of literature and art starting in the 1920 to 1930 reflecting the growth of Black Nationalism and racial identity. Some universal themes symbolized throughout the Harlem Renaissance were the unique experience of thralldom slavery and egressing African-American folk customs on black individuality. African American population of United States highly contributed in this movement; they played a great role to support it. In fact, major contribution was made by black-owned businesses and publication of their literary works. Nevertheless, it relied on the patronization of whites.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Influence Of The Harlem Renaissance
    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Influence Of The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance was a time of art and entertainment. It was a lively time were many artists, writers, musicians, and poets got the opportunity to share their work with a willing audience. It was a time period that gave African Americans a voice, and many talented writers emerged that might have remained silent if it hadn’t been for the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neal Hurston and James Weldon Johnson were among these writers, publishing powerful novels that allowed African Americans to receive more respect and acknowledgement. The Harlem Renaissance allowed African American writers to share their work with the world in a great artistic movement where they could freely express themselves, as well as bring pride and inspiration to African…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance: A Brief History Of The Concept
    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Harlem Renaissance: A Brief History Of The Concept

    The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity, spanning the 1920s and to the mid-1930s. While reading the article “Black Renaissance: A Brief History of the Concept” I learned that the Harlem Renaissance was once a debatable topic. Ernest J. Mitchell wrote the article, explaining how the term “Harlem Renaissance” did not originate in the era that it claims to describe. The movement “Harlem Renaissance” did not appear in print before 1940 and it only gained widespread appeal in the 1960s. During the four preceding decades, writers had mostly referred to it as “Negro Renaissance.”…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Nella Larsen´s " Passing": Why Claire had to die!
    • 1953 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Nella Larsen´s " Passing": Why Claire had to die!

    It was also the time that a lot of unemployed blacks moved to the bigger cities in the North especially Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. The result of this cultural migration was the spreading of Jazz and African- American Literature. From 1920 until about 1930 an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African- Americans occurred in all fields of art. Beginning as a series of literary discussion in the lower and upper Manhattan, this African- American cultural movement became known as " The New Negro Movement" and later as Harlem Renaissance. More than a literary movement and more than a social revolt against racism, the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African- Americans and redefined African- American expression.…

    • 1953 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance
    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance is one of the most influential movements in a minority group's history in the United States of America. The renaissance sparked an awareness of self for Black Americans in the early part of the twentieth century. It was the bringing together of black artists, politicians, musicians, writers, poets, dancers and blacks from all over the country concentrated in Harlem, New York. Harlem became the home of anybody who had dreams of being heard or expressing great talents. It also became the center for radical as well as rational thoughts on the improvement of the condition of Black Americans in society during the late 1900's on up to the 1920's.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Significance Of The Harlem Renaissance
    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Significance Of The Harlem Renaissance

    Renaissance is defined as a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity. The Harlem Renaissance was significant because it was like the rebirth of the African American culture. We could finally prove our worth, our intelligence, and show off our talents.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Harlem Renaissance Dbq
    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Harlem Renaissance Dbq

    In the early 1900s there was a huge movement of over 6 million African American people from the South to the Northern states, this movement was known as the Great Migration. The Great Migration was huge in African American history because it was the setup for key changes in the lives of African American people. Black people had been so use to slavery and were not really finding jobs in the South so they figured that in the North they would have a better chance. Little did they know, life in the North was no happily ever after ; there was a struggle for jobs, shelter, making a living, and they still didn’t escape racism, but these trails and tribulation shaped the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Controversial Topics: The Harlem Renaissance
    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page

    Controversial Topics: The Harlem Renaissance

    My final topic that I chose is The Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem. In a phase of the Great Migration, half a million African Americans or so moved to the cities of the North. Most of them moved from the rural South in hopes of escaping poverty and oppression of Jim Crow Laws. White Landlords refused to rent to African-Americans, this led many newcomers to cluster in all-black neighborhoods. In the 1920's Harlem became the center of African-American Culture.…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    New Negro Movement In Harlem Renaissance
    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages

    New Negro Movement In Harlem Renaissance

    Undoubtedly, the notion of blackness influenced the development of the Harlem Renaissance. African Americans wanted to find a new value of their skin color in order to brake with old stereotypes. As E. Patrick Johnson states, during the time of Harlem Renaissance, blackness was perceived as a sort of a weapon to fight with the white dominance. During the time of slavery, African Americans were excluded from political and cultural life and, that is why, they decided to actively stand up against this subordination and exclusion (Johnson, 2003).…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Colorism Within the Harlem Renaissance
    • 2849 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Colorism Within the Harlem Renaissance

    Within any group of people there is always going to be some form of judgment and African American people of the early twentieth century Harlem are no different. Throughout this course students have been immersed into the culture of 1920s Harlem and through this immersion many significant issues have surfaced from the artist of the time period. A major issue that has been repetitive throughout all forms of art during this period is colorism. Colorism which can also be called color conscientiousness, intra-racism, being color-struck, or having a color complex is a long standing epidemic focusing on physical appearance with a large concentration on the color of one’s skin (Carpenter 1). It is an ideology that is largely used in African American art dating as far back as slave folk literature and still being a dominant force in present day African American literature, but was a defining form of expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Although colorism is not gender specific I have found that it plays a more dominantly negative role in the lives of women and through literary and secondary source supports this paper will further express what colorism is and the affect it has on the women who face it at such a high racially tense time.…

    • 2849 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Harlem Renaissance Compare And Contrast
    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Harlem Renaissance Compare And Contrast

    The Renaissance Period of the 14th-16th century was a time of change and growth in the world of art. All art forms experienced progress not only in terms of the human aspect of imagination, creativity and philosophy, but also in terms of progress in available technologies and available materials and tools. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s and 30’s was similarly a time of change in the human condition as well as technique and subject matter. The medium of visual art, particularly painting, of both periods provides a fascinating study of comparison sand contrasts.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Harlem Renaissance
    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Harlem Renaissance

    Throughout the history of African Americans, there have been important historical figures as well as times. Revered and inspirational leaders and eras like, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, Nat Turner and the slave revolt, or Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party. One such period that will always remain a significant part of black art and culture is the Harlem Renaissance. It changed the meaning of art and poetry, as it was known then. Furthermore, the Harlem Renaissance forever left a mark on the evolution of the black culture.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Influence of the Harlem Renaissance on Society
    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Influence of the Harlem Renaissance on Society

    A group of people who had at one point held no power and position in society were now thriving in the nation, as they spread their culture and ideas. It was the start of an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a more than a literary movement, it was a cultural movement based on pride in the Africa-American life. They were demanded civil and political rights (Stewart). The Harlem Renaissance changed the way African Americans were viewed by society. It, “changes the image of the African-American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication”. This era expanded from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s (Wikipedia). It generated great pride in the people by expressing their ideas though the fine arts. The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that helped the African-American people defined who they were, and what they believed in by leaving an impact on a society that was to change.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More