The Harlem Renaissance was essentially a movement during the 1920s that resulted from cultural, social, and artistic explosion in Harlem, New York. The city became a mecca for black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Encouraged by W.E.B du Bois, several fled the South to find a place to freely express their talents without the brutality of the caste system. In this article we will be going through various Artists, Writers, and Poets who contributed to the movement.
Jazz
Evolving from blues, Jazz spread to major cities after World War I. Louis Armstrong was the first great soloist in Jazz. It soon became a popular and respectable form of art and lead to the "Negro Vogue" in big cities like New York and Paris in the later part of the decade. Nightclubs such as the Cotton Club and Connie's Inn that often catered to white or mixed audiences.Literature
The literary movement was the most prominent part of the Harlem Renaissance. Black writers wrote about racial pride. The idea of what they called the "New Negro," one who demanded civil and political rights, was readily embraced by these writers. Countee Cullen was a prominent poet during this time and believe that he could utilize the Anglo- American poetic inheritance in his works as well . In contrast, Langston Hughes in his "Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" argues that black poets should create a distinctive "Negro" art. Hughes often used the style of Carl Sandburg and other poets to appeal to "the folk" . "The Folk" were people of the rural South and new Migrants whom were to spur black artistic development with autonomy to "white" traditions. Other important poets during the time were James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Sterling Brown, and Claude McKay. Influential novelists were Nella Larsen, Rudolph Fisher, Du Bois, McKay, H.L. Mencken, Wallace Thurman, Paul Green, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Drama
The development of a dramatic form was apparent during the Harlem Renaissance. Folk drama was the mans to communicate the African American experience that was not readily acknowledged by white institutions. Black actors gained unprecedented opportunities during this period as well, the ability to perform in front of large crowds of white, mixed, and black audiences. On of the most successful plays was Hughes's Mulatto. Other successful playwrights included Thurman, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Hurston, Alain Locke, Dunbar Nelson, Willis Richardson, and several others.
Significance
The movement opened opportunities for black publishing houses and theaters. Even during the depression, African American artists had backing of publishing houses, black actors starred on broadway, and black visual artists grew increasingly popular. Wright argued that the writers in the 1920s were simply cultural ambassadors and did not advocate the aspirations of the black working class. And while the renaissance did not achieve social and political transformation for Arfican Americans in America, it helped establish the prominence of black writers and artists in creating the narrative for the black experience and culture.
Sources
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_harlem.html
http://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art/Fiction
I like that you broke the post into distict sections, which makes it easier to understand. The Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact in America, but it also established the authority of black writers and musicians internationally. Many people in countries like France began a movement of their own inspired by leaders of the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeletesource: http://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art/Fiction
I like that you pointed out how writers like Countee Cullen used Anglo-American influence poetic influence in his works. A lot of poets like Claude Mckay in The Lynching used sonnet forms that were typically used by whites to show that African Americans could do the same poetic tasks and perhaps perform them even better.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/247674
I agree with Emily that the use of multiple paragraphs really helped the readability and understanding. Including a final significance paragraph to bring everything together also really helped with this. You mention that although the Harlem renaissance did not fully achieve social transformations for African Americans, it at least established it, do you think that without the renaissance this type of change still would have been possible?
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this. I wish that our textbooks would have more information on art and culture, so this was a good introduction. It is significant that so many black musicians, artists, playwrights, and writers were able to gain that level of recognition in America. Like you mentioned, this certainly wasn't enough to remove the oppressive barriers that held African Americans back in America at the time, it showed that black culture and art had a genuine place in America and should be regarded in the same light as the works of their white contemporaries.
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