The Roaring Twenties was defined as the period of unprecedented change in
America. New technology was being made, people were moving away from the farms and into the cities, the economy appeared to be blooming, and even with the Prohibition in place people were drinking more than ever before. The 1920’s was a decade of change, and most of society as a whole was trying to leave the past and embrace the future. Too many the future seemed to be bright, so there were many reasons to think that the future could be a lot better than the present. Among the hopefuls were the African-Americans, whose ancestors had witnessed centuries of oppression but were now trying to seize the opportunity to break the old patterns and establish new ones. This would lead to what we now refer to as the “Harlem Renaissance.”
When we think about the Harlem Renaissance we think about writers like
Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, or musicians like Duke Ellington and Joseph King Oliver. However, it is worth noting that the Harlem Renaissance was not just a movement in the arts. It was also the first serious attempt of the African-American community to truly insert itself into society and show everybody else what they were capable of because up to that point in time African-Americans had not been able to find a voice and speak with it. However, doing so would not be easy. As it was mentioned before African-Americans had faced oppression for centuries, and they were never really considered as true members of the American society. We can easily see this in different events of history, such as the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case of 1857. Many things would happen in between the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case and the Harlem Renaissance. African-American slaves would be emancipated, a civil war would end in the defeat of the South, and on top of that amendments to the Constitution would try to protect African-Americans from discrimination. Nevertheless, none of these things seemed to do anything positive for the African-American community. In fact, it only made matters worse, especially as the South only kept trying to preserve kind of society it had seen before the Civil War began and would soon disguise slavery with the concept of sharecropping, a new system that tied the African-American farmers to landowners and would place them in a vicious cycle of debt. So one can now ask, what was the significance of the “Harlem Renaissance” after all?
Despite the great significance of the “Harlem Renaissance” in
African-American history it is hard to see it as a turning point. At about the same time the Ku Klux Klan grew in membership and power, racism in the South only kept growing, and segregation would then become a very common practice in certain places of the country. Therefore, one has to wonder why the “Harlem Renaissance” is so meaningful to us.
In order to find answers one can look at Langston Hughes’ “Harlem”, which
is one of the most well-known poems he ever wrote. In this poem Langston Hughes talks about a dream that can “dry up”, or “fester”, or maybe actually “explode.” The truth of the matter is that one can actually think that before the “Harlem Renaissance” almost everyone except the African Americans could dream about a better future. Very little suggested that maybe one day African-Americans would enjoy the same rights other did, or go to the same schools and share the same facilities. Even Langston Hughes doubted in his poem that there was any reason for African-Americans to dream. Nevertheless, the “Harlem Renaissance” was evidence that the dream was far from dead, and that is why it is very significant.
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I think it is as interesting, as sad that there was a parallel between the Harlem Renaissance and the rise of membership in the Ku Klux Klan. It is somewhat like the modern day parallel of people of all races starting to push for more equal black rights and the African American targeted police shootings that have been happening a lot lately. It seems as though whenever there is a rise in positive change, there is a large opposition waiting to go up against it.
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