The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance

• a cultural and artistic movement of the 1920s

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Historical Context

• Southern blacks who migrated northward to escape
  repression and to find jobs settled in the big
  cities. By the 1920s, New York City's Harlem had
  become the nation's largest black community.

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• Lawrence, JacobThe Migration Series, Panel No.
  57"The female worker was also one of the last
  groups to leave the South"1940-41Tempera on
  masonite18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm)The
  Phillips Collection, Washington

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The Migration of the Negro by Lawrence

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The Movement

• "It was more than a social revolt against racism.
  The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture
  of African Americans and redefined
  African-American expression."
• "African Americans were encouraged to celebrate
  their heritage and become 'The New Negro,' a term
  coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain
  LeRoy Locke."

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• Louie Armstrong and Billie Holiday

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Prominent Members

• There were great people during that time. People
  like Langston Hughes, Countee Culleen and Zora
  Neale Hurston. These artists led the way for
  African-Americans to get over their fears and
  write about their innermost thoughts and feelings

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Langston Hughes

• Most prolific and successful black writer in
  America
• Harlem was a source of inspiration for him
• He felt a sense of community there
• He expressed pride in his heritage and voiced his
  displeasure with the oppression of blacks

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The Negro Speaks Of Rivers

• I've known rivers
• I've known rivers ancient as the world and
  older than
• the flow of human blood in human veins.
• My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
• I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were
  young.
• I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled
  me to sleep.
• I looked upon the Nile and raised the
  pyramids above it.
• I heard the singing of the Mississippi when
  Abe Lincoln
• went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its
  muddy
• bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
• I've known rivers Ancient, dusky rivers.
• My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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Dream Deferred What happens to a dream
deferred?Does it dry upLike a raisin in the
sun?Or fester like a sore--And then run?Does
it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar
over--like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just
sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode? -
Langston Hughes
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• Countee Cullen

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• Claude McKay