Harlem Renaissance

1
Harlem Renaissance

• 1919 - 1936
• Jazz Age
• Roaring Twenties
• What united participants was their sense of
  taking part in a common endeavor and their
  commitment to giving artistic expression to the
  African American experience.

2

• "If white people are pleased we are glad. If
  they are not, it doesn't matter.... If colored
  people are pleased we are glad. If they are not,
  their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build
  our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how,
  and stand on top of the mountain, free within
  ourselves.
• Langston Hughes (1928)

3
Themes

• Racial Pride
• Race Relations
• African Connections
• Exoticism
• Experimentation
• Glorification of Black Life

4
Music

• Blues
• Jazz
• Dramatic Revues

5
Art

• Identifiable style and aesthetic
• Themes of African culture and Black folk life
• Urban
• Exotic, sensual images
• Primitivism
• Stereotypes challenged

6
Literature

• Writers used culture to work for goals of civil
  rights and equality
• advocating racial equality
• advocating racial pride
• describing the reality of black life in America
  and the struggle for racial identity.
• Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B.
  DuBois and Marcus Garvey

7
Nightlife

• Rent Parties
• The Cotton Club
• The Savoy