Intro to The Harlem Renaissance

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Intro to The Harlem Renaissance
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• Harlem is indeed the great Mecca for the
  sight-seer the pleasure seeker, the curious, the
  adventurous, the enterprising, the ambitious and
  the talented of the whole Negro world. Alain
  Locke

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Harlem Renaissance What is it?

• Period in the early 20s where African American
  creativity and thought redefined
• Young writers, artists, and musicians saw Harlem
  as a place to express themselves

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Why Harlem?

• Many African Americans move north to
• Find a better education for their children
• Employment opportunities
• Escape racism
• With end of WWI there is an emphasis on creating
  African American communities in the north

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Characteristics

• African Americans gain access to engines of
  public opinion
• Magazines such as Crisis and Opportunity promote
  black viewpoints and gain readership
• African Americans work together for similar goals

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Characteristics contd

• Break down racial stereotypes
• Emphasized beauty and significance of American
  black experience
• Celebrated the creativity of black Americans
• Optimism about African Americans future

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Not just literature

• Musicians and Artists also find a voice during
  this time period
• Development of modern jazz is associated with the
  Harlem cabarets

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Trends in Poetry

• Two types of poetry emerge
• Experimental verse inspired from African American
  music (spirituals, jazz).
• Exploration of traditional verse patterns

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A Brief Timeline

• 1890-1920around 2 million African Americans
  begin to move north
• 1910The National Association for the Advancement
  of Colored (NAACP) People is founded
• 191710,000-15,000 African Americans march in the
  silent protest parade down Fifth Avenue
• 1917Poet Claude McKay gets published in a white
  literary jounal
• 1921Musical Shuffle Along opens on Broadway,
  which some believe sparked the Harlem Renaissance

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Timeline Cont.

• 1922First major book of the Harlem Renaissance,
  a novel by Claude McKay, is published
• 1923Pianist and composer Duke Ellington arrives
  in New York
• 1923Harlems most famous Cabaret, the Cotton
  Club, opens
• 1925Jazz is showcased in the First American
  Jazz Concert in NY
• 1926Langston Hughess first volume of poetry is
  published

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Timeline

• These are only a few events. The renaissance
  would continue into the mid 1930s.

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Images of Harlem
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