Harlem Renaissance: Difference between revisions

The Harlem Renaissance was an flowering of African-American social thought and culture based in the African-American community forming in Harlem in New York City (USA). This period, extending from roughly 1920 to 1940, was expressed through every cultural medium—visual art, dance, music, theatre, literature, poetry, history and politics. Instead of using direct political means, African-American arists, writers, and musicians employed culture to work for goals of civil rights and equality. Its lasting legacy is that for the first time (and across racial lines), African-American paintings, writings, and jazz became absorbed into mainstream culture. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after a anthology named The New Negro of notable African-American works, published by philosopher Alain Locke in 1925.

Historical Roots of a Cultural Revolution

Harlem

In 1658, Dutch settlers formally incorporated a village on the northern tip of Manhattan Island, and christened it Nieuw Haarlem (New Haarlem) after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. From its origins until the latter half of the 19th Century, the area remained a rural farming community, many of the farms being owned by upper-class New Yorkers who resided only a few miles south in the lower sections of Manhattan. In 1880, elevated railroad lines were extended to Harlem, and their introduction gave birth to an rapid explosion in urban development. Early New York entrepreneurs created grand plans for Harlem, constructing fine townhouses, the original Polo Grounds (where Polo was played before becoming home to the New York Giants baseball franchise), and in 1889 an opera house opened by theatre impresario Oscar Hammerstein I.

By the turn of the century, Harlem became an attractive location for immigrants, and by early 1900's the population was chiefly German, Eastern European, or Jewish in the west, and Italian in the east (where Spanish Harlem is now).

Development of Harlem as an African-American Community

Before relocating to Harlem, most of New York City's African-American population lived in neighborhoods like Tenderloin, San Juan Hill (Upper West Side), and Hell's Kitchen (now called Clinton). These neighborhoods were known as "Black Bohemia." Starting in 1904, several middle-class African American families abandoned Black Bohemia in favour of Harlem. This initiated a move north of educated African Americans and a foothold into Harlem. In 1910, a large block along 135th and Fifth Ave was bought up by various African-American realtors and a church group.

As World War I approached, unskilled European labor decreased so drastically, that a shortage of labor ensued. To fill this void, large numbers of African-Americans from the Old South—attracted not only by the prospect of paid labour but an escape from the inherent inequities and institutional racism of the South.—relocated to New York City.

The Birth of Culture in Harlem

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Seminal Works of the Period

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Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936

The Apollo Theater

While the Savoy Ballroom, on Lenox Avenue, was a renowned venue for swing dancing, and jazz and was immortalized in a popular song of the era, Stompin' At The Savoy, the Apollo Theater has been the most lasting legacy of the Harlem Renaissance. Opened on 125th Street on 26 January 1934, in a former burlesque house, it has remained a symbol of African-American culture. As one fo the most famous clubs for popular music in the United States, many figures from the Harlem Renaissance found a venue for their talents and a start to their careers. The club fell into a decline in the 1960s but is now run by a non-profit organization, the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc., and reportedly draws 1.3 million visitors annually. It is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated variety show showcasing new talent.

End of an Era

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Quintessential Themes of the Harlem Renaissance

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Impact of the Harlem Renaissance

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Quotes

"Negro life is seizing upon its first chances for group expression and self-determination."

—Alain Locke, in The New Negro (1925)

"One ever feels his two-ness - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

—W.E.B. Du Bois, in The Souls of Black Folks (1903)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like 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 sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

—Langston Hughes, Montage of a Dream Deferred (published 1951)

Notable figures

Writers

• Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, anthropologist
• Nella Larsen, novelist
• Langston Hughes, poet
• Jessie Fauset, editor, poet, essayist and novelist
• Countee Cullen, poet
• Claude McKay, poet
• James Weldon Johnson, poet
• Arna Bontemps, poet
• Alain Locke published The New Negro

Painters

• Romare Bearden
• John T. Biggers
• Edward Burra
• Aaron Douglas
• Palmer Hayden
• Sargent Claude Johnson, sculptor and printmaker
• William H. Johnson
• Lois Mailou Jones
• Jacob Lawrence
• Archibald Motley
• Hale Woodruff

Musicians

• Louis Armstrong
• Duke Ellington
• Pops Foster
• Fletcher Henderson
• Luis Russell

External Links

• Harlem Renaissance
• The Harlem Renaissance
• PAL: Harlem Renaissance: A Brief Introduction