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Anari Oliver
May 8, 2018
The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was the making of the Harlem
community in New York City as a black cultural birthplace during the 1920s. It
is also coined an artistic movement that spanned throughout the northern
Manhattan borough. This particular era consisted of an intellectual, musical,
and artistic explosion that has had an everlasting influence on today’s society.
At that time, it was most commonly known as the “New Negro Movement”, in which
it was named after Alain Locke’s 1925 anthology. The Harlem Renaissance is
considered to be a golden period for African American culture.
Originally, Harlem was intended to be a rich white
neighborhood in the 1880s, but rapid infrastructure led to an abundance of empty
buildings and needy landlords desperate for tenants. During the early 1900s,
several middle class black families moved from Black Bohemia (a different
community) to Harlem, and as a result many more followed. At first, many white
residents did what they could to keep African Americans out of the neighborhood.
Overcome with defeat, many of the white families eventually moved out. According
to A&E (history.com), a number of outside factors led to a population boom
between 1910 and 1920. Black people began to migrate in droves from the South to
the North; influential figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois led what eventually became
the Great Migration.
Between 1915 and 1916, natural disasters took place in
the south that put many black sharecroppers and farmers out of work. Besides
Mother Nature, Northern businessmen came down south to recruit black workers for
their companies. By 1920, more than 300,000 southern African Americans had moved
up north. Harlem was among one of the most popular destinations for many of
these families.
Along with a population increase came a Black Pride
movement. Men like W. E. B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes worked relentlessly to
ensure that African Americans received due credit for cultural areas of
influence. Hughes was one of the most important writers (poets) and activist of
the Harlem Renaissance. His work and creativeness was influenced by his life
during his time. According to an article titled “10
Most Famous Poems by Langston Hughes”, Hughes is also known as one of the
earliest innovators of a literary form of art known as jazz-poetry. Jazz poetry
is poetry, in which the poet responds to and writes about jazz. Some of his most
famous poems are “The Negro Speaks of
Rivers” published in 1921, and
“Harlem (Dreams Deferred)” in 1951.
Aside from Hughes, there were many other writers who made
an impact during the Harlem Renaissance. A woman by the name of Zora Neale
Hurston was a fixture during this black cultural mecca. According to a biography
titled “Zora Neale Hurston,” not only
was she a novelist, Hurston was also an extraordinary folklorist and
anthropologist who recorded cultural history. Born in Notasulga, Alabama in
1891, Hurston became a staple in New York, where she became famous for her novel
titled Their Eyes Are Watching
God and shorter pieces like “Sweat”
and “How It Feels to be Colored Me.”
She established herself as a force to be reckoned with, with her spot-on
representations of the African American experience.
Besides art being created in the form of literature,
music was also a very big part of the Harlem Renaissance. The music that
trickled in and then boomed out of Harlem in during this time was jazz. It was
usually played at “hole in the wall” establishments that offered illegal alcohol
to its visitors. Not only did jazz music become a love for its black Harlem
residents, outside white audiences gained an interest in it also. One of the
most popular musical figures during the renaissance was a man known as Louis
Armstrong. Armstrong was a singer, trumpeter, bandleader, and film star
throughout his lifetime. Armstrong, nicknamed “Pops” and “Ambassador Satch,”
born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1901. He was considered an extraordinary
virtuoso, who became prominent during the 20s, influencing a number of musicians
with both his powerhouse vocals and unique trumpet style. His charisma displayed
in his stage presence caught the attention of not only the jazz community, but
of all different kinds of music. Louis recorded several songs over the course of
his career that were and still are hits today. Songs like “What a Wonderful
World,” “La Vie En Rose,” and “Star Dust” were some of the more popular ones.
Along with great writers and musicians like Hurston and
Armstrong, a cultural boom came about in Harlem. This particular boom granted
many black actors the opportunity for stage appearances that had been prohibited
prior to the renaissance. Typically, if you saw a black actor on stage, they
were in a minstrel musical where they hardly received serious attention without
non-stereotypical roles. The versatile Paul Robeson was at the center of this
stage transformation. Not only was he an actor, he was also a singer, activist,
and writer. He moved to Harlem in 1919 while attending Columbia University’s
school of law. He maintained a social status throughout Harlem and many
considered him to be an inspirational but welcoming individual. Roberson starred
in stage and film versions of Show Boat and Emperor Jones, where he began to
establish a very popular music and film career despite his race. Not only was he
a stellar performing artist, he spoke out against racism and became a civil
rights activist. Regardless of his talents displayed throughout both the white
and black communities, Robeson was blacklisted in the 1950s due to the paranoia
of McCarthyism.
Aside from literature pieces, music, and stage presence,
visual arts were an incredibly vital part of the Harlem renaissance. The visual
art industry was never accepting to black artist, many art schools, museums, and
galleries tend to exclude them from participation. The most renowned Harlem
Renaissance artist was Aaron Douglass. Douglas is often referred to as “the
Father of Black American Art,” who revamped African techniques to realize murals
and paintings along with the illustration of books. He developed a passion for
art early on in life, where most of his inspiration came from his mother’s
hardcore love for watercolor paintings. Douglas moved from Missouri to Harlem in
1925 in which he quickly became a figure in Harlem’s cultural life. He is most
recognized for his ability to create powerful images of the African American
life and struggle. Douglas won a number of awards for many of his publications
that ultimately granted him a commission to illustrate an anthology of Alain
LeRoy Locke’s work, named The New Negro.
It is easy to see that the Harlem Renaissance was an era
where that birthed immaculate black talent. From the sweet poems of Hughes, to
the savory beats of Armstrong, it is quite obvious to see where much of
America’s culture comes from. The renaissance came with a number of pros for the
black community, it also came with many cons that lead up to its ending. The
downfall of Harlem’s creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929.
This particular crash wavered up until the Prohibition ended sometime in 1933,
which resulted in whites no longer sought out the illegal alcohol activity in
many clubs. By the time 1935 came around, many important figures and resident
had moved on to find work elsewhere. Other refugees from the South began to take
the place of the pivotal black residents who had originally called Harlem home.
A vast majority of these newbies weren’t as successful as the previous
“Harlem-ites” and required public assistance. At the same time, riots and crime
rates began to increase. Because of the riots, an alarming number of deaths came
about, along with millions of dollars in property damage. This served as the
turning point that ended the Harlem Renaissance.
Works Cited
