Kellye Nye
American Romanticism Summer 2002
Research Journal
Dr. Craig White 

The Harlem Renaissance

            If I had to ask myself why I have always been drawn to African American literature, like works by Richard Wright or Toni Morrison, I might not know the exact answer.  Perhaps it is because my personality disdains injustice of any kind.  Perhaps it is because I was lucky to have parents who saw beyond skin color and taught me to do the same.  Perhaps it is because I believe that relationships cross the boundaries of race and that all humanity shares the oneness of real emotion. It is this real emotion found in music, art, and literature that unites all Americans in the universal human condition.  Still, the tragedy and the triumph of the African American experience is unique.  No one who wasn’t a slave, who hasn’t been persecuted because of his race, can really understand this experience.  However, the words of African Americans build a bridge to a closer understanding.  I search for this better understanding.

            Even though African Americans are as integral a thread in America’s tapestry as each of our other nationalities, African American literature, art, and music haven’t always been as celebrated as they are today.  Some speakers, like Frederick Douglass, have been heard, but most others were silenced until the 1920’s.  In the decade following World War I, a new but familiar voice sounded.  This voice was the sound of the Harlem Renaissance. 

            As our First Lady, Laura Bush, said in her opening remarks at the Harlem Renaissance Event on March 13 of this year, “The Harlem Renaissance brought great change to American letters, and it broadened the influence of literature and social commentary.  The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance spans decades and generations.”[1]

But, what is the Harlem Renaissance?  How and to what extent was Harlem reborn?  What does this movement have to do with American Romanticism?  These were the questions I asked as I began my research.  With racial injustice still prevalent today, I wanted to know how the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, even in the face of the extreme prejudice of their day, were able to leave such a mark on American literature that it lasted and influenced writers 80 years later. 

To find the answers I started with the most basic of sources, the encyclopedia.

 

“Harlem Renaissance.”Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. [CD-Rom] Microsoft Encarta 2001.

 

Harlem Renaissance—an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Variously known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then faded in the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement, it was closely related to developments in African American music, theater, art, and politics.

Along with this general overview, this source details a list of important authors and the titles of their contributions.  It gives an account of the movement and the political atmosphere of the time period. For a basic, unbiased overview, this is a good initial source, but it does not really develop how and why the movement was so important.

            Following this course of basic information, I then turned toward the Internet.  I found a variety of sources.  Some are general overviews; some are commentary; still others focus on particular artists or works.  If I were to tighten my research to a more specific aspect of the Harlem Renaissance, these sites would be a good place to start.

“Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and After—The Academy of American Poets.”   

http://www.poets.org/exh/Exhibit.cfm?prmID=7        

This source focuses on the Harlem Renaissance poets by giving a brief overview of these writers.  While the overviews are short and give only basic information, this site does provide links to more specific information about James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Eugene Toomer, and others.  In addition to these Harlem Renaissance writers, connections are made to more contemporary authors, such as Robert Hayden, who exhibit some of the same characteristics of this movement.                                                                                  

It is important to note from this source that James Weldon Johnson is specifically pointed out to be “both the elder statesman and the Renaissance Man of the Harlem Renaissance:  in addition to his successful literary life as a poet, novelist, and editor, he served as secretary general of the NAACP and as a consul in the U.S. Diplomatic Corps.”

“The Harlem Renaissance—Special February 1998.” The American Library of

Montpelier. http://www.sspfrance.com/library/harlem.htm

This site continues the general background information, but it adds the concept of “the new Negro” that is so important to the definition of the Harlem Renaissance.  With the focus more on the “nature of the movement” rather than just a definition, this source adds depth to the understanding of this renaissance with commentary from African American authors.  To sum up the emotion that led to the impetus for this movement, Aaron Douglas, known as the ‘father’ of African Art, wrote the poet Langston Hughes:

Let’s bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough neglected.  Then let’s sing it, dance it, write it, paint it.  Let’s do the impossible.  Let’s create something transcendentally material, mystically objective, earthy.  Spiritually earthy.  Dynamic.

 

Reuban, Paul P. “Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance-A Brief Introduction.” PAL:

Perspectives in American Literature—A Research and Reference Guide.

http://www.csustan.edu/english /reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html

The significance of this source lies in its elaborated timeline.  The timeline begins in 1919 when most scholars say the renaissance began, and it continues to the mid-30’s.  This is important because many scholars say the Harlem Renaissance ended with the stock market crash of 1929, but this source shows that two significant authors, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes continued publishing at least to 1940. 

Another significant event listed on the timeline is the Harlem Race Riot on March 19, 1935.  At a time when so many African Americans were trying to make political change, problems within their own community would stifle this objective.

The author of this site presents certain positions some of which would bear further research. They are:     

1.      The Harlem Renaissance brought the Black experience clearly within the general American cultural history.

2.      The Harlem Renaissance could not escape its history and culture in its attempt to create a new one.

3.      The Harlem Renaissance’s legacy is limited by the character of the Renaissance.

It is this final point that is quite interesting.  To summarize, the author says that while the Harlem Renaissance encouraged a new appreciation of folk roots and culture, a source for racial imagination, it was “imprisoned by its innocence.”  He says, “The Harlem intellectuals, while proclaiming a new race consciousness, became mimics of the Whites…and they could not overcome the overwhelming White presence in commerce which defined art and culture.”  This author claims that the African American community should learn from the failure of the Harlem Renaissance.  “The lesson it leaves us is that the true Black Renaissance awaits Afro-Americans claiming their patria, their nativity.”

Rhodes, Henry. “The Social Contributions of The Harlem Renaissance.”                        

Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.08.x.html

This site looks at the historical context of the Harlem Renaissance.  It takes into account the cultural ties to other countries that the African American community passed down.  The social commentary of this source shows that the Harlem Renaissance was more personal than a collection of outstanding literature and art.  Looking at the social aspects of the Harlem Renaissance, this source suggests that the movement came from a deep desire from the African American community to be seen as a capable, independent individual.  A discussion of the “American Dream” comes into play because, according to this source, the dream caused significant problems for the Negro.  “If he chose to believe that the “American Dream” included the Negro, then he would have to believe that an end to discrimination was in the future.  If not, the only option that the Negro had was to escape…”

Another important aspect to this source is its discussion of the Negro magazines of the period, such as the Liberator, Crisis, and Opportunity.  These magazines were used not only to publish African American literary works and art, but were also used as a political forum.  “Negroes looked to these magazines for leadership.”  Such leadership came in the form of views on such topics as violence against Negroes in America and the participation of America in World War I.

Again, this source brings a summary this movement’s important points.  Some critics argue (as does this source) that The Harlem Renaissance was not a true renaissance because the African American community had never had a voice before this one so it could not be a “rebirth.”  However, this movement was significant in achieving “racial pride.”

Some of my questions could be answered by using just the prior resources.  However, as new questions are posed from opinions that these authors give, it is necessary to turn to advanced level books on the topic.  While a book may include an author’s opinion, for it to be a substantial length varying viewpoints must be explored.  It is with this varied exploration that my own opinions can be developed as I agree with some sources and disregard others.

 

 

Wintz, Cary, D. Ed., The Emergence of the Harlem Renaissance.  New York:

Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996.

Cary Wintz is quoted quite frequently in other sources.  He has written several volumes about the Harlem Renaissance in its varying stages.  Since I set out to find basic information first, I chose this book on the emergence of the movement.  This is a fabulous source for copies of original literary journals.  It provides primary sources by the authors who are so critical to this movement.  Along with these journals, book reviews are available from the original publishing date of significant renaissance works.  This source looks at first-hand accounts of critical and interpretive materials, gives a retrospective account, and provides scholarly analysis/criticism (1950’s-early 1990’s) of the movement.

Wintz calls the Harlem Renaissance “the most significant event in African American literature and culture in the 20^th century.”  He, like most scholars, dates the movement from World War I to the Great Depression that began with the stock market crash in 1929.  He writes of the concept of the “New Negro” in which a “new, more important political/racial consciousness and racial pride” arises.  This movement, he says, embodies the struggle for civil rights with W.E.B. DuBois as its spokesman and the development of the NAACP.

Wintz brings to account the varying views on the significance of the Harlem Renaissance.  Some critics say that it is not as important as others say it is.  The most common agreement is that this was a period of time with a talented “community of writers” rather than a literary movement.  It is an “attitude” or “state of mind” that exists even today.

Some important figures from this community are James Weldon Johnson, Jessie Fauset, Countee Cullen, Sterling Brown, and Gwendolyn Bennett.  Many of these writers wrote literary columns.  Wallace Thurman and Langston Hughes promoted literary magazines.  Jean Toomer published Cane in the early 1920s.

Wall, Cheryl A.  Women of the Harlem Renaissance.  Bloomington: Indiana  

University Press, 1995.

This source intrigues me because it brings up another cultural issue during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance.  Women were still not liberated; defined roles were still the norm.  How difficult was it to be a black woman in a time of racial injustice, gender inequality, and scholarly condescension?  Wall provides a look at the period, but also celebrates the successes of these talented women.  She says that the goal of the book is to “chart the journeys of the women of the Harlem Renaissance, those who succeeded in their artistic quests and some of those who did not. It examines both the journeys they traveled to create their literary texts and the journeys those texts depict.”

The Harlem Renaissance woman was said to be “half in shadow.”  Women writers seemed to “collaborate in their disappearance” leaving “her song [to linger] and testify to her existence.” This exploration of women includes a more in-depth look at Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, and Zora Neal Hurston.

This source focuses on technique as well as content with a discussion of the inverted symbolism of light and dark, metaphors of journeys, and a woman’s attempt to combine vocation and marriage. 

Through my research I have learned the history of the Harlem Renaissance.  The time period is significant in American history because it follows a similar pattern of change between the two World Wars for all Americans.  It was a time of the re-emergence of the individual spirit for many African Americans.  It was the first time that a community of African Americans used their voice for political and social change.  Because white America began to hear this voice,  it was a beginning for the Civil Rights Movement that still took 40 years to accomplish. These details show the ties to American Romanticism in which the individual was celebrated, journeys both physical and spiritual were undertaken, and transcendence was the goal. While many critics claim that it was not a true literary movement and others claim that it was not a true “renaissance,” the fact remains that this time period reflects the largest outpouring and acceptance of African American literature, music, and art than America had ever seen before.  While this movement seemed to end with the stock market crash, a door had been opened for future writers to continue the legacy of W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, and others.  Even now, in 2002, the Harlem Renaissance is being celebrated in our nation’s capitol.  Mrs. Bush summarizes the thoughts of some of the major writers of the period: 

Zora Neale Hurston captured the extremes of human emotion when she wrote, “I have been in sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots.  Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and a sword in my hands.”

Langston Hughes lamented the inequalities around him in I, too sing America…and, in Harlem he asked, “What happens to a dream deferred?”

 

In addition to The White House event, Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is still being reviewed in Book magazine’s July/August 2002 issue.  This book has become a staple for many high school seniors.  Ironically, Hurston lost popularity toward her death in 1960, but a renewed interest in her work came with the Civil Rights Movement in the year immediately following her death.  Now, in the 21^st century, the voices of the Harlem Renaissance remain strong.  But to sum up the Harlem Renaissance best, I leave to the experts.

Harlem is romantic in its own right.  And it is hard and strong, its noise, heat, cold, cries and colours are so.  And the nostalgia is violent too; the eternal radio seeping through everything day and night, indoors and out, becomes somehow the personification of restlessness, desire, brooding.                                                                          --Nancy Cunard, Harlem Review 1933[2]

                                               

So, after all of this discussion, what questions remain?  I would like to delve deeper into the subject of the Harlem Renaissance women?  Since it is evident that this movement was a precursor for the Civil Rights Movement, one must question if it held importance for the feminist movement as well?  Also, I think it would be interesting to research the connection to the premise posed by one of the web sites I’ve included.  Is the Harlem Renaissance’s legacy limited by the character of the renaissance? What are the limitations of “renaissance”?

Renaissance means “rebirth.”  While some critics may disagree that this term applies to Harlem during this time period, one must accept that a rebirth of any kind is a type of freedom.  It took 100 years for African Americans to gain their independence; it took 100 more for African Americans to really be free.  The Harlem Renaissance is the period between the two that gave a people their voice so that Langston Hughes’ words still ring out truth today:  “I, too, am America.”    

Additional Resources:

Helbling, Mark.  The Harlem Renaissance: The One and the Many. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Hutchinson, George. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White.  Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995.

Johnson, Eloise E.  Rediscovering the Harlem Renaissance: The Politics of Exclusion.  New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1997.

Watson, Steven.  The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African American Culture, 1920-1930.  New York: Pantheon Books, 1995.

Wintz, Cary D.  Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance. Houston: Rice University Press, 1988.