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What was the Harlem Renaissance? The Harlem Renaissance was an era where African-Americans revealed their abilities not only in literature but also in art and music. This period lasted from the end of World War I through the middle of the 1930 s Depression. During this period, a tremendous outbreak of black intellectuals took place in Harlem a district of New York City. In the middle of this revolutionary atmosphere, a small group of black men and women began a public relations campaign to promote what they called the New Negro movement. The name of this public relations campaign was The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
This movement encouraged every black person to become the New Negro and join the new more sophisticated and educated African-American culture and community. Sixty black, white men and women founded the NAACP February 12, 1909. Following the horrifyingly acts done to black Americans in Springfield, Illinois. The white Americans attempted to lynch and remove black residents from their hometown. The NAACP worked restlessly for three decades on a campaign against lynching. Lynching is the punishment of presumed crimes or offenses usually by death without due process of law.
The association also fought against other injustices such as the grandfather clause law that prevented the right to vote for many black Americans. This law consisted mainly in giving the right to vote solely to the black Americans whose grandfathers were not enslaved. Logically this law denied the enfranchisement of black Americans. Despite all of the NAACP victories in the United States governmental system, its biggest victory was obtaining the verdict of the Supreme Court in 1954 to declare segregation in the schools as unconstitutional. The black sociologist and historian W. E.
B. Dubois editor of The Crisis Magazine published The Souls Of Black Folks. In this piece of literature he stated in a quote the next few words, One ever feels two-ness-and 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 as under. In this quote, it is clearly visible that Dubois was emerging his black community to use literature as there escape into freedom, and a more unified culture, from this point on the African Americans felt free to express themselves, to allow their creativity to be honored and appreciated by others without any repression or fear. African-Americans began to gain self-confidence and self-strength. Their place in American culture began to change radically.
The Harlem Renaissance writings success was partly rooted in its ability to appeal not only to the black community's interest but also to other book-buying public of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Magazines such as The Crisis, Opportunity, the monthly journal of the NAACP, and the official publication of the Urban League were the focal point for the employment of black writers on the book market. Black writers published poetry and short stories, articles, reviews, and others. However all black writers and artist depended on white publishing houses and white-owned magazines. In fact, a major accomplishment of the Renaissance was to push open the door to mainstream white periodicals and white publishing houses, although the relationship between the Renaissance writers and white publishers and audiences created some controversy.
While most African American critics strongly supported the relationship, Dubois supported by other writers viewed the renaissance writers as weak and reinforcing white superiority, and black stereotyping. Black Writers were not the only ones in the renaissance movement to intrigue other audiences outside the black community the musicians also performed for diverse audiences. In Harlem, there were several cabarets, which were frequently visited by both white and black people looking for entertainment. There were even some cabarets, which played solely for the white folks staying in New York.
The cabarets, which really succeeded, would move to play uptown. The Harlem Renaissance ended in the mid- 1930 s during the Great Depression period for several reasons. One of the most important reasons why the renaissance began to decline was the pressure that the wrecked economy put on the writers and artists lives. Many of the great writers and influential voices of the renaissance abandoned New York this was another hugely important factor to the fall of the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the writers that left New York were Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Charles S. Johnson, and even Dubois.
Finally, a riot in Harlem in 1935 marked the end of one of the greatest period for the African-Americans culture. The Harlem Renaissance revolutionized the dynamics of African-American writing radically for eternity. As of this period, whites and other races were more open minded with black literature and art. The renaissance created a positive public image for all the African-Americans in American society. In their popular essays, novels, plays, and newspaper articles, this well-known group set out to change stereotypes of the black culture. All in all the poetic movement became joy and hope to some, and perhaps to others it was an inspiration and a guide for the future generations to come.
On the day of March 1924, the Harlem Renaissance was publicly recognized, where members of the NAACP such as Langston Hughes, Dubois, Claude McKay, County Cullen became the dominating voices in American Literature of this century. It is up to us to learn from our mistakes from the past and give the next generation a better future.
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Research essay sample on Men And Women Harlem Renaissance
