Agenda Objective: 1.To understand what the Great Migration was. 2.To understand what the Harlem Renaissance was. 3.To understand the significance of the.

AgendaObjective: 1. To understand what the

Great Migration was.2. To understand what the

Harlem Renaissance was.

3. To understand the significance of the Harlem Renaissance for the black experience.

Schedule: 4. Lecture5. Art Analysis6. Whole Class Discussion

L14: The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance (1910s-1920sThe Struggle for Equality

Homework:Content:None

Junior Thesis:1. Research

Question, Bibliography, and Notecards Due:

Green: Thurs 12/11Purple: Fri 12/12

Objectives1. Understand what the Great Migration was2. Understand what the Harlem Renaissance

was3. Evaluate the effects of the Great Migration

and the Harlem Renaissance on the lives of blacks

Essential Question: Were the Great Migration And Harlem Renaissance emancipatory for blacks?

Possibility Opens Up• Life in the Jim Crow south, is the life that

the overwhelming majority of African Americans lived.

– In 1900, 90% of blacks lived in Southern States!

• But…In 1910, a new spark of possibility emerged for African

Americans as an industrial boom in the North sparked demand for new workers.

The Great Migration• 1910-1930 (second wave, 1930 to 1970)• Movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural south into the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

– New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Indianapolis

• Largest internal movement of an American population.• By the end of the Great Migration…

– African Americans became an urbanized—rather than rural—population.

– Northern American cities became significantly more black

Causes of the Great Migration

Jim Crow Laws in the South (Push)

Racial Violence in the South (Push)

Limited Economic Opportunities in the South (Push)

Increased Demand for Industrial Workers in the North (Pull)

Better Educational Opportunities in the North (Pull)

Increased Political Opportunities in the North (Pull)

Effects of the Great Migration

• Shift Blacks from a Rural Population to an Urban Population

• Increase the number of African Americans living in North cities; Make these cities truly multi-racial

• But what else??...

The Harlem Renaissance• 1920s and 1930s• The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering

of African American social and cultural thought which was expressed through:– Paintings–Music –Dance – Theater– Literature

Why the Harlem Renaissance• During the Great Migration the majority of African

Americans who moved north ended up in New York City.– Of the almost 750,000 African Americans who moved

North, nearly 175,000 moved to Harlem.

• The neighborhood of Harlem became a ethnic enclave of African Americans.– Harlem is a section of Manhattan, which covers three

square miles

• Harlem became the largest concentration of black people in the world.

Why Did the Harlem Renaissance Emerge When and Where it Did?

Emergence of a black middle class coming out of the Great Migration

Increased contact between African Americans and white Americans in the workplace and on city streets

forced a new awareness of the disparity between the promise of the American dream and reality.

Blacks WWI experience and disillusionment with race relations

in the United States• African American soldiers who served in

World War I were angered by the prejudice they often encountered back at home, compared to the acceptance they had found in Europe.

Rise of NAACP and Black Nationalism

Understanding the Harlem Renaissance

• In order to more fully explore the characteristics, themes, and significance of the Harlem Renaissance we will look at 3 pieces of work from Harlem Renaissance artists.– As you interact with each piece.:

• Identify what the piece is saying about:– The Black experience in America– Black identity / Racial Consciousness– White people / White America– How the African American condition should be

improved

“I, Too, Sing America”Langston Hughes

1945

I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I’ll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody’ll dareSay to me,“Eat in the kitchen,"Then.

Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

“Take the A Train”Duke Ellington

Jazz Composition1939

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY

Jacob Lawrence“Brownstones”

Painting1954

Discussion!

• What do the artists of the Harlem Renaissance seem to say about…– The Black experience in America– Black identity / Racial Consciousness–White people / White America– How the African American condition

should be improved

The Harlem Renaissance and Whites

• The Harlem Renaissance appealed to a mixed audience—the African American middle class and white consumers of the arts.

• Urbane whites suddenly took up New York’s African-American community, bestowing their patronage on young artists, opening up publishing opportunities, and pumping cash into Harlem’s “exotic” nightlife in a complex relationship that scholars continue to probe.