Harlem Renaissance Where: New York City, Harlem When: 1920-1930 Why: A safe place for African Americans to explore new identities as free women and men.

Harlem Renaissance

• Where: New York City, Harlem• When: 1920-1930• Why: A safe place for African Americans to

explore new identities as free women and men

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlemhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/harlem/http://www.harlem.org/

Works Cited

Harlem

• What: African American neighborhood • Where: New York City borough of Manhattan• Why: Dutch village in 1658

Mass migration of blacks in 1904

Real estate crash

Great migration

How did it become the mecca for the African American Artists?

• Harlem was the birth of cultural revolution

• “The Capitol of Black America”• 1st inhabitants of Harlem was

intellectuals, writers, and other artists

• Harlem accepted and encouraged African American art and culture

Great Migration • During the 1920s Harlem attracted many blacks

and they came with traditions and new styles • They usually came from the South and 6 million

blacks migrated to cities in the Northwest, Midwest, and West

• Many cities' population rapidly grew and many industrial jobs doubled

Great Migration cont.

• Many blacks were hoping to gain full citizenship in northern cities

• They migrated in hope of independence • When they came to the North it was not all

that it was portrayed to be. They were very discriminated against

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=443

http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/545.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129827444

Harlem Renaissance• The Harlem Hellfighters were the U.S. Army’s 369th

Infantry Regiment. It was the best known as the American Unit of World War 1

• Tuskegee Airmen is a name that represents people who were in the “Tuskegee Experience”. They trained African Americans to fly and maintain aircrafts

• Buffalo Soldiers fought in the Civil War and they helped settlers move west. They were brave and courageous

http://www.buffalosoldiers-amwest.org/history.htm

http://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/explore/history.aspx

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/369th-infantry-regiment-harlem-hellfighters

Post WW1 changes• World War 1 affected all blacks in

America• They demanded fair rights and sided

with the French because they treated their people with dignity and equality

• The Great Migration transformed black communities in the north and south and many blacks joined the army

http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-world-war-i.html

What are Harlem rent parties?

• Open house parties for citizens in Harlem• Main type of music and entertainment came

from a jazz genre• Played a major role in the development of

jazz

Who attended Harlem rent parties?

• Musicians such as Fats Waller started playing at rent parties

• Individuals who enjoy low budget entertainment

• Individuals supported each other and represented a unified community

Fats Waller

Why/result of Harlem rent parties…• To raise money for those who could not afford

a months rent• Furthered the popularity of Jazz and R&B

music• Rent parties were often the location of so-

called “cutting contest”, which involves jazz pianists taking turns at the piano, attempting to out-do each other.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/progress/prohib/rent.html

Black economy during the Harlem Renaissance

• Banks• White owned banks would not lend to blacks• Black leaders suggested blacks open their own

banks• Harlem attracted many prosperous black

professional

• White owned banks would not lend to blacks

• Black leaders suggested blacks open their own banks

• Harlem attracted many prosperous black professionals

Black Economy During the Renaissance

Real Estate

Black businessmen purchased real estate from white owners

Blacks owned apartments and houses

Wealthy black neighborhoods called Sugar Hill / Striver’s Row

Black Economy During the Renaissance Businesses

• Marcus Garvey: founded Black Star Shipping Line • Madame Walker : cosmetics/hair products for black women• Black Swan Phonograph Corporation: recorded black artists

Black Economy During the RenaissanceWebsites

• http://africanamericanart.si.edu/glossary • http://www.austincc.edu/caddis/1920s • http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/101-african-american-firsts • http://www.broadwayhousing.org/housing/sugarhill/• http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html • http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=443 • http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/harlem.html• http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp • http://www2.si.umich.edu/chico/Harlem/text/exhibition.html • http://www2.si.umich.edu/chico/Harlem/text/cjwalker.html • http://www2.si.umich.edu/chico/Harlem/text/blackswan.html •

The Harlem Renaissance:Black Education & Higher Education• Education:• Great desire from African Americans for education• During Renaissance, promise of equal educational

opportunities increased and enhanced a population• Many factors influenced education during this period of

cultural movement• Migration:• Thousands of African Americans traveled north seeking

economic opportunities, escape oppressive social conditions, and obtain education

• Many traveled to New York• New York: By law, only northern state that prohibited

segregated schools

Militancy/awareness among African Americans: Felt the freedoms promised following America's participation in World War I had eluded them.Felt had same right as others because they fought for freedom in WWINot willing to “Yes sir” anymore

Despite schools in Harlem open to black and white students on a non-segregated basis, most schools remained primarily Black.

Because the education was free, schools became over-crowded

Principals did not welcome to the black students due to pressure and harassment from teachers

Influences on Black Education

• Booker T. Washington- believed the usual subjects taught in school were irrelevant to Negroes of that time

• Thought they should be taught more about industry and economy

• Trade schools were established based on this philosophy

17

Influences on Black Education

• The Harlem YMCA-taught women cooking embroidery, sewing, millinery and related domestic work preparing them for a specific workforce

• Taught men about the work force and manual labor• Came to be one of Harlem’s most important educational

recreational and cultural centers

18

Harlem Renaissance and Communism

• During the Depression• Uplift the black race and bring about equality• Boost to the morale in Harlem.

http://www.tcnj.edu/~fisherc/black_and_red.html#Harlemhttp://www2.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13615&news_iv_ctrl=1261

• Increase the movement against racism and Black liberation

• End the oppression of the black race.• Respond to Black ideology

Examples of communism influence on Harlem Renaissance

• Cultural organizations – Federal Negro Theatre – Harlem Community Arts Center– Federal Writers Project

• African Blood Brotherhood• Langston Hughes

– Poem "A New Song"

The NAACP• *It was founded February 12, 1909.• *It was formed by a group of white liberals • in response to the ongoing lynches and the

race riot in 1908.

The NAACP Continued

• The purpose is “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of the rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and discrimination”.

• It is a Civil Rights Organization that works “to seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights”.

The National Urban League

New York- September 29, 1910Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund HaynesEugene K. Jones, Lester Granger

The National Urban League Continued

Empowering Communities, Changing Lives“To enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights”Focus on goals for America in education, employment, housing, and healthcare.

The National Urban League Continued

“Education and persuasion”“Street Academy”, “New Thrust”

What is the Harlem Renaissance Literature

• Creativity in literature from African-American writers.

• Honored and paid tribute to the African-American heritage/background.

• Helped to re-define the African-American way of expression.

• Expressed marginality and alienation.

How It Started

• Began in Greenwich Village and Harlem.

• Charles Spurgeon Johnson encouraged African-American writers to migrate to the New York area.

• Young writers came from the Caribbean, rural America, and Africa.

The People Involved

• Marcus Garvey: founder, Universal Negro Improvement Association.

• W.E.B. DuBois: editor, “The Crisis” Magazine.• James Weldon Johnson: editor, The Book of

African Negro Poetry.

• The art styles normally consisted of geometrical shapes like rectangles, squares, triangles, etc.

• This created sharp and compelling images • The art normally depicted aspects of African-American culture, such

as the saxophone, new types of dance, and blues singers • http

://home.wlu.edu/~connerm/AfAmStudies/Contemporary%20Culture%20Project/Voice%20Of%20African-%20Americans/elements_move.htm

Subject Matter

• Artists of the movement often biased their work on art produced in Africa

• African-American history as well as social injustice fueled the artists imagination during the period

• Music and religion of the South was another source of inspiration for the artists

Inspiration for the Art

• http://cco.cambridge.org/extract?id=ccol052185699x_CCOL052185699XA007

• Other artists such as playwrights and actors rejected the stereotype of the Blackface and Minstrel shows, to create new and complex types of plays for Negros

• By breaking away from the image that they had been branded with by whites, Negros were able to reinvent themselves in the image that they wanted

• http://libguides.howard.edu/content.php?pid=273384&sid=2266155

•

RejectedTraditions

Harlem Music

• The Jazz age brought a interest in African American culture, especially music and painting

• It brought social change and an end to legal, institutional, and social racism

• It allowed jazz, blues, and ragtime as original American art forms.

Influence from Jazz Age

• Thousands of black and white people went every night to see the same performers and musicians

• Billie Holliday (singer in jazz club)• Chick Webb (one of the best regarded band

leaders and drummers of new “swing” style.)• Louis Armstrong (One of the most famous

musicians in the Harlem Renaissance.)• White people tried to steal blacks ideas and

use them as their own.

Public Reaction

http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asphttp://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/harlemren.htm

The Speakeasies

• The Speakeasies began in the 1920’s during the time of prohibition.

• For every bar or salon that closed due to the 18th amendment a dozen or so underground alcohol institutions sprung up.

• Many people took this illegal risk during this time period because they saw the many monetary benefits for themselves.

The Cotton Club

• Opened in 1923 and was owned by New York gangster Owney Madden

• Known for an outlet for alcohol• Plantation style feel to the club.

Savory Club

• Savory was the considered the most beautiful ballroom in the world.

• The Savoy was extremely large in size• Many famous Harlem renaissance singers and

dancers came to the Savory.

• Created on February 13, 1923 by Robert Douglas• All black professional basketball team• Knows as the “big five” & the “Rens”• Home court was a ballroom • at 138th street and 7th Avenue• Due to lack of popularity the team moved on to

away games rather than home games

The Rens

Rens Continued

• From 1932-33 their season record was 120 wins and 8 losses

• Six of the losses were to the Celtics• Ironic because the Rens had beaten the Celtics

a total of eight times• During that season, the Rens had set a record

of 88 consecutive wins

Rens…

• 1939 - Rens win the first professional basketball championship

• 1949 - last season for the Rens as well as the last season for the NBL

• After merging the NBL ,designed for colored athletes with the all white association, the “Basketball Association of America” is created

• That merger started the beginning of the National Basketball Association we now know as the “NBA”

Harlem Globetrotters

• An exhibition basketball team• Originally called the Chicago Globetrotters in 1926, then named Harlem Globetrotters in 1928.

Harlem Globetrotters

• In 1941, Reece “Goose” Tatum brought comedy basketball moves that would change the team greatly.• After 20 years of playing, they had played 3000 games and appeared on the cover of LIFE Magazine, which was a great accomplishment due to racial segregation in America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Renaissancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Globetrotters