The Harlem Renaissance 97-03

Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City, was the center of the African American political, cultural, and artistic movement in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Mets Lose

Here!!

Yankees Buy Pennant Here!!

Can you see any evidence from this map that this is an African American community?

Giants Stink Here!

1930

1911

1920

Who made up the Harlem Renaissance?• In the early 1920s, African American artists, writers,

musicians, and performers were part of a great cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.

• Doctors, singers, students, musicians, shopkeepers, painters, and writers, congregated, forming a vibrant mecca of cultural affirmation and inspiration.

Why Harlem?• The huge migration to the North after World War I,

known as “The Great Migration” brought African Americans of all ages and walks of life to the thriving New York City neighborhood called Harlem.

• Common themes: • alienation, • marginality, • the use of folk material, • the use of the blues tradition, • the problems of writing for an elite audience.

• The Harlem Renaissance was more than just a literary movement: it included racial consciousness, "the back to Africa" movement led by Marcus Garvey, racial integration, the explosion of music particularly jazz, spirituals and blues, painting, dramatic revues, and others.

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

a. The Black migration, from south to north, changed their cultural image from rural to urban, from peasant to sophisticate.

c. Harlem became a crossroads where Blacks

interacted with and expanded their contacts internationally.

d. The Harlem Renaissance profited from a spirit of self-determination which was widespread after W.W.I.

2. The Harlem Renaissance had a huge significance in

American culture at the time. a. It became a symbol and a point of reference for everyone to

recall.

b. The name, more than the place, became synonymous with new vitality and Black urbanity.

c. It became a racial focal point for Blacks the world over; it remained for a time, a race capital.

d. It stood for unity; Alain Locke wrote: "The peasant, the student, the businessman, the professional man, artist, poet, musician, adventurer and worker, preacher and criminal, exploiter and social outcast, each group has come with its own special motives ... but their greatest experience has been the finding of one another."

Some Important Historical Figures of The Harlem Renaissance

• Langston Hughes – Poet• Zora Neale Hurston – Writer• Marcus Garvey - Activist• Duke Ellington – Composer/Musician

Langston Hughes1902-1967

Langston Hughes wrote,Langston Hughes wrote, ““Harlem was in vogue.”Harlem was in vogue.”

Black painters and sculptorsjoined their fellow poets,

novelists, actors, and musicians in a creative

outpouring that establishedHarlem as the

international capital ofBlack culture.

Langston Hughes

• Hughes was an American poet, playwright, and writer. He was one of the earliest innovators of “Jazz Poetry”. Jazz Poetry set his poetry apart from that of other writers, and it allowed him to experiment with a very rhythmic free verse.

Zora Neale Hurston1891-1960

American writer

Zora Neale Hurston was remarkable in that she was the most widely published

black woman of her day. She authored more than fifty

articles and short stories as well as four novels, two books on folklore, an autobiography, and a number of plays. At the height of her success she was known as the “Queen of the “Queen of the

Harlem Renaissance.”Harlem Renaissance.”

A Jamican born immigrant and social activist, Marcus

Garvey is credited with spearheading the “Back to

Africa” movement. Garvey created the UNIA (Universal

Negro Improvement Association) and advocated

that African Americans should move back to Africa to

“redeem” it, and that the European colonial powers

should leave it. He advocated a worldwide African culture and is credited with inspiring the Rastafari Movement and

the Nation of Islam.

Duke Ellington1899-1974 Duke

Ellington brought a level of style and sophistication to Jazz that it hadn't seen before. By the time of his passing, he was (and still is) considered amongst the world’s greatest composers and musicians.

Art of the Harlem Renaissance

Street Life, Harlem, by William H. Johnson

Jeunesse by Palmer Hayden

The visual art of the Harlem Renaissance was an attempt at developing a new African-

American aesthetic in the fine arts.

Thematic content includedAfrica as a source of inspiration,

African-American history,folk idioms, and social injustice.

Believing that their life experiences were valuable sources of material for their art, these artists

created an iconography of the Harlem Renaissance era.

Henry Ossawa TannerThe Banjo Lesson, 1893

Painter Henry Tanner wanted to show

a positive image of theAfrican-American byhighlighting the sense

of dignity which is shown here in the

touching moment of theelder teaching the boy how to play the banjo. Tanner also

chose the banjo because of its African origin and its being the

most popular musical instrument used by the slaves in

early America

Window Cleaning, 1935

“I refuse to compromise

and see blacks as anything less than a proud and majestic

people.”

Aaron Douglas1898-1979

Johnson arrived inHarlem when the

Renaissance was in the making. While

there he created several paintings that dealt with

political and social Harlem. Chain

Gang is one example.

William H. Johnson1901-1970

Chain Gang. 1939

“Street-life Harlem” is another example

Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints, 1937

In this symbolic self-portrait artist Palmer

Hayden is at work in his basement studio,

surrounded by the tools of his dual professions, a

palette, brushes and easel, and a garbage can, broom,

and feather duster. The painter’s studio is also his

bedroom, and his bed, night table, alarm clock, and a framed picture of a

cat are seen in the background.

Palmer Hayden, The Blue Nile, 1964

Gwathmey was raised inVirginia, but it was not

until his return to the South after years of art schooling in New York that he began

to empathize with the African-American

experience. He commented, “If I had

never gone back home, perhaps I would never have

painted the Negro.” Robert Gwathmey 1903-1988

Custodian, 1963

HomeworkHarlem: Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore –And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over –like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

- Langston Hughes

MrHousepian.com

• Directions: Please go to mrhousepian.com, reread the poem Harlem: Dream Deferred and click on “Start Discussion” at the bottom of the post. Please leave a short response that explains what you think this poem is about and why.  Being that it is a poem, there is no right or wrong answer, just your own opinion.

• Due: Friday before midnight.