1920 to 1936. harlem renaissance defined harlem renaissance (hr) is the name given to the period...
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1920 to 1936
Harlem Renaissance Defined
Harlem Renaissance (HR) is the name given to the period from the end of World War I and through the middle of the 1930s Depression, during which a group of talented African-American writers produced a sizable body of literature in the four prominent genres of poetry, fiction, drama, and essay.
Harlem Renaissance Defined (continued)
Not limited to literature, the movement also includes philosophy, theater, the visual arts, and music.
Harlem Renaissance Dates
Beginning dates range from 1914 to 1920
Ending dates range from 1935 to 1940
Great Migration
Beginning of World War I Job opportunities in North 1915-1918 Some believe this to be the beginning
of H.R.
Key
Figures
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
Philosopher Sociologist Civil rights
activist
W.E.B. Du Bois
African Americans must be taught racial pride and African cultural heritage
Coined the term “Talented Tenth”
Charles Gilpin (1878-1930)
Performing arts:theater
Theater and Film
Charles Gilpin founded the Lafayette Players
Few plays were written by African Americans
Alain LeRoy Locke (1886-1954)
Philosopher Educator
Alain Locke
The New Negro Saw Harlem as race
capital
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)
Political leader Publisher and
journalist Jamaican
National Hero
Marcus Garvey
Back to Africa movement
Claude McKay (1890-1948)
Writer
Claude McKay
“If we must die—let it not be like hogs hunted and penned in an inglorious spot…Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
Writer Anthropologist Folklorist
Jean Toomer (1894-1967)
Writer
Jean Toomer
Poet Envisioned an
American identity that would transcend race
Did not seek out “black” forms for his poetry
Bessie Smith (1895-1937)
Jazz and BluesSinger
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Writer
Langston Hughes
“We younger Negro artists…intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter.”
End of World War I
“We return. We return from fighting. Make way for democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America or know the reason why.” W.E.B. De Bois
Creative Forms
Writers Poets Philosophers Musicians Visual Artists Filmmakers
African-American Literature
Sought to reach entire community, not just highly educated
Periodicals (magazines) acted as a medium of intellectual discourse
End of the Renaissance
The Great Depression
50% of families in Harlem were out of work
Harlem Race Riot, 1935
Gains of the Harlem Renaissance
African Americans proved themselves to be talented and capable
Created a new consciousness in blacks and whites
New art forms Socioeconomic
changes
The Harlem Renaissance