CHAPTER 11SECTION 5

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

• WORLD WAR I AND THE GREAT MIGRATION LED MILLIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS RELOCATED FROM RURAL SOUTH TO THE URBAN NORTH – CONTRIBUTED TO A FLOWERING OF MUSIC AND LITERATURE – JAZZ AND THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON THE CULTURE OF ALL AMERICANS

The Harlem Renaissance

• AFRICAN AMERICANS LEFT THE SOUTH FOR A BETTER FUTURE – ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, SOCIAL ADVANCEMENT AND GREATER POLITICAL RIGHTS

• MOST FOUND A BETTER LIFE THAN IN THE SOUTH – HOWEVER DID NOT EXCAPE RACISM AND OPPRESSION – FORCED TO LIVE IN THE WORST HOUSING AND WORKED IN THE LOWEST PAYING JOBS – SOME WERE THREATENED WITH VIOLENCE

• AFTER WWI AFRICAN AMERICANS INCREASED THEIR DEMAND FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE COUNTRY’S RACIAL PROBLEMS

• HARLEM BECAME THE FOCAL POINT FOR THE ASPIRATION OF THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS – 200,000 AFRICAN AMERICANS SETTLED IN HARLEM

• MIGRANTS FROM THE SOUTH MIXED WITH IMMIGRANTS FROM CARIBBEAN ISLANDS – CREATED A BLED OF DIFFERENT CULTURES AND TRADITIONS

Marcus Garvey• MOST PROMINENT AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADER TO EMERGE IN THE 1920S – BELIEVED THAT BLACKS WERE EXPLOITED EVERYWHERE

• HE PROMOTED THE IDEA OF UNIVERSAL BLACK NATIONALISM AND ORGANIZED A “BACK TO AFRICA’ MOVEMENT

• DID NOT CALL FOR BLACKS TO WORK TOGETHER TO IMPROVE AMERICA – INSTEAD ADVOCATED THE SEPARATION OF RACES

Marcus Garvey• FOUNDED THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION - HAD 2.5 MEMBERS AND SYMPATHIZERS • GARVEY’S MOVEMENT FELL APART IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE DECADE – THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SENT GARVEY TO PRISON FOR MAIL FRAUD AND DEPORTED HIM TO JAMAICA

Marcus Garvey

• THE NATIONALIST AND SEPARATIST ASPECTS OF THE NATION OF ISLAM AND THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT IN THE 1960’S WERE INFLUENCED BY GARVEY – SO DID APPEALS TO BLACK PRIDE, SELF RELIANCE AND CULTURAL TIES TO AFRICA

The Jazz Age• NAME CAME FROM F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

• JAZZ IS A MUSICAL FORM BASED ON IMPROVISATION – RECOMBINE DIFFERENT FORMS OF MUSIC, INCLUDING AFRICAN AMERICAN BLUES AND RAGTIME AND EUROPEAN BASED POPULAR MUSIC

The Jazz Age• JAZZ EMERGED IN THE SOUTHAND MIDWEST – PARTICULARLY NEW ORLEANS – WHERE DIFFERENT CULTURES AND TRADITIONS CAME TOGETHER AND INFLUENCED EACH OTHER – SPREAD NORTH WITH THE GREAT MIGRATION

• JAZZ WAS ALSO A SYMBOL OF THE ROARING TWENTIES – PLAYED IN SPEAKEASIES AND NIGHTSPOTS IN BIG CITIES

The Jazz Age• LOUIS ARMSTRONG “IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD”

• BESSIE SMITH

MOST POPULAR JAZZ ENTERTAINERS OF THE 1920S

The Jazz Age• PLAYED IN THE COTTON CLUB – HARLEMS MOST POPULAR NIGHTSPOT – BLACK MUSICIANS PLAYED TO WHITE AUDIENCES

• BY THE END OF THE 1920S JAZZ HAD SPREAD TO EUROPE – WITH THE HELP OF JOSEPHINE BAKER

The Jazz Age

• JAZZ BRIDGED THE RACES – INFLUENCED WHITE SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS SUCH AS COLE PORTER, IRVING BERLIN AND GEORGE GERSHWIN

The Harlem Renaissance• IN THE 1920S NOVELISTS, POETS AND ARTISTS CELEBRATED THEIR CULTURE AND EXPLORED QUESTIONS OF RACE IN AMERICA – THIS FLOWERING OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE BECAME KNOW KNOWN AS THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE – IT HELPED GIVE A NEW VOCABULARY AND DYNAMIC TO RACE RELATIONS IN THE U.S.

The Harlem Renaissance• IN THE 1920’S THE TERM “NEW NEGRO” ENTERED THE AMNERICAN VOCABULARY – SUGGESTED A RADICAL BREAK WITH THE PAST – NO LONGER WOULD AFRICAN AMERICANS ENDURE THE OLD WAYS OF EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION

The Harlem Renaissance• THIS WAS MOST VIVIDLY EXPRESSED IN HARLEM, WHICH ATTRACTED AFRICAN AMERICAN NOVELISTS, ESSAYISTS, POETS AND JOURNALISTS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY – THESE WRITERS EXPLORED THE PAINS AND JOYS OF BEING BLACK IN AMERICA

The Harlem Renaissance

• CLAUDE MCKAY – NOVELIST AND POET WHO SHOWED ORDINARY AFRICAN AMERICANS STRUGGLING FOR DIGNITY AND ADVANCEMENT IN THE FACE OF DISCRIMINATION AND ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS

• MCKAY REPRESENTED THE POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL LEFT WING OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE – MORE TO THE CENTER WAS LANGSTON HUGHES – PROBABLY THE MOST POWERFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERARY VOICE OF HIS TIME

The Harlem Renaissance

• HUGHES BELIEVED THE FORCE OF THE MOVEMENT WAS NOT POLITICS BUT A CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE AND LIFE

• HUGHES CAPTURED THE DIVERSITY OF EVERYDAY AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE

The Harlem Renaissance

• ZORA HURSTON – WROTE FOLK TALES AND ALSO WROTE THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD – ABOUT THE NEW LONGING FOR INDEPENDENCE FELT BY MANY WOMEN, BLACK OR WHITE

Impact of the Harlem Renaissance

• ALTERED THE WAY MANY WHITE AMERIANS VIEWED AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE AND EVEN THE WAY AFRICAN AMERICANS VIEWED THEMSELVES

• THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE ENDED WITH THE NATIONAL FINANCIAL COLLAPSE THAT ALSO ENDED THE NATION’S DECADE OF PROSPERITY

• THE SENSE OF GROUP IDENTITY AND AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY THAT IT CREATED WOULD INFLUENCE LATER CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS