HARLEM RENAISSANCE17 January 2014

Do Now 17 January 2014

In four sentences, please tell me everything you know about the cultural changes that took place in the United States during the 1920s.

Complete this Do Now in your Interactive Notebook or

in your Student Folder on Google Drive.

The Harlem Renaissance Lasted from the 1920s to mid-1930s Was an African-American cultural

movement that took the nation by storm Literary, artistic, and intellectual movement

"Negro life is seizing its first chances for

group expression and self determination.”

-- Alain Locke, 1926

Literary Movement The Harlem Renaissance was primarily a

literary movement, but included other art forms as well

Creating a New Culture African-Americans who

participated in the Harlem Renaissance wanted to re-define “The Negro” aside from White stereotypes

They also wanted to break free of traditional moral values that brought shame to certain aspects of their lives and might reinforce racist White beliefs

Great Migration (1916-1970) The Harlem Renaissance got its start

from the Great Migration An estimated 6 million African-Americans

moved from the rural South to the urban North

Great Migration, continued African-Americans of many different

backgrounds (e.g., African, Caribbean) were crossing paths in major cities like New York and Chicago (as well as abroad, such as in Paris)

Such meetings helped encourage activism and cultural change

Other Influential Factors In addition to the mass migration of

many African-Americans, the following factors also helped to foster the Harlem Renaissance movement:

Rapidly growing levels of literacy Creation of national civil rights groups Opening of socioeconomic opportunities

(jobs), partially due to low immigration rates after WWI

Development of a greater level of “race pride”

Why Harlem? Harlem was a formerly

White area that had became predominantly African-American by the 1920s

African-American intellectuals from other large cities such as Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles met in Harlem or settled there

Turnt up! Harlem was the

“capital” of the Harlem Renaissance, so it became a popular location of artistic experimentation

There was a vibrant nightlife in Harlem during the 1920s-30s

Some Prominent Harlem Renaissance Artists…

Zora Neale Hurston

Civil Rights Activist; Author

Langston HughesPlaywright; Poet

Louis ArmstrongFirst African-American to host a nationally sponsored radio show

W.E.B. DuBoisAuthor; Co-founder, NAACP

It was during this cultural rebirth that Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were

Watching God