What was the Harlem Renaissance and why was it important?

Introduction

Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement of African American movement that was based in Harlem. The movement spanned in the 1920s and 1930s and during this time it was called “New Negro movement’’ (Glasrud & Smallwood, 2007). The movement was called after the compilation in 1925 by Alain Locke. The movement was focused in the community of Harlem in the New York City as a result of black writers who could speak French from the Caribbean and African colonies. These black writers survived in Paris and they were also subjected by Harlem Renaissance (Glasrud & Smallwood, 2007).

Early during the 20th century, Harlem had grown to a home of the Negro middle class. During 1910 various African-American realtors and members of a church group bought large blocks in the fifth avenue. This was a great achievement that made more African Americans to arrive for the First World War. As a result of the war, there was a migration of laborers all the way from Europe virtually ceased. Due to the war, there was a massive demand in the industrial sector for unskilled labor. This movement resulted in a massive migration that got thousands of African American to towns like Cleveland, New York and Chicago (Glasrud & Smallwood, 2007).

As a result of the movement, the Negro culture became more popular. Despite that, there was virulent white racism to the ethnic immigrants who continuously impacted the African American community even in the north. This led many African-American soldiers to fight back in segregated areas such as Harlem hell fighters. The nation had citizens who did not honor and respect any of their accomplishment. The war continued through race riots and other civil wars that reflected economic competition over housing and jobs in other cities including social territories (Gates &Higginbotham, 2009).

Harlem Renaissance was important in that there was a rejection of stereotypes of the minstrel show and blackface. This led to the formation of a theater where African American actors were featured. This conveyed a very important message about the human complexity, yearnings and emotions. The premieres were the first of a kind that gave them the importance in the entire history of the Negro in the American theater (Neimneh, 2014).

There was also the liberation of literature. There were liberty league and the voice that addressed the Negros and their movement. There were newspapers that focused on other political issue but for the first time in history, there was a newspaper that exclusively discussed the Negros. The paper also focused on the art and the poetry of the Negro community. This created a chance of the Negro community to be published in mainstream houses that made many other others begin publishing magazine and novels about the African-American (Gates &Higginbotham, 2009).

Music also found its way in during Harlem Renaissance. There was an emergence of a new style called the Harlem Stride Style. Through music, the difference between the poor Negro and the elite Negros was shaped down. This music enhanced the talents and creates competition that laid a strong foundation of the music genre. During the same period using the musical styles of the blacks more and more, whites were attracted. This created a merge between the white and the Negros into classical world of different music composition (Neimneh, 2014).

Conclusion

Harlem Renaissance was of the great importance of they helped to lay a strong foundation in the movement of civil rights.  Moreover, there was a literary movement that inspired and led to the rise of creativity. It was important as there many benefits realized for the African American people including patronage that created a support system for the blacks and the elimination of primitive influences. This led to social ramifications in a unique critique of social consciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Gates, H. L., Higginbotham, E. B., & American Council of Learned Societies. (2009). Harlem     Renaissance lives from the African American national biography. Oxford: Oxford         University       Press.

 Glasrud, B. A., & Smallwood, J. M. (2007). The African American experience in Texas: An         anthology. Lubbock (Tex.: Texas Tech University Press

NEIMNEH, S. (2014). Thematics of Interracial Violence in Selected Harlem Renaissance            Novels. Papers On Language & Literature, 50(2), 152-181.