Harlem+Renaissance

by Lashé and Joharah Grade 5

The Harlem Renaissance was the blossoming of the arts centered in Harlem in the 1920’s. Many events sparked the Harlem Renaissance, one being the Great Migration. The Great Migration started in the late 1910’s. It was when African Americans moved from the South to the North, where they hoped for a better life. Another was the march on Fifth Avenue in New York, celebrating the Harlem Hellfighters coming back from World War I. This brought pride to Harlem because they were African American soldiers. Those are just some of the many events that made the people of Harlem want to celebrate through the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance was media type="youtube" key="GlPaSgnjuOI" height="315" width="420" align="left"about African Americans showing who they really are. It was the golden age for poets, songwriters, singers and actors. The beginning of the Harlem Renaissance was planned to prove that African Americans could be just as educated as white Americans and that they could excel in the arts and literature. People like James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Marcus Garvey, A’Lelia Walker and many others started taking control of their lives and showing what it really meant to be Black, and expressing it in ways that were so beautiful.

During theHarlem Renaissance, musicians and dancers performed at numerous places such as the Cotton Club, the Lafayette and the Apollo. Even though they were the ones performing, Blacks were not allowed to be in or part of the audience. The Blacks didn’t let this get to them; they still performed. What kept them going was that music was and still is a big part of African American knowledge. Some examples of musicians from the Harlem Renaissance are Bessie Smith, who turned out to be a magnificent singer, Louis Armstrong who became a composer and singer, James P. Johnson who was a jazz pianist and composer, and Duke Ellington.

In 1925 Opportunity Magazine hosted their first annual literary contest. Zora Neale Hurston won the contest. Opportunity and The Crisis magazine started to have these contests often, and that’s how many writers of the Harlem Renaissance got published. During this period, the magazines were very important. They published numerous writers that we know of today. If these magazines weren't there to help struggling writers, several of them could have been unknown or forgotten. A lot of poetry was published in the magazines; for example Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ which was dedicated to W.E.B. Du Bois. Hughes’ poetry was also included in Alain Locke’s collection called “The New Negro”. Nella Larson changed her name several times, but finally got the courage to publish her first novel under her real name. She received a bronze medal from the Harmon Foundation. Zora Neale Hurston won several awards, and many of her short stories and essays were published in the Crisis, Opportunity and other publications.

The Harlem Renaissance visual artists were trying to make a living, but also trying to make a statement. Most artists had difficulty finding patrons. For example, Augusta Savage, a talented sculptor, had to go all the way to France to find a person willing to support her work. Henry Ossawa Tanner, a gifted painter, was also a Black artist who struggled with the fact that no one would work with him, due to his race. He, too, went to France and discovered recognition and someone who would accept his art for what it was. James Van Der Zee, a skilled photographer, often had to work for low paying jobs to support his photography career. His photos showed the history of Harlem. What all these great, talented African Americans shared in common was a desire to express freedom in their work, and to show it to the world through their art.

Political activists played a huge role in the Harlem Renaissance. Du Bois was a very involved activist. He wrote a lot of books and articles about the color-line, and how it was the problem of the twentieth century. He was a leader. In 1905 he organized meetings where all the members of the group would gather at Niagara Falls and discuss racial issues. It was called the Niagara Movement. Another activist was Marcus Garvey. Garvey organized an international group called the U.N.I.A. which stood for United Negro Improvement Association. Its focus was to unite all Africans of the world. Paul Robeson was also an activist. He stood for freedom. He was a scholar, athlete, actor, singer, lawyer and activist. He won the NAACP’s Springarn Medal. In his acceptance speech he talked about racial tensions in America.

The Harlem Renaissance was a celebration of the arts which lasted until the early 1930’s. After the Harlem Renaissance ended people did not find the better life they were looking for because then came the Great Depression. During the Depression Black artists couldn’t find work because there was no money going around. Although the depression was sad, people all over the world celebrated and still do celebrate the Harlem Renaissance. It let people know of our culture, our kind and our people.