The Harlem Renaissance MR. MARINELLO * US HISTORY
Harlem Harlem is the name of a neighborhood on the island of Manhattan. Became an African American neighborhood around 1900 Many southern blacks began to flee terror and oppression in the south Known as The Great Migration, many African Americans settled in places like Harlem in northern cities. After World War I many more African Americans moved north, recognizing that they were not being honored for their service after the war. This new concentration of African Americans in the north set the stage for a re-birth of African American art.
The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York between 1918 and the 1930s. Seen as an opportunity for a re-birth of African American culture following the fall out of Reconstruction. An explosion of artistic expression: Literature Music Art Lays the foundation for the African American experience today.
Literature Authors of the era were of the generation born after slavery. Many of their parents were slaves of early sharecroppers Authors like: Langston Hughes Nella Larsen Zora Neale Hurston Poets: Claude McKay May Miller These literary expressions spoke to the Black experience in America
Music Jazz originates in America in the late 19 th and early 20 th century A mixture of European and African music unique to the American south Jazz bands primarily used brass instruments In Harlem a new style of Jazz is introduced. The introduction of the piano and the “Harlem Stride style” of playing further integrates upper class music (piano) with lower class (brass) making the new form more accessible to both. Band leaders like Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton bring jazz into the mainstream.
The End of the Harlem Renaissance By the 1930s the Renaissance began to lose steam The Depression had a large impact on the lives of Black artists. Even though this period only lasted a short time, it had a profound impact on the future of both African Americans and of American culture itself
The Harlem Renaissance at a Glance