The Great Migration & The Harlem Renaissance
What is the Great Migration? Started in the beginning of the 1900’s Involved the mass exodus of millions of African Americans from the South to the North Over 1 million were estimated to have migrated north Greatly influenced the Harlem Renaissance
Why migrate? Freedom Treatment Crop infestations Technological Innovations World War I Racial backlash by whites Job Opportunities To prove their identity
Why Go North??? Fill up jobs Political Freedoms Better life
Advantages and Disadvantages Freedom Identity Better chances for education Formation of large communities Disadvantages People killed Racism in north often just as bad as south Poor schooling for large communities False perception of “lots of opportunity”
How was the North Affected? Population increase Economy Not welcomed in the beginning, even from some African Americans
How did the Great Migration affect the Harlem Renaissance? Music Art Food Civil Rights Power of the People
The Harlem Renaissance It was a cultural nationalistic movement caused by the GREAT MIGRATION "originally called the “NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT” "spiritual coming of age" in which the black community was able to seize upon its "first chances for group expression and self determination."
Impact of the H.R. Black Migration, south to north, changed their image from rural to urban, from peasant to sophisticate A rich source for racial imagination and it freed the blacks from the establishment of past condition
Major Contributors to the H.R. Langston Hughes Writer: poetry, novels, music, short stories W.E.B. DuBois Socialist, Public Speaker Louis Armstrong & Billie Holiday Musicians Zora Neale Hurston Writer: novels, poetry