The Harlem Renaissance

What was the Harlem Renaissance? The Great Migration resulted in thousands of blacks settling in Harlem The work of artists, writers, and musicians who settled in Harlem is known as the Harlem Renaissance Writers such as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay wrote stories of the struggles of being black in America Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston) “If We Must Die” (McKay)

Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Bessie Smith brought Jazz into the public mainstream Jazz became something that crossed races  white and black musicians worked together to write new music and perform Black musicians still faced segregation when they performed for all white audiences  entered performance halls or clubs through back entrances

Marcus Garvey, an immigrant from Jamaica, founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) He advocated for blacks to be self-sufficient He advocated for the separation of blacks and whites in his “Back to Africa” movement  wanted universal black nationalism His ideas cultivated a large following, but it fell apart when he was arrested on mail fraud