Chapter 13 Section 5: Things to Know Why did Garvey’s Movement fall apart? What form of music was a hybrid of African American and European music forms? Why is Louis Armstrong a jazz legend? The sense of group identity created by the Harlem Renaissance formed a basis for what? What was the significance of Harlem? What period of time’s literature explored the pains and joys of being black in America?

Chapter 13 – The Twenties Section 5: The Harlem Renaissance

Why It Matters As a result of World War I and the Great Migration, millions of African Americans relocated from the rural South to the urban North. This mass migration continued through the 1920s and contributed to a flowering of music and literature. Jazz and the Harlem renaissance made a lasting impact, not only on African Americans but on the culture all Americans share.

A New “Black Consciousness” As the Great Migration transpired, many people in the South moved to the North in search of better jobs and more money. These people, many of which were African American, didn’t leave their culture and beliefs behind. They brought them along and blended them with the cultures of others. Thus is the birth of the Harlem Renaissance.

A New “Black Consciousness” Although they moved to the North in search of new job opportunities, they did not leave racism and oppression. They were forced to live in the worst housing and labor in the lowest paying jobs. Although these jobs didn’t pay much, they paid more than working on the farms in the South. After the race riots and World War I, African Americans increased their demand for a real solution to the country’s racial problems. NYC’s Harlem became a focal point for the aspirations of hundreds of thousands of African Americans.

A New “Black Consciousness” A new prominent African American leader emerged in the 1920s. Marcus Garvey, born in Jamaica, traveled widely before immigrating to Harlem in 1916. After his travels, Garvey came to one conclusion: Blacks were exploited everywhere. To combat the problem, he promoted the idea of universal black nationalism and organized a “Back to Africa” movement. He called for a separation of races.

A New “Black Consciousness” Garvey created a Universal negro Improvement Association which boasted nearly 2.5 million members and sympathizers. His advocacy of black pride and black support of black-run businesses won considerable support. Garvey’s movement fell apart in the second half of the 1920s. It fell apart because the federal government sent him to prison for mail fraud and then deported him to Jamaica. Although the movement died, his ideas did not. It was a precursor for the Nation of Islam and the Black Power in the 1960s.

The Jazz Age Even though the 1920s were dubbed the “Jazz Age” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was African Americans that gave it jazz. Jazz was a hybrid of African American and European music forms. Jazz was created in the South and Midwest, particularly New Orleans, where different cultures and traditions came together and influenced each other. It later spread North with the Great Migration.

The Jazz Age Who was the trumpet player that became the unofficial ambassador of jazz? Louis Armstrong His ability to play the trumpet and his subtle sense of improvisation made him a legend and influenced the development of jazz. After Armstrong, all jazz bands featured soloists. Many also began to feature vocal soloists, such as Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues.”

Sleepy Time Down South Louis Armstrong’s Sleepy Time Down South is a 1931 jazz song that became Armstrong’s theme song. He recorded it almost a hundred times during his career. It is now considered a jazz standard, having been recorded by most jazz singers. The lyrics are about the Great Migration in the US, with the singer talking about the “dear old Southland… where I belong.” It contains many racial stereotypes.

The Jazz Age Jazz begins to win worldwide popularity during the Roaring twenties. It was a part of the Prohibition era, played in speakeasies and nightspots in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. By the end of the decade, the popularity of jazz had spread to Europe as well. Jazz became a demonstration of the depth and richness of African American Culture. It quickly began to bridge across races and its sound influenced such white songwriters and composers as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin, whose jazz-inspired orchestral work Rhapsody in Blue premiered in 1924.

The Harlem Renaissance The jazz and the blues are different but yet the same. Both are expressions of the African American experience, but with different implications. What does jazz express and what does the blues express? Jazz is an expression of the joys of the African American Experience The blues are an expression of the same experience.

The Harlem Renaissance In the 1920s there were other expressions of African American culture. Novelists, poets and artists celebrated their culture and explored questions of race in America. This flowering of African American culture became known as the Harlem Renaissance. It helped give a new vocabulary and dynamic to race relations in the US. The sense of group identity created by the Harlem Renaissance formed a basis for later progress for blacks in America.

The Harlem Renaissance In the 1920s the term “New Negro” entered the American vocabulary. It suggested a radical break with the past. African Americans would no longer endure the old ways of exploitation and discrimination. What was the significance of Harlem, or why did it become a hotspot for this Renaissance? It was a central place for African Americans to voice concerns about racial problems. Harlem vividly expressed the this new mood. It attracted African American novelists, essayists, poets, and journalists from all over the country and beyond. These writers explored the pains and joys of being black in America, leaving literary legacy that spoke to all Americans at the time.

The Harlem Renaissance These writers of the Harlem Renaissance created collections of short stories, poems, and sketches that represented African American life and folk culture in all its richness. It was not a blueprint for where African Americans should move forward politically, but a plea to remember and preserve the past. The literature of the Harlem Renaissance explored the pains and joys of being black in America.

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance gave a voice to African American culture, just as jazz and blues gave it a tune. It altered the way many white Americans viewed African American culture, and even the way African Americans viewed themselves.

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance ended with the national financial collapse that also ended the nation’s decade of prosperity. In conclusion, the sense of group identity and African American solidarity that the Harlem Renaissance created would become part of the bedrock on which the later civil rights movement would be constructed.