The Harlem Renaissance

Warm-Up What was the Great Migration? What is a renaissance?

The Great Migration, 1910 – 1920 Hundreds of thousands of African Americans move from the South to cities in the North and Midwest. – Economic opportunity: jobs in northern factories – Escaping racism and segregation in the South Jim Crow Era

African Americans in 1930

African American Voices National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – Founded in 1909 – Urged African Americans to protest racial violence Fought for anti-lynching laws – Lead struggle for civil rights and an end to segregation – Lead by W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson

African American Voices, cont. Marcus Garvey and UNIA – Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914 – Believed that African Americans should build a separate society Encourage followers to return to Africa

The Harlem Renaissance Harlem Renaissance – a literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture – Expressed pride in the African American experience – Celebration of AA heritage

Literature of the Harlem Renaissance Claude McKay – novelist, poet and Jamaican immigrant – Expressed the pain and difficulty of being black in a world dominated by whites – Urged African Americans to resist prejudice Langston Hughes – Best known poet Langston Hughes – Poems influenced by the rhythm and tempo of jazz Zora Neal Hurston – novelist – Portrayed the lives of poor, uneducated Southern blacks and celebrated their culture and contributions

Harlem, or A Dream Deferred What does the word “deferred” mean? What dream do you think he is talking about? What does Hughes imply in the last line of the poem when he writes, “Or does it explode?”

African Americans and Jazz Jazz migrated along with African Americans from New Orleans to Harlem The Cotton Club – A famous jazz club in Harlem that catered only to white patrons Famous Jazz Musicians – Louis Armstrong – “Duke” Ellington “Duke” Ellington – Bessie Smith