1. And the Harlem Renaissance
The Great Migration
And the Harlem Renaissance

2. A Little Bit of History Slavery was abolished in April 1865
During Reconstruction, some progress was made for blacks, including the establishment of universities and schools.
However, blacks in the Deep South were essentially re-enslaved through extremely restrictive laws and the process of share-cropping

3. sharecroppers

4. Sharecropping
Under the system of sharecropping, blacks worked the land for whites in exchange for a portion of the crops and a place to live
Because whites charged so much for goods and supplies, blacks were forced to buy on credit and were usually deeply in debt to the landowners
Consequently, they were still tied to the land and essentially “owned”

5. World War 1
Black Americans jumped at the chance to serve their country
They enlisted in huge numbers and distinguished themselves during the war
14.4 % of black soldiers lost their lives, compared to 6 % of white soldiers
However, they did not return to a hero’s welcome
In fact, the decade of the 1920’s saw a huge increase in the amount of violence perpetrated against blacks

6. Klan violence

7. The great migration The death toll from World War 1 was staggering
The Spanish flu pandemic from exacted an additional toll
The result was a huge labor shortage in the largely industrialized North
Northern factories began recruiting for workers in the Deep South
The Great Migration was the result of these factors. The Great Migration lasted from roughly During this time period, roughly 6 million African Americans migrated from the rural south to the urban north.

9. relocation
In 1910, three out of every four black Americans lived in the rural South
By the end of 1919, over 1,000,000 black Americans left the South for jobs in Chicago, New York, and other large cities
While segregation was not legal in the North, black citizens were largely confined to certain areas of cities
This led to the growth of cities within cities; Harlem was the largest one
This was the first time that large numbers of black Americans lived together in a community
The result was an explosion of African American art, music, and literature as Black Americans sought an identity. This is known as the Harlem Renaissance and lasted from to the mid 1930s.

10. The Harlem Renaissance

11. music William Grant Still: Composed operas and symphonies
Duke Ellington: Jazz Musician and composer
George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess folk opera
Billie Holiday
The hallmark of the Harlem Renaissance is Jazz music.

12. Alain Locke and the new negro
Alain Locke was a scholar and a professor at Howard University
Locke edited an anthology called The New Negro, widely considered to be the manifesto of the Harlem Renaissance
It was a collection of works by the most influential African American writers and artists of the 1920s and 1930s
Brought the movement into national prominence

13. POets
Langston Hughes
Countee Cullen
Claude McKay
Jean Toomer

14. Novelists
Zora Neale Hurston
Nella Larsen
James Baldwin
Richard Wright