...Harlem Renaissance At the turn of the twentieth century, not all Americans held equal chance at making a name for themselves. Unequally is the only term that appropriately describes the way African Americans were treated during this time. Although their ancestors had endured suppression and struggle for years, those African American men and women associated with the Harlem Renaissance era would come to find new hope for their race. These artists such as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, although having differentiating views, both played major roles in uplifting the black culture. I was responsible for researching these two writers, and I will show how they made giants steps for African Americans while establishing a place in American Literature forever. After consulting my the textbook, I was able to find an article in which the story of an African American soldier from World War I was told. A Blakely, GA relative, Wilbur Little was lynched by a group of white men after returning from the war. He was slain simply because he wore his uniform in public after being threatened not to previously. Instances like this one involving Wilbur Little are what inspired the writers of the Harlem Renaissance era (Davis 477). Years of racism pushed the black culture into a corner that must have seemed dooming for many, but as the Great Migration ensued hope was restored in the hearts African Americans. Blacks during the early 1900’s caught trains northbound in hope of freedom and equality...
Words: 940 - Pages: 4
...During the 1920’s there was a great rise in popularity of African American Culture. As African Americans participated in the Great Migration, they set goals for themselves as they entered a new country and culture. Harlem was the town that the African Americans all migrated to, there they felt safe because it was the world's largest black urban community. Soon Harlem became overcrowded and began suffering from poverty. This was the cause of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American Culture. There were multiple associations such as the NAACP and the UNIA created during the Harlem Renaissance to help protect and prevent violence from breaking out. The NAACP or the National Association...
Words: 375 - Pages: 2
...Langston Hughes’ “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun Or fester like a sore- And then run? Does it stink like rotten mean? Or crust and sugar over- Like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? ______________________________________________________________________________ Trevor B. Taylor A Dream Deferred, The Heartbeat of Harlem For the residents of Harlem, until the later half of the twentieth century, “wait” is all they ever heard. Wait! Wait for the laws to change before you can fulfill your destiny. Wait, until you’re allowed to go to college. If any of the people of Harlem were a shining gem just waiting to be polished, it might not ever happen, or it would have had to of been postponed. Because the residents of Harlem had black skin, their dreams were deferred. L. Hughes shines light on the minds of Harlem past and everyone else’s, who’ve experienced a dream that never came true or hasn’t yet. He effectively uses similes, metaphors, and rhetorical questions to express how he feels about a dream being postponed. The “dream” is a goal in life, not experienced while sleeping. an expected goal. The poem, in its’ current form leaves the dream up to the reader. But the poem was originally titled “Harlem”. Hughes since then gave this title to another one of his poems that more clearly states was happening there. That poem in black ink, clearly states...
Words: 1774 - Pages: 8
...In the beginning of 1950’s, African American were under the straggle of civil-rights movement. Harlem is one of highlighted cities related to the movement. I, personally, interpreted the poem “Harlem” expressed the will that they never gave up to achieve it, and the distress that they had a hard time to attain it for a long time. The author of the poem “Langston Hughes” started the poem as “What happens to a dream deferred?” In this context, ‘Dream’ means ‘civil rights’ for African American people. They made an action to get the fundamental rights for a long time until then. However, it was definitely difficult to achieve. In this situation, the author asked the stability of the value of the dream which they were seeking for a large number of years. The first sentence “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” is suggesting the possibility that due to the passing of time the value of dream becomes more concentrated as a grape turns to a raisin. On the other hand, the next “Or fester like a sore--- And then run?” means the opposite, which is the negative aspect such as the meaning that the value of dream was lost because of elapse. Following “Does it stink like rotten meat?” has the negative nuance as the last sentence, while “Or crust and sugar over--- like a syrupy sweet” is the same meaning as the “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” The author is asking whether the value of dream, which is civil rights, is easily changeable or not, repeatedly mentioning the...
Words: 348 - Pages: 2
...Harlem Renaissance: As Harlem were given a by cultural, social and artistic is it has took places in between Harlem end of world. During in middle he was in cultural center of by drawing by a black writers, article, poets and scholars by many years. Is has came during in south fleeing and caste of system couldn’t express in their own talents they have. The among of this article and hard works of by this people are Langston Hughes and Claude McKay, Countee Cullen and Arna Bontemps, Zora Neale Hurston and Jean Toomer, Walter White and James Weldon Johnson. They all have that talents that that would able to work hard and make through all the way as black and white people couldn’t say about it because as you see they has them own work as leaving...
Words: 287 - Pages: 2
...of Renaissance is the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning. The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American cultural movement that focused on literature, music, theater, art, and politics. The Harlem Renaissance is important because it’s something that brought African Americans together as a whole. It allowed them to get the opportunities that people tried to strip them of. This was being human and normal. After the war the African American people began to migrate to Harlem and that’s when it all started. Harlem was the place the largest group of African Americans moved to during the African American Great Migration. Most African Americans came for work and a hope for a new life. Places such as The Apollo Theater and The Cotton Club, and Musicians, Writers and Actors were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. That’s what made the Harlem Renaissance. It was time for a cultural celebration.” African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and the struggle for abolition. The end of bondage had not brought the Promised Land many had envisioned.” “The Harlem Renaissance” ushistory, Independence Hall Association, 22 May 2014, http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp , 2008-2014 A music theater that has history, which means it wasn’t an ordinary place. An extraordinary place called the Apollo Theater. The Apollo Theater is located in Harlem, New York on 125th Avenue between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglas Boulevard. The Apollo...
Words: 1500 - Pages: 6
...Harlem Renaissance Poets Martha Harris Strayer University World Cultures Stephen Ripley May 27, 2013 The Harlem Renaissance was a period in history of the United States in which a group of individuals such as, poets, authors, and artists came together to express themselves. Two of the poets that I would be talking about are W.E.B Du Bois, and Claude McKay, and how they contributed to the Harlem Renaissance era. In the social roots of the Harlem Renaissance can be tracked back to the Great Migration during the First World War, the philosophical roots reach back to the turn of the century and the work of black historian and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), whose The Philadelphia Negro (1899) was the first sociological text on a black community published in the United States. In 1903, in his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois had proposed that the identity of African Americans was fraught with ambiguity. (Sayre, 2012, pg. 1174) When in 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded to advance the rights of black, Du Bois became editor of its magazine, The Crisis. Du Bois sense of the double-consciousness informing African American experience (a double-consciousness that informs the very term “African American”) was often expressed in the magazine’s pages. In this role he wielded an unequaled influence among middle-class black and progressive whites as the propagandist for the black protest from 1910 until 1934. (Rudwick...
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
...The American track record of its treatment to African Americans is saturated discrimination and segregation. To fight against the separate but equal reality African Americans, chose different ways to protest against that reality. It was through the different forms of writings that some educated and distinguished African American writers tried to portray the notion of double consciousness. Double consciousness is a term created by famous Harlem Renaissance writer W.E.B DuBois. The term double consciousness defines the action of African Americans to not only view themselves from their own unique perspective, but to also view themselves as they might be perceived by others ( in this case white people). Harlem Renaissance period provided the African American writers with the opportunity to expose the majority to double consciousness. It allowed the Caucasians to see the internal conflict of keeping with one’s heritage but wanting to make it in America under “white” standards. W.E.B Du Bois first citied double consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk and his writings signify “how a veil has come to be put over African-Americans, so that others do not see them as they are; African-Americans are obscured in America; they cannot be seen clearly, but only through the lens of race prejudice. Till this very day many African-Americans feel “unwanted” in America. I think back to a news video I saw about a black man named Earl Sampson that was arrested fifty six times and stopped and...
Words: 938 - Pages: 4
...The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement started at the end of World War I, but only began to get recognized around 1924. The Harlem Renaissance was made up of chiefly writers and was considered a phenomenon. This movement started at a time when racism was still at large. African Americans had to deal with the KKK and other racial prejudices in society. The Harlem Renaissance was significant because it was the first time African Americans expressed their views on racism and their self-love for one another, using lyrical styles that was never seen before in African American writing. Two of the most prominent poets of the time were Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance happened fifty seven years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Previously, African Americans didn’t have much education or a chance to make their mark in the literary world. They didn’t have much of a chance because they were still looked upon as inferior. They were also thought not to have a distinct cultural heritage. The United States got involved in World War I in the year 1917. At that time, race riots were happening and lynchings were frequent. After World War I ended in 1918, African Americans started coming to the North hoping to escape the racist treatment in the South. Unfortunately, life in the North wasn’t that much greater. In the South, more and more race riots occurred and many black people were beaten and killed-- this was known as “Red Summer” (Anderson...
Words: 1333 - Pages: 6
...The Harlem Renaissance's Impact on American Literature The Harlem Renaissance also known as the "New Negro Movement," was a cultural movement that spanned in the 1920's to the mid 1930's. It was a time in history that displayed the unique culture of African American expression, through literature, art, music, and dance. This African American culture grew out of Harlem, New York and symbolized freedom from the oppression of slavery. It was described as the spiritual coming of age in which African Americans had a chance to express their creativity. The Harlem Renaissance is noted as being a literary movement were African Americans could celebrate their heritage and reveal the truth about their life and the first time their literature was taken seriously by critics and publishers. The birth of the Harlem Renaissance came out of Harlem, New York in the early 1920's, "it was a time for a cultural celebration. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and the struggle for abolition." (U.S History, 2008) It is described as racial pride and an intense desire for equality. It represented a time by the end of the war in 1919 where African Americans was going to be much more aggressive than their prewar brothers. Harlem was considered the capital of the black world, because it attracted thousands of blacks from the South and the West indies. It provided economic and education for African American artist. In Harlem, people demanded respect from those who continued to keep racist...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...Selisha Landry HUM 2425 Professor Love-Hartman June 6, 2011 The Harlem Renaissance – An Era of Great Change The music, clubs, sports, fashions, and people all together with change, composed together created a movement of power and control for blacks in the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem. Life in Harlem wasn’t your average Southern hospitality. It was filled with excitement and fun. Any two A.M. morning was a simple 12 P.M. afternoon. The streets were blazing with jazz, dance, and people on their way to dance clubs, jobs, or simply roaming the streets to enjoy what Harlem had to offer. Clubs were the main attraction. That went for both blacks and whites. Young whites were entertained with the new style of music rather than the traditional music they listened to with parents who disapproved of “Harlem Music.” Two of the most famous black clubs in Harlem were the Cotton Club and Renaissance Casino and Ballroom. The Cotton Club was a place of great entertainment, featuring three stage shows nightly with anyone from Billie Holiday to Cab Calloway, all the way to Duke Ellington. The club was originally owned by a black icon, then sold to Jack Johnson, a famous black heavyweight champion. He later sold the club to Owney Madden- a mobster of Harlem. A major part of its’ popularity was because many white patrons wanted to see the infamous Owney Madden and Al Capone. Another reason for its’ popularity was when CBS began broadcasting in the Cotton Club in...
Words: 1479 - Pages: 6
...called the Harlem Renaissance? What makes it significant to African –American culture? What was the “common source” that inspired black artists during this period? The Harlem Renaissance was first named the movement. It was named Harlem because of its location (Harlem, New York). It was the hub of were black people could express their creativity involving the arts. Blues, Jazz, poetry and art were the main focus during that period. In addition, they also was allowed to express their social views about race or taboo without repercussion from white society. This time period is where the great poets such as Langston Hughes and author Zora Hurston could freely express themselves. Their common ground was to boldly create expressive art without boundaries exemplyfing their social conditions with dignity and humility despite their struggles. What is your favorite poem by Langton Hughes? My favorite poem is called I, Too. Langston sends a strong message to white America. He is saying, I laugh at you for separating yourself from me because of the color of my skin. I too am an American. How dare you send me to the back because of my skin tone, I will not go. I will stand strong were you can see me. I am beautiful and I will stand her and not be moveable so you can see just how beautiful my blackness is. You see, I am an American just like you. This poem is powerful. Langston Hughes was a power poet that was not afraid to express himself. Do you believe the Harlem Renaissance...
Words: 281 - Pages: 2
...Harlem Renaissance was a time of explosive culture and growth in the black community. During this time in the 1920s and 30s, it was not only the birth place of jazz but also we heard voices of the African American Authors who were taken serious by their white connects for the first time in history. It focused on portraying black culture and life in the ghetto. And it gave the African American Culture uniqueness within literature and art. Harlem Renaissance was an evident racial pride that symbolized the melodic theme of the New Negro. New Negro challenged the penetrating racial discrimination to encourage socialistic help of art and literature. As to be significant in the Harlem Renaissance the writers used poetry to present the African American experiences. Grabbing the attention between both black and white readers around the world. One Poet that set that bar really was Langston Hughes he was one of the most popular black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was great at his job with more diversity in his choice of writings. He had written Plays, Novels, Poems, and Short Stories, Most of his writings were the real situations that really happened in black cultures. Movies were highly looked up upon in the Harlem Renaissance. D.W. Griffith directed “The Birth of a Nation” the film was over African Americans directors who countered negative stereotypes promoted in majority of the mainstream movies. Then released films in The Harlem Renaissance showcased the struggle of the...
Words: 2245 - Pages: 9
...| Poetry & The Harlem Renaissance | Hum 112: Professor Jocelyn Thornton | | Tara Umstead | 8/24/2014 | | The dictionary defines Renaissance as A rebirth or revival. The Harlem Renaissance was started in the mid 1920’s. It was a time of renewal and revival for African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance ushered slavery from the minds of African Americans alike. Their spirit was renewed culturally through art, music, and poetry. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans migrated North during World War I, because of the shortage of laborers. This migration brought a very diverse mix of cultures from all around. Harlem was full of life 24hrs a day. Jazz clubs and dancing even alcohol was secretly being served. The city was filled with African Americans looking to release all the troubles from the many years of slavery. The nightlife was also enjoyed immensely by upper class white people. New forms of music were born during the Harlem Renaissance. Blues was introduced and the love of Jazz was heightened. Life and living greatly inspired the literature works of this time. As Black Americans, started rebuilding their lives, they still portrayed a sense of self consciousness, self-doubt and didn’t value themselves as true Americans. Before the Harlem Renaissance W. E. B. Du Bois, wrote The Souls of Black Folk. This literary work of art explained the double-consciousness of African Americans. Double-consciousness is the sense of always looking at one’s...
Words: 875 - Pages: 4
...Analyzing the Harlem Renaissance Spahne J. Jenkins Prof. Bryant August 3, 2010 Comp 1302 The Harlem Renaissance, (1920’s – mid 1930’s) was a movement that created black cultural acknowledgement for artist. In Harlem, a neighborhood in the city of New York, Alain Locke became the center of this movement for black artist. Locke transformed the way of thinking for black artists during The Harlem Renaissance, not only opened the doors for other black writers, it made away for blacks in the now generation, in comparison with the civil rights movement. The Harlem Renaissance started the beginning of the post World War II part of the Civil Rights movement. These transitions created forward movement for black artist literature. In studying the African American culture, the 1920’s was a time when blacks and white Americans discovered the uniqueness of black art, music and literature. Many people that spoke French were black writers from African and Caribbean colonies. Also they lived in Paris and were influenced by the Renaissance, so they built they’re confidence and continued working harder on their gift. Contributing factors before the Harlem Renaissance was The Great Migration of African Americans to the northern parts of the U. S. These cities included: Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia, which this movement forced employers to create jobs for lots of people. The breakthrough of the Harlem Renaissance actually began in the late 1917. Plays written by white...
Words: 430 - Pages: 2
