The Harlem Renaissance and Pop Art: Is it Possible That They Are Related? The Harlem Renaissance refers to the period in the early 1900s when African American art, writing and drama began to take hold in the cultural hotbed that was Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. Due to the anti-black legislation that was being passed in the South and the general culture of hatred and fear in the former slave states, African Americans flocked north and west in the Great Migration; they hoped to find a place where there was more social and economic freedom for African Americans. This grouping of black people from all walks of life, from poor former sharecroppers, to the black middle class, to recent immigrants from the Caribbean and other areas, lead to a blossoming of ideas and artistic styles that created a new black culture. This Harlem Renaissance period began when a white playwright put complex and thoroughly human African-American characters into his plays.
Harlem Renaissance: Outburst of Creativity The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement in American history wherein the uniqueness and creativity of African American culture was celebrated. Situated in the black community in uptown New York, the Harlem Renaissance developed a body of artistic talent which had never been seen in America (Ferguson, 24). Instead of wallowing in self-pity, African Americans ignited an explosion of culturist pride. They asserted themselves by embracing their racial identity, appreciating their heritage. Harlem became home to black people, many of whom had dreams and aspirations of expressing their individual artistic talents.
The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, was direct product of the Great Migration through location, racial pride, and social construction. The Great Migration created some of the first urban black communities in the North. The city most concentrated with blacks was Harlem, a small neighborhood in Manhattan. New York during the Great Migration was a popular port Black migrants and Harlem was the cultural heart of African-Americans. Many talented and educated blacks couldn’t excel in the South it denied them the right to display their skills and talent.
The Harlem Renaissance was a time period where culture became a big issue in the African American community. More writers, poets, play wrights and other artistic figures came into place. Through this time (early 20th century) the term New Negro became more developed. The term originated from the 19th century as a sort of nick name for newly arrived slaves. The New Negro term included “violent resistance to oppression and the conservative anti-protest orientation of Booker T. Washington.” (Ferguson, 3) Writers had a big influence on the community throughout newspapers, magazines, etc; and most writers believe d that the New Negro should exemplify creativity, independence, strength, power, equality, and improvement.
Intro to US 2 27 March 2012 The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a time in American history when African American culture could finally intermingle with the culture already established in America. Starting after World War 1, the HR was “about creating art that could be shared with others—both whites and blacks” (Rau 5). The influx of African Americans moving to Harlem was caused by the increasing hostility towards African Americans in the South. Around the start of the Great Migration, which was the movement of six million African Americans from the South to the North, there was a surge in Klu Klux Klan activity. Even thought there was not much more opportunity in the North, at least there was racial tolerance, something the African Americans of the South were craving.
This essay will discuss Norwood’s notion of hip hop and its ability to aid racial freedom and Black Nationalism. Slave narrative is a literary account of a slave’s life; Norwood states that hip hop is a modern day slave narrative that brings to light the problems African Americans have to face in the 21st century. As well as hip hop being a slave narrative for modern day African Americans globalisation has enabled other minorities and oppressed peoples to use this culture as tool and a political weapon. Minorities such as Pacific Islander’s and Māori of Aotearoa, New Zealand have adapted hip hop and its culture (Mitchell). Songs such as Patea Maori club 1984 "Poi E" combine African American style with Maori language and tradition, some groups such as Upper Hutt
Bontemps moved to New York City shortly after his first poem “Hope” was published in THE CRISIS: A RECORD OF THE DARKER RACES (August 1924). Bontemps was an influential and significant member of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the themes of his work had an integrative approach to African American writings; his attitude toward folk material and Africa, and his racial protest, reflect the primary concerns of Harlem Renaissance literature.
The production of race and racism in the American context was shaped by several events during the 19th and 20th centuries. The definition of race shifted from excluding skin color to being its primary factor in its new construction. Race and racism in the American context was invented as a response through political struggles and disputes. In, Love & Theft Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class, Lott explains how blackface minstrelsy was a popular means of entertainment in America in the mid 19th century. Blackface minstrelsy was an event during the mid 19th century that helped produce race and racism relating it to skin color.
Assignment 2: Project Paper World Cultures II – HUM 112 The Harlem Renaissance was a renewal and flourishing of black literary and musical culture during the years after World War I which started approximately around 1914 and ended around 1919, in the Harlem section of New York City. This topic is also very historical, and creative, literally and figuratively. But, overall it is something different instead of writing about World Wars and the Civil Rights Movement; it is imperative to know the history of where “black arts” comes from. The Harlem Renaissance was the most influential times of cultural black history, in so many different aspects. (Bontemps, 1972) The Harlem Renaissance helped “black folk” in ways that catapulted them to a higher level in the arts, music, and literature.
In the decades immediately following World War I, huge numbers of African Americans migrated to the industrial North from the economically depressed and agrarian South. In cities such as Chicago, Washington, DC, and New York City, the recently migrated sought and found (to some degree) new opportunities, both economic and artistic. African Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become "The New Negro," a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke in his influential book of the same name. Countee Cullen thought long and hard in his poems about his own and collective African-American identity. Some of his strongest poems question the benevolence of a Creator who has bestowed a race with such mixed blessings.