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.
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.
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 Souls of Black Folk” Review Written by the popular civil rights activist W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk is a series of essays and sketches that proposes the "the problem of the Twentieth Century as the problem of the color-line” and describes “double consciousness”, that is, seeing oneself not only through his or her own eyes but from the perspective of others as well. Throughout the writing, Du Bois is constantly addressing the progression of blacks since the abolishment of slavery, the future of blacks, and the obstacles that must be overcome in order to obtain that future. When compared to the lives of other African Americans during this time period, Du Bois had an advantage in that he was born in the free northern community of Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1868, where he was treated as an equal and encouraged to pursue his intellectual interests. As a result, he was able to achieve a high level of education, this being a doctorate at Harvard College, which he was was the first African American to receive. His experience with academic studies led him to believe that he could use his knowledge to empower African Americans, and in 1897, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University.
In order to completely understand what the New York City draft riots reveal about the character of New York City, it is necessary to explore what started the riots, also to look at the riots from differing perspectives, including that of the African Americans, the Immigrants and the Natives. However, the draft riots also represented a significant step forward for New York. The economic and social elites as well as government became, to some extent, sympathetic to the poor of New York. Immigrants gained political strength and African Americans also benefited economically and socially. The New York draft riots were a culmination of the mounting economic, political, and social tensions that existed among New York’s melting pot of cultures.
The Great Migration Essay The Great Migration is a term used in the U.S. history to denote the period in the 20th century, from 1916 to 1970, when African Americans, based in the South, moved on a large scale from rural communities. While initially living mostly in the Southern states, during the Great Migration nearly six million African Americans relocated to the large urban cities in the North, West and Midwest. The Reasons for the Great Migration African Americans moved out to escape the miserable conditions in the South that included low wages, racism and lynching. By contrast, in the backdrop of the growth of industries there was an acute shortage of the labor in the North. So the movement was spurred to seek better education for their children and more lucrative employment for themselves.
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.
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.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920’s and 1930’s. During a 90 day period in the 1920’s, 12,000 African Americans left the state of Mississippi to head north with a promise of new jobs due to the war, and this was happening all across the south. At the time it was known as the “New Negro Movement” named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke. Although it was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, many French speaking black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris where also influenced by the Harlem renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance is believed to have its social roots traced back to the great migration during the First World War and its philosophical roots back to the turn of the century and the work of black historian and sociologist W.E.B.
The impact of slavery on these United States of America has had long-lasting and far- reaching effects on the culture of this nation. The notion that one is a product of their past has been like a concrete bolder tied around the necks of the generations, which followed the institution of slavery. An institution formed to encourage the economic enterprise in the Americas at the beginning of an immigration onslaught to these newly formed United States. However, the political environment of era in addition to racism encouraged in British society, which followed the colonist to the new world; encouraged and in many ways fostered division of the people based on color. Moreover, as the institute of slavery was producing great economic wealth for