The Harlem Renaissance was a series of African-American thought and cultures in the African American society formed in Harlem, New York city. The period that the Renaissance occurred was between the years 1920 and 1940. According to Bolland, cultural mediums such as dance, music, literature, politics, poem and theatre were used to achieve the objectives of the African-American. Rather than using the previous direct political means in conveying their message (2009). African-American artists and writers used the cultural approach in achieving their civil rights and goals in the society.
Probably the most noteworthy of these was its influence on black culture. For the first time, blacks in the United States were encouraged to acknowledge their African heritage. The same spirit of racial unity and pride that made the Black Power movement so dynamic also made it problematic and dangerous. Many whites, and a number of blacks, saw the movement as a black separatist organization bent on segregating blacks and whites and undoing the important work of the civil rights movement . There is no question that Black Power advocates had valid and pressing concerns.
These artists used their African American heritage to uplift and educated fellow Negros as well as whites. They eventually became known as the New Negro, an African American with racial pride and a desire for equality. Some of the African American artists and writers were Arna Bontemps, Bessie Mayle, Jacb Lawrence and James Weldon Johnson. ; and intellectuals like W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke.
‘Key individuals rather than organised campaigns were the real force for change in the achievement of equal rights for Americans’ Social inequality segregation and racism has held a heavy burden over African Americans in the history of United States. Being treated as a second class of human beings was something that the coloured people of America had to live with. Powerful individuals pushing for the triumph of equivalent rights for all Americans were the courage and determination behind the ongoing fight against the violent injustice that the white people of America cruelly imposing upon the Black society. The act of civil rights in 1964 was the transformation that the colored people of America had hoped for. The Americans were finally free from the gruelling oppression
Instead of the government allowing slavery, it looked like it found a loop hole to not treat people of color equally for anything whether it was sports, school or public facilities blacks were still treated as inferior. Thankfully the civil rights movement that occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s would turn out successful after years of civil demonstrations (some which would become riots e.g. : Birmingham, Alabama), marches, and speeches. One might say that one of the most famous speeches of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, would see fruition when looking at today’s society despite some traces of racism. Now we live in an era where different races can co-exist.
While there is still more work to be done to have true equality, a lot of work has already been done to start this movement. The end of slavery by Abraham Lincoln marked a new beginning of an era in which African Americans were free people, and were able to become U.S. citizens. The Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s and 60’s sparked an era of equality for African Americans with the help of the NAACP. The NAACP has supported African American rights since 1909, when it was first founded. With the help of the NAACP, African Americans will continue the fight for equal rights as American people.
Julie Huynh English/History February 29, 2012 Word Count: 449 The Civil Rights Movement The African-American civil rights movement was an act trying to get rid of the racial oppression in America. This movement wanted to win equal rights for African Americans. In the 1900s, racism against African Americans was very popular among cultures. White Americans would not share the rights that they had with the African Americans; instead, they put more labor and burden upon the African Americans’ shoulders. Because of this, the African Americans had many motives for the start of the Civil Rights Movement.
The first is represented by the likes of W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, who extolled the arts as an area where talented and culturally privileged African Americans could lead their race’s fight for equality. They believed that works of fine art inspired by the artists’ racial heritage and experience would prove the beauty of their race and its crucial contribution to American culture. The second comes from people like Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Aaron Douglas who saw the need to present the ordinary African American person objectively as an individual simply living in the flesh-and-blood world. They argued against painting and characterizing only “cultured” and “high-class” African Americans who paralleled the standards of white society.
I have so much empathy for the struggles and strive that they have endured for freedom, something many Americans take for granted. I found myself reading Red Summer and getting teary eyed because I had no idea about most of the events that occurred in 1919. It, in a sense, was a war that went on for blacks - a war that had to be fought in order for them to have the simple rights that whites enjoyed. I truly believe that the men and women who suffered and fought for their place in society are heroes. I found myself wondering what I would have done if I had lived in this time.
Hughes not only submitted some of the most appreciated works of poetry and prose on the subject of the experiences of his people, but he was also acknowledged as one of the first black authors to fully support himself with his works through fellowships and literary awards that he had earned. Hughes was also important in the movement due to his promotion of black theatre, and his producing of anthologies of the works of Black American writers (Bloom, 1995, pp. 73–74). In Hughes’ poem “Life is Fine” we can see evidence of the “double-consciousness”, and his struggles with remaining an individual true to his race in the lines “I took the elevator Sixteen floors above the ground. I thought about my baby And thought I would jump down” (Hughes, 1949).