Harlem Renaissance and Emergence of Black Independence
Despite overt racism, how did Negro's improve life in the 1920's for themselves?
Consistent with the times, both women and African Americans had a difficult time gaining rights for themselves despite their hard work and persistence in the past. All the people over the centuries that had attempted integration into society had not succeeded as far as total equality, but progress had been made, especially the significance of the Civil War, eliminating slavery from America. Further than that, African Americans were still treated harshly and not seen as persons. Although not considered person, they were still able to aid in wars and fight, but they weren't allowed such basic rights as eating in the same restaurant as white people. Opposition led African Americans to migrate north during WWI to acquire jobs to support themselves, and eventually the Harlem Renaissance began, and it led to the development of racial consciousness and pride among African Americans.
Consistent with the times, both women and African Americans had a difficult time gaining rights for themselves despite their hard work and persistence in the past. All the people over the centuries that had attempted integration into society had not succeeded as far as total equality, but progress had been made, especially the significance of the Civil War, eliminating slavery from America. Further than that, African Americans were still treated harshly and not seen as persons. Although not considered person, they were still able to aid in wars and fight, but they weren't allowed such basic rights as eating in the same restaurant as white people. Opposition led African Americans to migrate north during WWI to acquire jobs to support themselves, and eventually the Harlem Renaissance began, and it led to the development of racial consciousness and pride among African Americans.
Vocabulary:
Renaissance- the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world
Jazz- music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles
Renaissance- the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world
Jazz- music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles
Thinking Like a Historian
Living the Past-
The past is similar to the present in the fact that there always may be some prejudice or people that think they are superior to someone else, or the unfairness of such notions. Over time, African Americans have gained rights to all the rights other people had, similar to any movements for rights.
Presently, all people, including African Americans, have acquired the basic and principle human rights that were denied them before. The Roaring Twenties seemed to be a sort of gateway into the introduction into equal rights for all, though it was just beginning in that time.
The past is similar to the present in the fact that there always may be some prejudice or people that think they are superior to someone else, or the unfairness of such notions. Over time, African Americans have gained rights to all the rights other people had, similar to any movements for rights.
Presently, all people, including African Americans, have acquired the basic and principle human rights that were denied them before. The Roaring Twenties seemed to be a sort of gateway into the introduction into equal rights for all, though it was just beginning in that time.
WWI developments to rise of Harlem Renaissance
Previous to WWI and during World War 1, many African-Americans migrated to northern cities for job opportunities that were not offered in many of the southern cities. The beginning and start of the war enabled job opportunities not only for women, but also for African Americans. Since women and African American were the groups in question for certain rights for a long period of time, it seemed monumental that the migration to the north occurred. Large numbers of African Americans left rural southern city and state homes to the urban centers in the north such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. where jobs opportunities were prominent. The black urban migration combined with trends throughout the 1920's American society and the rise of a group of radical black intellectuals were all contributions to the particular styles and success of black artists. A series of literary discussions began in lower Manhattan and upper Manhattan (Harlem) and it was first known as the 'New Negro Movement'. This was later called the Harlem Renaissance which brought creative activity in writing, art, and music. All of it redefined the expressions of African Americans and their heritage.
Racial consciousness and racial pride
Hoping to escape such harsh jobs as tenant farming, sharecropping, and peonage, 1.5 million blacks moved from Southern states to cities of the North. During the 10's and 20's Chicago's black population grew by 148% , Cleveland's by 307%, and Detroit's by 611%. Harlem, in upper Manhattan was a neighborhood that had been virtually all-white 15 years before, but was where 200,000 African Americans lived. The vast number contributed to racial pride and consciousness. The Harlem Renaissance was the first self-conscious literary and artistic movement in African American history. For decades, there had been interest in black history and culture of African Americans. There was a growing spirit of racial pride following introductions of Negro spirituals to the public and American Negro Academy which promoted literature, arts, music, and history of African Americans. Racial consciousness was first during the 1910's with black newspapers and magazines in that decade, and it became apparent there were black intellectuals and artists from across the country. The literature of the Harlem Renaissance were acclaimed to a fierce racial conscious and racial pride animated by all the literature.
Contributions in Music, Literature, And arts
The art, literature, and music of the Harlem Renaissance expressed the rebirth of the African American spirit and it was born in the minds of its poets and in the hearts of its common people. Such emotions were expressed in songs, essays, artwork, and dance. The city streets drew whites with the new sound of jazz and along with everything came a better place in American society. The decision to bring Harlem's rich cultural history back to life was made by drawing the wealthier to sway and dance to the jazz, shimmy with the dancers, and drink in the poetry and unique art. Some of the area was turned into speakeasiers, restaurants, coffee houses, art galleries, dance schools, and stores, which all depicted Harlem during the 20's.
Mass Media, birth and evolution of jazz, and Harlem renaissance to creation of new blend of American Culture
The new edition of Jazz music brought both blacks and whites to dance and lose the frigidity what had always served to distinguish the civilized from the darker people. Mass media of plays conveying complex human emotions and yearnings and more mass media such as magazines and newspapers helped to broadcast and emphasize the arts and literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Jazz and music in general helped to blur the lines between the poor Negros and elite. It combined brass instruments, symbols of the South, and piano, an instrument of the wealthy. The popularity spread throughout the country and it was at an all time high. The music became more and more attractive to whites, and Negros and whites began to merge together. The new blend of American culture came from integration of whites and blacks hesitantly contributed by mass media and jazz.
Marcus Garvey's UNIA
For centuries there was a long struggle for freedom, justice, and equality for African Americans. In history, Marcus Garvey was the leader of the largest mass movement organized, in black history, and he supported the ideal, "black is beautiful". Garvey is best-remembered as champion of the back-to Africa movement, and he was hailed as a redeemer, or a "Black Moses". His movement represents a liberation from the 'psychological bondage of racial inferiority'. Garvey had arrived in America at the dawn of the "New Negro" era, or the 1920's during the rise of the Harlem Renaissance. He traveled and lectured and organized a chapter of the UNIA. He combined his Jamaican roots of peasant aspirations for economic and cultural independence with the new American gospel of success and as a result there was a new gospel of racial pride. "Garveyism" was eventually evolved into a religion of success that inspired millions of black people worldwide to seek relief from racism and colonialism. A strengthening point of his movement that Garvey added was a great shipping line to foster black trade to transport passengers between America, the Caribbean, and Africa to serve as a symbol of black grandeur and enterprise. By 20's the UNIA hosted elaborate international conventions and published the Negro World, a widely read weekly that was soon banned in many parts of Africa and the Caribbean. The movement began to unravel due to internal dissension, opposition, and government harassment, but while it was active, the movement helped African Americans to assert themselves by preaching accommodation and political protest, and advocation of loyalty to established colonial government. The idea of self-government provided Garvey with his advocations of racial independence.
APPARTS
Author: The author of the magazine is The Independent, a magazine that was published during the 1920's in the Roaring Twenties.
Place and Time: The Independent was written in 1925, and the time directly affects the article that was written about Igor Stravinsky because during the 20's, the Harlem Renaissance was coming about, and with that came and the 20's in general came the Jazz Age also named the Roaring Twenties. It came from people's carelessness and feelings of freedom post-WWI. Along with this jazz age came the Harlem Renaissance, which included literature, art, and music. Music of the Harlem Renaissance created a new music directly coordinated/associated with the African Americans of Harlem.
Prior Knowledge: The Harlem Renaissance was important to the development of racial consciousness and racial pride that occurred during the Roaring Twenties, and literature, art, and music were built up to the culture of the African Americans, who developed their own sense of literature, art, and music, which included the creation of jazz. Igor Stravinsky was an acclaimed composer who advocated and practiced the composition of mechanical music, not merely piano music by an automatic instrument, but music composed without purpose of performance by hand designed for player-piano solely.
Audience: The audience could have been anyone in the 20's, possibly specifically to African Americans, or musically inclined people that were interested in the development of African American music during the Harlem Renaissance. Igor Stravinsky was a distinguished black man and he once said, "The player-piano resembles the piano, but it also resembles the orchestra. It shares the soul of the automobile. Beside the piano it is practical. It has a future, yes. Men will write for it."
Reason: This source was produced as an information article towards any audience interested during the on goings of the Harlem Renaissance, and any audience that was especially interested in involvement of the development of art, literature, and music.
The Main Idea: The author's key point concerned the distinguished African American man Igor Stravinsky, and his involvement with the player-piano ensemble, which was further built upon the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920's. The main message was that you do not have to search for the good music that comes from the simple player-piano that resembles the piano.
Place and Time: The Independent was written in 1925, and the time directly affects the article that was written about Igor Stravinsky because during the 20's, the Harlem Renaissance was coming about, and with that came and the 20's in general came the Jazz Age also named the Roaring Twenties. It came from people's carelessness and feelings of freedom post-WWI. Along with this jazz age came the Harlem Renaissance, which included literature, art, and music. Music of the Harlem Renaissance created a new music directly coordinated/associated with the African Americans of Harlem.
Prior Knowledge: The Harlem Renaissance was important to the development of racial consciousness and racial pride that occurred during the Roaring Twenties, and literature, art, and music were built up to the culture of the African Americans, who developed their own sense of literature, art, and music, which included the creation of jazz. Igor Stravinsky was an acclaimed composer who advocated and practiced the composition of mechanical music, not merely piano music by an automatic instrument, but music composed without purpose of performance by hand designed for player-piano solely.
Audience: The audience could have been anyone in the 20's, possibly specifically to African Americans, or musically inclined people that were interested in the development of African American music during the Harlem Renaissance. Igor Stravinsky was a distinguished black man and he once said, "The player-piano resembles the piano, but it also resembles the orchestra. It shares the soul of the automobile. Beside the piano it is practical. It has a future, yes. Men will write for it."
Reason: This source was produced as an information article towards any audience interested during the on goings of the Harlem Renaissance, and any audience that was especially interested in involvement of the development of art, literature, and music.
The Main Idea: The author's key point concerned the distinguished African American man Igor Stravinsky, and his involvement with the player-piano ensemble, which was further built upon the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920's. The main message was that you do not have to search for the good music that comes from the simple player-piano that resembles the piano.