The Harlem Renaissance The cause of Harlem Renaissance started from the great migration. Thousands of African Americans moved from the south to Harlem Manhattan in New York City. The urban setting of rapidly developing Harlem provided a venue for African Americans of all backgrounds to appreciate the variety of Black life and culture. The Harlem Renaissance encouraged the new appreciation of folk roots and culture. Though it centered in Harlem it was a nationwide movement. It started during the 1920’s that lasted through the mid 30’s.
The Harlem Renaissance was a significant and powerful movement in the lives of African Americans (“Harlem”). Also on the other hand, it was just more than a movement, it involved racial pride it inspired African Americans to have a “new identity” and it allowed their achievements to bloom, which was mostly jazz and art. Also many African Americans made major political, social and artistically changes. These changes were known as the “New Negro”. The “New Negro” demanding civil and political rights. The Renaissance incorporated jazz and the blues, attracting whites to Harlem speakeasies, where interracial couples danced.
But the Renaissance had little impact on breaking down the rigid barriers of Jim Crow that separated the aces (“PBS”). The term “New Negro” came from the man who made the Harlem Renaissance what it was. His name was Alain LeRoy Locke. He was a philosopher that was best known for his writing and support of the Harlem Renaissance. Alain promoted African-American artists and writers, encouraging them to look for artistic inspiration. Locke’s writing focused on African and African-American identity. His part on developing the movement, he was named the “Father of the Harlem Renaissance.
His views on African-American intellectual and cultural life differed from those of other Harlem Renaissance leaders such W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois believed that African- American artists should aim to uplift their race, Locke argued that the artist’s responsibility was primarily to himself or herself (“10, Aalin, All”). The continuing hardships faced by African Americans in the Deep South and the urban North were severe. It took the environment of the new American city to bring in close proximity some of the greatest minds of the day.
Harlem brought notice to great works that might otherwise have been lost or never produced. The results were phenomenal. The artists of the Harlem Renaissance undoubtedly transformed African American culture. But the impact on al| American culture was equally strong. For the first time, white America could not look away(“PBS”). In 1909, Du Bois co-founded a bi-racial organization to advance justice for African Americans, called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It is an organization in the United States, that is still active today.
Its purpose is “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. Aside from W. E. B Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Louis Armstrong were two ther most influential people that associated with the Harlem Renaissance (“10”). Langston Hughes believed that black artists should focus on the widespread and create individual “Negro” art. He famously wrote about the period that “the negro was in vogue”.
Considered among the greatest poets in U. S. istory, Hughes was one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry, poetry that “demonstrates jazz-like rhythm”. His works often portrayed the lives of middle class African Americans. Hughes was a proponent of creating distinctive “Negro” art and not falling for the “urge within the race toward whiteness” (“PBS”). He was also one of the early creators of an art form known as “jazz poetry”. No aspect of the Harlem Renaissance shaped America and the entire world as much as jazz. Jazz broke many musical conventions with its syncopated rhythms and improvised instrumental solos.
Harlem’s famous club called Cotton Club boasted the talents of Duke Ellington. Singers popularized blues and jazz vocals. Louis Armstrong drew huge audiences as white Americans as well as African Americans caught jazz fever. Jazz was developed by African-American musicians in New Orleans. That city was the home of Louis Armstrong, who became one of he world’s great jazz musicians (“10, The Jazz”). Louis Armstrong came to fame in the 1920s. He was a trumpeter, bandleader, singer, soloist, film star and comedian.
He was the greatest of all Jazz musicians and considered one of the most influential artists in jazz history. Known for his unique voice Armstrong was also skilled at scat singing. He is known for songs like “What a Wonderful World. “, Louis Armstrong is not only the most popular musician of the movement but also considered among the greatest artists in jazz history. He first became known as an creative trumpet and cornet player. And in the mid-1920s he merged as the first great jazz soloist. His contribution in the development and popularity of jazz music cannot be overstated.
Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day. Only Charlie Parker comes close to having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did. Armstrong’s charismatic stage presence impressed not only the jazz world but all of popular music. Harlem Renaissance is famous for African American music which gained prominence during the movement, especially jazz. Rising to prominence in the 1920s as the renaissance peaked (Biography, Satchamo, Jazz).
In conclusion, The Harlem Renaissance was one of the best things that happened to African Americans. It allowed their achievements and intelligence to flourish and to be known. If it wasn’t for that a lot of their achievements wouldn’t be known and credited for. Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the “New Negro”, The creation of art and literature would serve to “uplift” the race. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses.
The Harlem Renaissance grew out of the changes that had taken place in the African-American community since the abolition of slavery, as the expansion of communities in the North. These accelerated as a consequence of World War I and the great social and cultural changes in early 20th-century United States. Industrialization was attracting people to cities from rural areas and gave rise to a new culture. Contributing factors leading to the Harlem Renaissance were the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities, which motivated ambitious people in places where they could encourage each other.
