Harlem Renaissance 3 Essay, Research Paper
The Harlem Renaissance
I. Introduction
II. Definition of the Harlem Renaissance
A. The Time of the Harlem Renaissance
B. What was the Harlem Renaissance
III. Music of the Harlem Renaissance
A. Kinds of music
B. The big people
IV. Drama of the Harlem Renaissance
A. Kinds of drama
B. The big people
V. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
A. Kinds of Literature
B. The Big People
VI. Art of the Harlem Renaissance
A. Kinds of Art
B. The Big People
VII. Reason
A. Why did they write the way they did?
B. The message that they were trying to send
VIII Decline of the Harlem Renaissance
A. The Reason for the Decline
B. The Aftermath of the Harlem Renaissance
IX. Poem by Langston Hughes
X. Conclusion
Thesis: The Harlem Renaissance was a prosperous time, and Black Americans
benefited from the rapid growth in the economy in music, drama,
literature, and art.
The Harlem Renaissance
The place of growth was known as New York City. The time of year
was the 1920s. This time period was also known as the Jazz Age. The
music was played mostly in a Manhattan neighborhood known as Harlem.
Harlem created a growth of African-American culture which created a
community exploding with art, politics, energy, and racial pride. The
Harlem Renaissance was a prosperous time, and Black Americans benefited
from the rapid growth in the economy in music, drama, literature, and art.
When blues was hot and jazz was a growing stay in America s
culture; when speakeasies were filled with both blacks and whites dancing
to the rhythms of life set out by the saxophone, trumpet, and drums…..
( Harlem ). This is the definition of the Harlem Renaissance. This
definition is true in many ways. The Harlem Renaissance was around the
time period of the 1920s and 1930s. The only aspect that I might know
about the Harlem Renaissance is that there were a lot of poetry, books, and
music going around. There were numerous clubs and places to hang out in
Harlem. The clubs were filled with over three hundred well-dressed blacks
and whites.
The main interest of the clubs were the music and dancing. Jazz
music, invented by black musicians in New Orleans, Louisiana, hit Harlem
and the rest of the country with such force that the 1920s became known as
the Jazz Age (Chambers 9). Jazz was one of the many types of music that
was the most popular during the Harlem Renaissance. The other popular
music was the Blues. Blues is unlike jazz. This is because jazz has a more
up-beat and blues have a real down-beat. The dances that were popular was
known as the Boogie-Woogie, the Turkey Trot, and the Big Apple. Those
were just few of the many dances that developed during the Harlem
Renaissance.
Black writers were dependent on white publishers, but white
publishers were sincerely interested in black literature, and they worked
closely with black writers and intellectuals to achieve a viable literary
movement (Wintz 162). The only way that black writers could get in the
literature business was that they got in with someone who is white. The
white people knew that the only way that they could have a booming
business is to have black literature. This is because the only literature that
could really sell is the black literature. So for the whites to make money,
they had to get in with the blacks. This would then work out for both of
them.
The Harlem Renaissance produced a shine of new authors during this
time period. The authors knew each other well and they frequently
exchanged ideas. The Renaissance writers remain important not just for
their own work but because the literary tradition they built would become a
platform from which future African-American voices could shout and be
heard.
There were many big authors during the Harlem Renaissance. You
still hear some names now. They were Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer,
Jessie Redmon Fauset, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman,
and Zora Neale Hurston.
Besides literature and music, there was also art involved in the
Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s, European and white American painters
tangled with new ways to express the industrial world that was growing
behind them. Many of those painters were influenced by African tribal
culture. The Harlem Renaissance was much more than simply a white fad,
but the extent of white interest and support shaped the movement in many
ways (Chambers 86). The white people really paid attention to Harlem
when the blacks began to take an interest in artwork. The black artwork
was really interesting to many whites and other minorities. This would
bring whites to recognize the importance of the Harlem Renaissance.
Local artists reflected the change of the Harlem Renaissance by
introducing their artworks. They painted many different scenes, and they
had many different ideas. Some of the ideas that were used were men and
women of a sophisticated city, a streamlined graphic style known as Art
Deco, and others used brushes to record the new African-American
communities springing up in the North. There were many big artists during
the Harlem Renaissance such as, James Van Der Zee, Aaron Douglas, and
Richard Bruce Nugent. These are just a few of talented artists in the Harlem
Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance ended with a good ending. Blacks still
received recognition for what they did during that time period. The
Harlem Renaissance, which had begun with a burst of creativity in the
mid-1920s, gradually dissipated in the early 1930s (Wintz 217). The
Harlem Renaissance ended with the decline of the economy. This decline
was also known as a depression. This depression caused changes in the
economic growth and it halted the Harlem Renaissance. The depression
stopped attracting more people that would bring wealth to Harlem by their
talents, whether it is art, literature, or music. The depression also brought
about the dropping out of other well-known writers. These writers later on
died in the near future. Several writers held on to write about black history.
The ones that did not, just faded from the public view. After the Harlem
Renaissance, many writers that were left were suffering to support
themselves. This poem by Langston Hughes is a fairly good definition of
the times that Blacks were going through.
Same in Blues
I said to my baby,
Baby, take it slow.
I can t, she said, I can t!
I got to go!
There s certain
amount of traveling
in a dream deferred.
Lulu said to Leonard,
I want a diamond ring.
Leonard said to Lulu,
You won t get a goddamn thing!
A certain
amount of nothing
in a dream deferred
Daddy, daddy, daddy
All I want is you.
You can have me, baby–
but my lovin days is through.
A certain
amount of importance
in a dream deferred
Three parties
On my party line–
But that third party,
Lord, ain t mine!
There s liable
to be confusion
in a dream deferred.
From river to river
Uptown and down,
There s liable to be confusion
when a dream gets kicked around.
You talk like
they don t kick
dreams around
Downtown.
I expect they do–
But I m talking about
Harlem to you!
Harlem to you!
Harlem to you!
Harlem to you!
By : Langston Hughes
(DiYanni 549)
The Harlem Renaissance was a prosperous time, and
Black Americans benefited from the rapid growth in the
economy in music, drama, literature, and art. The Harlem
Renaissance was a time for the black people to come together
as one. The Harlem Renaissance has really showed us that we
can do anything that we put our minds to.
Works Cited
Chambers, Veronica. The Harlem Renaissance. Philadelphia: Chelsea
House Publishers, Inc., 1998.
DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the
Essay. Pace University, Pleasantville: McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company, Inc., 1990.
The Harlem Renaissance. Online Internet. 21 October 1999. Available:
http://www.unc.edu/courses/eng81br1/harlem.html.
Singh, Amritjit. The Novels of the Harlem Renaissance. The Pennsylvania
State University Press, Inc., 1976.
Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance. Houston,
Texas: Rice University Press, Inc., 1988.