Transcript the harlem renaissance - Copley

THE HARLEM
RENAISSANCE
The Harlem Renaissance
• African-American writers, thinkers and artists made
their first powerful contribution to American culture.
• Period from the end of World War I (1918) and
through the middle of the 1930’s Depression.
SOUTHERN BLACKS AND THE LURE OF THE NORTH
• Prior to 1914 most African Americans remained in
the South (nearly fifty years after the Civil War!)
– Plenty of reasons for blacks to leave the South, but little
economic advantage to moving north.
• World War I changes this:
– 1) war generates new opportunities for industry
– 2) much of existing labor supply leaves work force
– 3) immigrant labor pool evaporates.
The Great Migration
• approx. 1 million African
Americans involved in
Great Migration
•Black populations moved
to northern cities like
Chicago and New York
•In New York, city blacks
moved to the upper west
side, in Harlem.
•In Chicago, they moved to
the South side.
THE NORTH AS PROMISED LAND AND LAND OF
BROKEN PROMISES
Economic gains are real, but limits are
frustrating
+ Labor saving devices and shorter
working hours gave AA more leisure
time
+ Higher wages gave AA money to
spend on leisure activities.
-
Rising racism leads to strict
segregation that causes overcrowding,
run-down conditions, and artificially
high rents.
Music of the HR
•
•
•
•
Bessie Smith
Duke Ellington
Louis
Armstrong
Cab Calloway
Music of the Harlem renaissance –
The Jazz Age
•The traditional jazz band was
composed primarily of brass
instruments and was considered a
symbol of the south
•The piano was considered an
instrument of the wealthy
•Jazz of the Harlem Renaissance
added Piano to the existing genre to
create a new style that blurred the
lines between poor and socially elite
AA’s.
Notes: write this down
•This musical style became more and
more attractive to whites.
Music of the HR
•
Jazz combined African
Rhythms, blues and Ragtime
to produce a new sound
•
Jazz spread from its birthplace
in New Orleans to other parts
of the country and made its
way into the nightclubs of
Harlem
•
Why it matters: Much of
today’s popular culture had its
origins in the Jazz age ( and
the Harlem renaissance)
Important Features of the HR
• It became a symbol of new vitality, Black urbanity, and Black
militancy.
• It encouraged a new appreciation of African American folk
roots and culture. This provided a rich source for racial
imagination.
• Led to immense contributions by African Americans to the
arts; music, painting and literature.
• Common subjects/themes: alienation, marginality, race
relations, racism, spirituality, community
Why did the Harlem Renaissance
End?
• HR ended because the central ideas had been exhausted
by the mid 1930s.
• Depression meant there was less leisure time and
money for both African Americans and whites—no
more white patronage to clubs in Harlem
• There were only so many poems and short stories to be
written about "what it means to feel black like me" and
"what does Africa mean to me?”
• Artists began to focus on their “class” position rather
than their ethnic or racial specialness.