The Roaring Twenties: The End Of The Harlem Renaissance

The development of many unique styles of such art was also started due to the Harlem Renaissance, much

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

The Harlem Renaissance is a term that encompasses an intellectual and literary movement of the 1920s and 1930s. A renowned scholar, Alain Locke, argued that “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination” (1926). Moreover, The Harlem Renaissance refers to the re-birth of African Americans who needed “an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racism” (Gates, 1997: 929). In their research, Shukla and Banerji state the the Harlem Renaissance “can be considered as the spring of Afro-American voice” that previously remained unheard and unnoticed (2012). For the first time black musicians and artists came to the fore of attention and started to be praised for their work.

The 1920s was a time of great change. From fashion to politics, this period is known as one of the most explosive decades in American history. After WWI, America became one of the world’s most formidable superpowers. The rise to power prompted the 1920s to become a decade of evolution for women’s rights, African American’s rights, and consumerism. In the early twentieth century, women’s status in society was continuously evolving.

“The Roaring 20’s” took place in America during the 1920’s. The economy would be going through a state of recovery during this time period. The economy was becoming more urbanized with business booming, American wealth going up, and the rise of media. The use of automobiles, electricity, media and music soared during these times. Automobile sales rose by 5million and also prompted for the construction of more businesses and roads.

With those new opportunities they took to art, literature, and music, and gave themselves a voice to express life beyond the slave oppression. The Harlem Renaissance started a change for African Americans that motivated them to express themselves through their own culture and history. The legacy of the writers/poets, artists, and musicians had a great effect on the African American community by giving hope for better days.

African Americans lived in a world of racial injustices and cultural restrictions until the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where there is an African American literary and art movement in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood. It is the turning point in African American culture, as well as their place in America. The African Americans were starting to become equal in American society. While the Renaissance built on earlier traditions of African American culture, it was greatly affected by the trends of the Europeans and white Americans.

The Great Migration was a time of change it was a time where African-Americans had the chance for a nice life. During this time people of color were moving to the northern half of the USA, in order to get a new start. During this they had to leave the only life they knew in hopes for something better in a different place. To begin with, after World War 1 began in 1914 industries lacked the laborers in their urban cities.

The Harlem Renaissance was a black literary and art movement that began in Harlem, New York. Migrants from the South came to Harlem with new ideas and a new type of music called Jazz. Harlem welcomed many African Americans who were talented. Writers in the Harlem Renaissance had separated themselves from the isolated white writers which made up the “lost generation” The formation of a new African American cultural identity is what made the Harlem Renaissance and the Lost Generation unique in American culture because it influenced white literacy and it was a sense of freedom for African Americans.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of black individualism, a time marked by a vast array of characters whose uniqueness challenged the traditional inability of white Americans to differentiate between blacks. In fact, the Harlem community is made up of African-Americans and Western Indians. These blacks number more than 10,000 protested against racial discrimination and injustice from the white American society. Many changes took place during the emergence of Harlem, where many blacks came to Harlem, although they were mainly immigrants from the countryside and agricultural south to urban industrial centers in the north such as Harlem. The majority of Blacks have settled in Harlem.

Racism is a prominent issue or a serious problem in the American society since the beginning and the Americans are still struggling to eradicate this problem from their land. American soil has witnessed civil rights movements concerning this issue in the past. However in 1920, a movement got initiated to promote black identity known as Harlem Renaissance. It was also a fine arts movement that led to an increase in black confidence, literacy rate, and black culture. Writers wrote about their roots and the current society.

Artist such as Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Bessie Smith, amongst others, were beginning to express attitudes of hope, freedom and solidarity. Although it was primarily an artistic movement, it was also a political social movement. Despite the challenges of race and class, the Harlem Renaissance represented a new social interaction between Blacks and Whites. As a result of the big migration, the image of African Americans changed from rural country bumpkins to one of urban sophistication. African Americans began to generate a sense of pride within themselves, and a discovery of their own identity.

If they before were disregarded, in the 1920s their works were widespread. Harlem Renaissance has changed not only cultural but social and political position of African-Americans in American society. The mass migration to the North changed the image of the African-American person, he was not an ignorant and illiterate peasant anymore, he turned into a smart and educated representative of the Middle class. Thanks to this changes, African-Americans became the part of the American and then the world cultural and intellectual elite.

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Roaring Twenties were characterized by large growth economically and culturally in the United States. One example of the cultural growth that occurred was in Harlem, and it was called the Harlem Renaissance. Like the previous Renaissances of other countries, the Harlem Renaissance displayed a great growth in the arts. The Harlem Renaissance was not only an advancement of African American culture and art, but culture and art of the United States. One person that supported the advancements of the arts was Alain Locke.