Harlem Renaissance

During the great rebirth hundreds of African Americans migrated to Harlem. This “great migration” is known as the Harlem Renaissance and took place from 1919 through the mid 1930’s. The name Harlem Renaissance was given because Harlem is the place where most of the African American people migrated to, and “renaissance” means rebirth. The Harlem Renaissance was a new opportunity for African Americans. It helped show that African Americans had talent and shouldn’t be treated as second class citizens. In fact, African Americans were so outstanding they started a whole new era in America, including new music, literature, and entertainment. For a long time African Americans had been treated as second class citizens but that was all about to change. African Americans migrated to the north, specifically New York for a number of reasons. One being lots of them hadn’t worked for a while and were seeking job opportunities. The agriculture economy had died in the south so they were looking for refuge. African Americans showed that they were talented and were just as capable as white people were and in some cases even more talented through writing, music, and poetry, after they moved to Harlem. African Americans expressed themselves by writing music, poetry, and performing.

Many performed in popular night clubs such as the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn, and Small’s Paradise. The ironic thing about the Cotton Club was that while African Americans to preformed, only white people were allowed to enter the Cotton Club. Some of the most famous African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance were W. E. B. du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Louis Armstrong. Songs like, “What a Wonderful World” and “West end Blues” (both by Louis Armstrong) were a few of the songs that became popular during the Harlem Renaissance. “The negro was in vogue,” which was later paraphrased as, “when Harlem was in vogue.” As you can tell African Americans were having a huge effect in New York and now it was time that the rest of America took notice. People started to comprehend that African Americans could work normal jobs and were just as intelligent as everyone else. They could write books, poetry, and songs. Most of all, people realized African Americans had been underestimated as a whole. However, as all good things must come to an end so did the Harlem Renaissance. It was believed that the Harlem Renaissance ended sometime during the 1930’s, because of the Great Depression The Harlem Renaissance could be considered one of the most unexpected and most productive points in history. A lot was accomplished for African Americans through those ten years like books, poems, and music. These accomplishments boosted African Americans as a whole and made them more noticed by the rest of America.

Harlem Renaissance The harlem neighborhood was meant to be an upper white class neighborhood at first. Overdevelopment caused a lot of the buildings to become empty as such moving there became a lot cheaper. Some black families from a neighboring neighborhood began to move into harlem. Harlem renaissance was a movement in harlem new york. It was a movement on which African american literature and art boomed significantly. This was because many african americans started to move into harlem new york and thus a black community formed there. In this black community there were several pioneers of the art and literary movements, as well as music movements. Famous people during this movement were: langston hughes, W.E.B dubois, zora neal hurston, louis armstrong, paul robeson Langston hughes was big on the literary movement. Zora neal hurtson contributed with her involvement on a published magazine called FIRE! This magazine showed the life in harlem and encouraged people to go visit and experience the culture and nightlife there. The famous Louis Armstrong was one of the big jazz guys, jazz became so popular in fact that some whites also wanted to listen to it. This type of lifestyle became popular but some whites did not want to hang out with blacks as such clubs catered specifically for whites were built.

Some found this unacceptable while others thought this was a sign of black culture moving forwards in the world. The culture boom gave a lot of black actors more opportunities that that they had ever had. They would get roles every now and then but they were usually either minor or playing some kind of stereotype. But with the harlem renaissance many of them were receiving important roles in various plays. One very famous actor was Paul Robeson an actor, singer, writer, activist, and more. He believed the arts were the best way to overcome racism against african americans. Visual art(paintings, drawings, etc.) was never welcomed if it was from a black person back then. Many black artists would often get shut down just because of their color and not because of their art. Dubois championed this people and pushed for African Americans to keep going in the visual art field. One of the early pioneers on this field was Aaron Douglas also known as the father of american art by many. He adopted african techniques in his paintings and art. The Harlem renaissance ended with the stock market crash of 1929 along with everything else and lingered a bit until alcohol prohibition was removed in 1933 and so patrons did not seek illegal clubs anymore, now that alcohol was legal again. Many moved on and seeked jobs and were replaced by the refugees coming from the south.

“The best of humanity’s recorded history is a creative balance between horrors endured and victories achieved, and so it was during the Harlem Renaissance,” states Aberjhani. This quote embodies the movement of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement that has taken place in the 1920s. Art in the Harlem Renaissance leads to many social changes. The art of the Harlem Renaissance including visual art, literature, and music brought many people together; however, at the same time, it splits people apart because of the many controversies it created. During this time, African Americans came together as a group and were able to connect to Whites and other cultures through sharing the unique art they created in the Harlem Renaissance, including music, poetry, and painting. From Langston Hughes story, The Ways Of White Folks, Hughes writes about an African-American girl named Oceola; throughout the story, she expresses herself, showing how she felt about being black through her song and blues piano music. When Mrs. Ellsworth heard her piece, she was very surprised that it was not classical music because Oceola normally played Beethoven. However, when Oceola explained her piece to her, she was astounded. This shows that the music of the Harlem Renaissance could bring all types of people together. Through this new entertainment, the Harlem Renaissance also brought people together after a long workday because people would socialize at the clubs.

Even though the Harlem Renaissance brought many people together, there was also a new awareness about the racial problems of the African Americans expressed in the Harlem Renaissance art, which lead to African Americans and White people taking sides. Harlem attracted many diverse people through music performances including jazz and blues to the town. Because it attracted many different people, more people were witnesses of the African American problems. The music contributed to social changes during the Harlem Renaissance because African Americans showed how they felt about how they were treated and how they felt about the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. All of these performers included an African population who was mistreated in different ways before they were able to express themselves to a wider audience. This new draw to African American art allowed African American to get recognized by White, wealthy people. In that time, Carl Van Vechten was a White author that had written books in the Harlem Renaissance. Carl Van Vechten had known many White men who hosted parties and had respect and valued African Americans for their culture and wrote a book about it.

Conversely, due to its controversial title, Nigger Heaven, it was boycotted by many African Americans. This shows that Van Vechten did not fully understand the culture of the Harlem Renaissance and through just writing about it created controversy. It was not just the out of touch White male, Carl Van Vechten, who wrote a controversial book, but also there was also an African American male named Langston Hughes who created controversy in his writing upon the subject as well. During the Harlem Renaissance, a lot of art was created that were seen as controversial during this time. For example, the book called Fine Clothes To The Jew by Langston Hughes. In the time which Langston Hughes wrote a book called Fine Clothes To The Jew, many people to attack it as being racist just like Van Vechten’s work. Langston Hughes was an African American writer who was one of the most known writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Fine Clothes To The Jew was about how people used to sell their clothes to Jewish pawn shops to earn money. Fine Clothes To The Jew was not racist to African American people but many critics and Jewish people sought it as bad and it was perceived as racist by now. Now this book is seen as a very good book by many critics and many black scholars adopted this book.

Langston Hughes also wrote many other books. One of the books that has stood out to many critics and people is the book called The Ways Of White Folks. This book is about how White people treated African- Americans, so although the Harlem Renaissance allowed for a larger audience of the African American artists, this new awareness also brought out many uncomfortable feelings about race dividing the people. Taking everything into account, art in the Harlem Renaissance leads to many social changes; some of which happened to be the reason that brought many people together. However, at the same time, it splits people apart because of the many controversies it brought to the surface. It is easy to look back at this time as a coming together of African Americans, but this also was a troubled time for them as well. Without this awareness of African American culture and struggle; however, change would not have been brought about. Through the Harlem Renaissance, art brought African-American people together, made their culture richer which led to White people and people of other cultures being more accepting African-Americans overall.

The Harlem Renaissance era ranges from 1919 to 1940. This phase was identified as such because a creative break through took place in Harlem, New York. Talented African Americans introduced a new culture characterized by music, literature, clothing, and experiences. Many blacks were eager to become financially independent, to break free from segregation, and to escape race-related violence. Therefore, they relocated to the North, to cities such as Detroit, Chicago, and New York, in search for new jobs and new living conditions. New York City, also known as the Big Apple, was the place of origin for many African American based organizations, many of which are still serving the community today. These organizations include National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Urban League, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Prior to the Harlem Renaissance time period, blacks, especially women, were not allowed to read or write.

For the first time in history, works by Angelina Weld Grimke, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Jessie Redman Fauset, to name a few, were published for the public domains entertainment; African American women were among this exceptional group of writers. Both whites and blacks were studying the literature these authors were producing. These works are still being analyzed today, giving credit to the creators of these master pieces. Each of the authors uses theme, symbolism, literary elements, and writing style to enhance and set apart their writing. In 1880 Angelina Weld Grimke was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Angelina’s father was African American, Archibald, and her mother was Caucasian, Sarah. The interracial marriage did not last long, in fact they split when Angelina was a child. Sarah abandoned her daughter and husband, forcing Archibald to raise their daughter alone. According to Laine Scott, author of “Angelina Weld Grimke,” “Her mother’s absence undoubtedly contributed to Grimke’s reverential treatment of maternal themes in her poetry, short stories, and her published play”. This theme is exhibited in a popular poem titled “A Winter Twilight.”

The word winter implies cold and dreary while twilight implies rays of sunshine. The reader can interpret the title as the good in evil. The winter cold feeling is the neglect Grimke experienced when her mother left, and the ray of sunshine symbolizes her success and positivity although she was deserted. In the poem Grimke explains “One group of trees lean, naked and cold”, the word group refers to her and her father; naked and cold is used to vividly paint a picture of their feelings. When Sarah left her husband and child she stripped them of their happiness and love, they are left naked and cold hearted. Grimke goes on to say, “One star that I loved ere the fields went brown”, she loved her mother before she discarded her relationship with her daughter. Grimke’s word choice is powerful in conveying the mood and tone of her poetry. She uses sorrowful words to bring the reader to an empathetic mood. Throughout the poem Grimke uses AB rhyme scheme to enhance her work. This is evident when she states, “A silence slipping around like death, Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh, a breath…” Angelina Weld Grimke has a unique and consistent writing style.

She repeatedly uses nature in her many different works. Another popular poem by Grimke is “The Black Finger”. She uses a combination of analogies and symbolism to catch the readers attention. The poem itself indirectly refers to the many endeavors African Americans have overcome throughout time. Grimke paints a visual when she states, “A black finger pointing upwards”; the direction in which the finger is pointing is significant as well. Upwards can symbolize a positive growth as a whole race, confidence, and the existence of a higher power, God. The reader understands without a higher power African Americans would not have been able to overcome the many wrongdoings they have endured. The finger is an analogy for a whole generation of beautiful African Americans; this is evident when she states, “I have just seen a beautiful thing… sensitive exquisite, a black finger”. There is a noticeable pattern in Grimke’s work. Much like “A Winter Twilight,” Grimke uses nature in her poetry, “A straight cypress”. Gloria T. Hull, author of “On ‘The Black Finger,” reports Angelina Grimke’s “poems are usually brief. They represent the scene or thought as swiftly as possible in sharp, concrete images, and then abandon it”. Georgia Douglas Johnson was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Laura and George.

She was the most famous female poet during the Harlem Renaissance time period. Maureen Honey, author of “Georgia Douglas Johnson’s Life and Career,” explains “Johnson’s life illustrates the difficulties faced by African American women writers”. The most sought after poem by Johnson is “I Want To Die While You Love Me”. This piece of poetry is characterized by repetition, rhyme, and a strong theme. Johnson starts all four stanzas with I want to die while you love me; this also influences the mood of the poem. The words love and die contract one another. When one is in love, they are usually overwhelmed with happiness; Johnson on the other hand uses the word die, which implies misery. The overall mood of the poem is desirable, “I want to die while you love me and never, never see the glory of this perfect day grow dim or cease to be”. The reader desires to be loved in an eternal manner much like the speaker. Johnson uses AB rhyme scheme in her poetry, “While yet you hold me fair while laughter lies upon my lips and lights are in my hair”. During this time period women were expected to be conservative, and what happened in the bedroom was not a topic of conversation.

Johnson pushes the envelope in this poem; she states “I want you to die while you love me, and bear me to that still bed, your kisses turbulent”. She explores her sexuality in a vulgar manner, and she allows the public to do so with her. This poem holds a classic dream and theme, to find one to share an infinite amount of love with. This beautiful work is alive and thriving in the twenty-first century as both a poem and a song. Georgia Douglas Johnson is an exceptional author and a strong-willed woman that is not afraid to challenge society. Jessie Redmon Fauset was born in Fredericksville, New Jersey. She was the seventeenth child born to Annie and Redmon. Much like Angelina Grimke, Jessie lost her mother when she was very young. According to Andrew Baskin, author of “Jessie R. Fauset,” “All of these works focus on African American culture and economic struggles”. Fauset’s writing directly impacted the Harlem Renaissance era. “Enigma” is a well known poem by Jessie Fauset. The title means a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand. The poem is encased with imagery and strong diction.

Fauset writes, “Your words are barbed arrows to the breast”. Her vivid word choice allows the reader to mentally paint a picture, and feels the anger within the text. This literary element reveals its self several times in the text; it engages and encourages the reader to continue reading. Fauset’s word choice is bold; she uses negative connotation to set the mood and to paint a mental picture. Phrases such as, “Your presence is a torture to the brain,” implies hatred towards an unknown. The reader feels an intense wave of sadness. According to Eric Todd, “The tone of the poem is a sad poem, it addresses sadness first”. “Enigma” is filled with symbolism. Brain symbolizes thoughts, intelligence, and contemplative; whereas the breast symbolizes the heart, emotions, and tenderness. The poem has no structure, it is not divided into stanza’s; therefore the poem is considered a free verse. A possible theme for this work is there is both good and evil in all people. She argues this when she says, “If only you were you and yet not you”. Jessie Fauset was a talented woman, and her work continues to mold authors work of the twenty-first century. The Harlem Renaissance was filled with talent, culture, originality, and confidence. Angelina Weld Grimke, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Jessie Redman Fauset are a few of the many exceptional individuals from this era. Their dedication and hard work continues to influence and motivate today. Many African American authors spoke out during this era, proving their desire for equality.

Janice Warriner November 29, 2012 Composition 1030 Nowak James Weldon Johnson From the preface to The Book of American Negro Poetry (1921) During the 1920’s, the country was still segregated, and black people were denied the right to vote, attend schools where they would be intermixing with white people, and often lived without the same standard of living embraced by white people. They often did not have electricity, their clothes were in poor condition and books were often discarded books from the white schools.

Black males were automatically suspects in crimes, and often did not have a fair trial. White people wanted order and perfection. During the film, Birth of a Nation :The Civil War Films of DW Griffith The black, slave woman in the show reminded me of Mammy. Mammy is a well-recognized racial caricature. She was created with the idea to claim that slaves were happy, and thus, slavery was humane. Mammy is pictured with very dark skin and a bandana, signaling that she is a hard worker and is sweaty.

She is an extremely heavy set, older woman and the message was that the white men found the black slave woman unattractive and there was no sexual contact between them. This was a complete lie, because rape and sexual exploitation was happening as a result of the master-slave relationship. She was also considered to be the property of the white family. During this time, the Harlem Renaissance was also taking place. During the 1920-1930’s this was referred to as the “New Negro Movement”.

Because of the “radio”, black authors, poets, painters, playwrights, actors and musicians gained exposure and were brought to a national audience. An indication that things would change. Has it? Stereotyping always will be a part of society because of the different life experiences and ideas that we develop about ourselves and other people. It becomes a problem with it turns to violence or dangerous ideas or behavior. It is up to each individual person to break stereotypes by trying to represent himself or herself in a positive light.

“The Lesson” From The Mentor Whenever there is a civil rights movement going on, there are always 3 parties involved. One the Oppressor, second the Oppressed and lastly the Activist or the Mentor. The Activists usually always emerges from the Oppressed. That is when the Oppressed intellectuals feel that it’s time to standup to defend the identity of their people and make them strong enough to make a name of their own. This is what happened during the early 20th century within the African American community. They were racially termed as Negros meaning blacks.

And were separated from the mainstream white American society with the Powerful class denying their rights for equal opportunities in basically every field of life. This paved way for the Black Arts movement. When the discrimination of the blacks reached its peak with the assassination of Malcolm X- the great influential African American leader, LeRoi Jones thought that it was time that African Americans bring about their true talent collectively. It all started in Harlem. Spanning the 1920s to the mid-1930s, the Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity.

Critic and teacher Alain Locke summed up its essence in 1926 when he declared that through art, “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination. ” (Foner, Garraty). The Harlem Renaissance as it was called, influenced future generations of black writers. And Toni Cade Bambara was one of them. The historical information mentioned above was necessary because it is important to know what period of time a writer lived in, it helps us to understand what influenced the writer to write and thus make us understand the stories better as the writer writes what he or she sees and feels.

Toni Cade Bambara grew up in Harlem, so the essence of the Harlem renaissance was in her blood. Following her predecessors, she wanted to give the African American community the bases to stand up for their own selves. And this is what “The Lesson” is all about. In this short story, Bambara uses her personal life experiences and her work in the field of social justice to describe the injustices done towards the African American society and how education and mentoring can play an important role in the uplift of the African American community and in general the society as a whole.

In “The Lesson”, Toni Cade Bambara tells us about the economic and socio-political situation of the African American community through the eyes of Sylvia along with the hope of an uplift through good people like Ms. Moore. Sylvia, being the first person narrator, portrays the role of a strong willed young Black American girl. She along with her group of friends belongs to a small isolated town of blacks, in Harlem. The way she is seen talking to her friends shows that no proper education and guidance was being provided to them and that they were being deprived economically too. “Can we steal? Sugar asks very serious like she’s getting the ground rules squared away before she plays. “ (Bambara 27) This line from “The Lesson” clearly confirms the above point. Basically, the whole story revolves around the time when Ms. Moore takes out this group of friends for an educational ride. Her character, I think is the exact portrayal of Toni Cade Bambara. Ms. Moore like Toni Cade Bambara belonged to Harlem and was an activist for African Americans’ rights. She like her, made her mission to raise awareness amongst the African Americans, to make them realize their rights and to make them learn to live in the real world.

Ms. Moore, seemingly the only educated person in the ghetto town of Harlem to which the kids belonged, wanted to help out and educate the kids. And give them an understanding of how the world sees them and how they should create a good life on their own. For instance when she asked them to pay to the taxi cab driver along with a 10% tip, this shows that she wanted them to learn to calculate. And by firing away questions and trying to make them share their views about the happenings in the toy store on the high profile FIFTH AVE. hich was for the upper white class (where she took them to show the disparity and learn), she wanted them to realize that injustice is done towards them and they should learn to live to live on their own and earn respect. Not all is gone in vain (referring to Sylvia’s and other kids’ cold responses) and Ms Moore is delighted by Sugar’s response. “You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs. ” And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her. “And? ” she say, urging Sugar on. Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think? ” (Bambara 99). Giving us the idea that intelligence and awareness exists everywhere, it just needs to be awakened just like Ms. Moore did. Introduction of the side characters shows us that Bambara tries her best to tell the readers that the children of the African American community are as normal as they are. Just like normal white kids, they have their own personalities, they fight, they have insecurities etc. nd like other normal white kids, they can do wonders with a little guidance. With the parents of the children willing to send them with Ms. Moore, Bambara tries to portray that even while living in tough conditions, African American parents want their kids to lead a good life, unlike their own. All this and the conversational style of the story reflect Bambara’s connection with the Harlem world. With even Sylvia’s strong character showing signs of weakness, when she wasn’t able to stand the bitter truth by her sidekick Sugar, makes us wonderfully realize that Toni Cade Bambara has summed up the entire life of the oppressed in general.

That no matter how strong headed or violent they seem, there is always this timid person behind the mask to hide the real face, i. e. the insecurities and also that intelligent minds exist everywhere, they just need to be mentored. Just what Ms. Moore was trying to do and Sugar was living up to Ms. Moore’s expectations. Overall the story deals with the reality of racial and class injustice, yet there is a sense of hope in the conclusion of the story. As the narrator Sylvia (even though realizes and understands what Ms.

Moore was trying to make the kids learn but being strong headed was unwilling to accept the fact) is determined to rise above her circumstances and create a better life for herself. “She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin. “(Bambara 109) The above thought also strengthens the sharp contrast between Sylvia and Sugar that even though Sugar comprehends Ms. Moore’s lesson first, she forgets it as soon as they are done with the trip, by starting to think of things they could do with the change money Ms.

Moore allowed them to keep while Sylvia who didn’t understand the lesson at first is now determined to deal with the situation. Though we don’t know for sure how Sylvia would end up but her words show that with a determined and sharp mind, she is all geared up to change the way she as a part of community is perceived. This is how Toni Cade Bambara sums up her life long mission through the heart and soul of Sylvia. Which is, that the oppressed (in general, not only the African American community) should always be aware of the injustices done towards them and never should give up with understanding the fact that awareness and education are the eys to success. Work Cited Bambara,Toni Cade. “The Lesson. ” Gorilla,My Love. New York. Random (1972. ) Print. 4th October. 2012 Tate, Claudia, ed. Black Women Writers at Work. New York. Continuum (1983. ) Web. 4th October. 2012 Garraty, Foner, Editors. The Reader’s Companion to American History: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (1991. ) Web. 4th October. 2012 Gale Research Group. “Toni Cade Bambara. ” Discovering Authors. 1999. Griffin, Farah Jasmine. “Para Las Chicas Cubanas. ” Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters 26. 1 (2003): 74-82. Web. 4th October. 2012