The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance is remembered as one of the greatest historical movements because of the changes in African American nationalism. Before the Renaissance, African Americans had no answers to their racial problems, but the exploration of culture allowed them to become aware of their heritage (Brinkley 799). Marcus Garvey encouraged the blacks to take pride in their race, and he created the United Negro Improvement Association. This organization created black-owned businesses, and it had 4 million followers in 1920 and 6 million by 1923 (Davis 1311). The UNIA became the largest mass movement of African Americans in US history. The organization declined when Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and deported, but the association and black nationalism survived long after Garvey died. The Harlem Renaissance influenced African Americans that they could solve their racial problems and provided the backdrop for new literature, music, and art.

Whites in America had suppressed African culture since the first shipment of slaves from Africa had reached the North American East Coast in 1619. African Americans were left uneducated and forbidden to learn reading and writing skills. Blacks had their culture stripped from beneath them more and more with every new generation. Their only way to cling to African culture was through song during fieldwork. It was not until after the Civil War that blacks had the limited opportunity to be educated and gradually assimilate into white American society. Immediately following World War I, a Negro population newly transplanted from the rural and bloody South sank its roots into the promises offered by Northern Industrial cities (Academy1). The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s and 30’s was the first true outlet for African American talent, expression, and culture. Black artists, writers, and musicians had to first attract a white audience by copying white works. Soon after blacks gained recognition they created their own distinct African cultural movement in Harlem. Literature played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance by proving to whites of blacks’ sophisticated talents. These writers searched for a unifying cultural identity and boldly proclaimed the advent of a new cultural aesthetic, a rebirth of ethnic pride on new soil (Art1). Poetry and other writing expressed the black struggle in America since the time of slavery. The passion and vividness in which authors and poets wrote earned them respect and attention from white crowds that had ignored them before. The Harlem Renaissance was a new era of American culture. The literary pieces produced during this time were profound, detailing the feelings of the Black population and the growing desires of the "New Negro." Striving for justice and political say, as well as a life free from racial discrimination, the literature that came out of the Harlem Renaissance perfectly exemplified the innermost thoughts of those living through this time period.

Though Jazz was truly born in 1895 in New Orleans, the Harlem Renaissance supplied the necessary exposure the Jazz movement needed in order to become popular. Furthermore, Harlem centralized the movement and success in Harlem became the dream of every Jazz musician. Above all else, though, the Harlem Renaissance was the greatest contribution to Jazz simply because it contained the largest African American population, and provided for them a style of music that finally characterized Black culture. Harlem, therefore, is recognized as the center of the Jazz movement, and will forever be considered the most important area of Jazz history. In this period of raging innovation and sprouting creativity, the art of African Americans finally became acknowledged and appreciated by the predominantly white America. As a great number of “new negro” artists began to paint their feelings, museums and groups also grew to recognize the art of these African Americans as both prestigous and influential. The art of African Americans during the “Roaring Twenties” no longer portrayed a derided black society, but began to expose Americans to a new predominance of African Americans in the nation. With all of the bustle in Harlem and the art that characterized the “renaissance,” African Americans finally became a recognized portion of American society as a whole.

The Harlem Renaissance was remembered as one of the greatest historical, literary, musical, and artistic movements because of its influence on African-Americans and the contributions blacks made to American society.

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