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Harlem Renaissance Essays

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Not many eras in American history glow as brightly as the Harlem Renaissance. This surge of social, cultural, and creative activity, which occurred during the 1920s and the early 1930s, made Harlem, New York, the hub of Black intellectualism and creativity. The Harlem Renaissance was more than just an artistic ...

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For centuries, designers have been using visual art to express their feelings, inform others, and communicate with the masses to spread their message. Evidence of visual art can be traced back to the prehistoric Era, where pictographs were painted on cave walls to convey information to one another as seen in the Magura Cave in France depicting animals, humans, and other artifacts (European Regional Development Fund, 2019). Yet, in graphic design, nothing can be more aesthetically and visually appealing than...
4 Pages 1767 Words
The Harlem Renaissance is following racial injustice and in the play, it shows that. When Mr.Lindner showed up at the Youngers home he tried to convince them not to move into the new home because they would be the first “African American” family to move into that neighborhood. Although he tried to make his statement convincing and non-threatening, he still offended them when they figured out he was there to make them leave. Although they were not going to cause...
1 Page 628 Words
Ayana Mathis once said, “If there had never been the Great Migration there would never have been jazz, there would never have been Michelle Obama. A lot of amazing black people exist in this country because of the Great Migration. That's nation-building.” Ayana Mathis is an African American author who has written a few books on the Great Migration, like The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, so she has a good understanding of the topic. In Mathis’s words, the Great Migration...
4 Pages 1768 Words
Home to Harlem sold eleven thousand copies in the first two weeks of its publication, fifty thousand during its first year, and was the first best-seller written by a black writer in America. Nevertheless, its depiction of lower-class Harlemites did appall some of the American black leaders, most notoriously W.E.B. Du Bois. In his 1928 Crisis review, he wrote of Home to Harlem: 'After the dirtier parts of its filth I feel distinctly like taking a bath' (359). For DuBois...
3 Pages 1483 Words
The Great Gatsby is a commentary on life in the 1920s as it pertains to prohibition and the racial injustice facing African Americans. It provides several instances of the underground use of alcohol and the general feeling of superiority among white people. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Tom Buchanan to portray the way that many white people believed that African Americans were not equal to them. On many occasions, people drink and serve alcohol openly, showing how prohibition had little to...
2 Pages 1055 Words
Currently, a persistent and highly structured racial hierarchy exists in the United States. Such a hierarchy has been central in the country’s political development, from the country’s founding, the longevity of African American slavery and Native American genocide, and the existence of Jim Crow laws and immigrant social segregation. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s fought against oppressive and legal racial exclusions. Because racial exclusions persisted throughout the 1970s, race-conscious policies (affirmative action procedures) were enacted in...
5 Pages 2255 Words
The Harlem Renaissance was a time period when African Americans moved to Harlem, New York to be themselves and express their culture through literature, music stage, performance, and art. The Renaissance occurred from 1918 to the mid-1930s. In Mother to Son, the author depicts the struggle an African American mother faced with oppression and prejudice throughout her life. In the poem the mother is talking to her son to prepare him for the difficult future he has ahead of him...
1 Page 662 Words
The Significance of Duke Ellington Throughout the Harlem Renaissance, many individuals inspired and helped shape modern culture in countless ways. People such as Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Aaron Douglas, and Alain Locke all did amazing things for American culture in their own respected ways, but for me and many others Duke Ellington was the most influential of them all! From his contributions to the evolution of music and how instruments were played, to staying true to his art and defending...
1 Page 574 Words
A poet whose works inspired other Harlem Renaissance poets Nella Larsen composed a novel called Passing. Nella Larsen was an author during the Harlem Renaissance. The tale happens in Harlem in the 1920s. In the novel, there are two fundamental characters whose names are Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. They were beloved companions growing up. Both Claire and Irene are African-American women, yet their skin is light enough for them to be stirred up as European. There is a distinction...
2 Pages 1027 Words
In attaining this objective, this paper aims to discuss an exact period of African American cultural development in America, the 'Harlem Renaissance', an important period that substantially influenced the evolution of African American theater. It examines some of the factors that have contributed to the comparatively slow progression of African American theater as a subgroup of African American literature. Finally, this paper critically examines how actors, writers, and African American society strove to overcome deep-seated barriers to the growth of...
3 Pages 1267 Words
In “Harlem Renaissance,” Paul Tough discusses the importance of educating families in Harlem and he suggests that teaching better parenting techniques will stop the cycle of poverty for the children who live there. Tough discusses a program called “Baby College.” The three main points discussed are language introduction, the importance of a child staying in school, and punishment and discipline. First, Tough describes how reading to a child every night and speaking to them more often can greatly increase their...
2 Pages 686 Words
Modern contemporary artist Vanessa German reflects the idea that black people make themselves bright against the slaughter of our own names in a culture of a society that never visioned the Black Body into freedom, resources, or power. Just as Vanessa German empowers the black community by showing its resilience and voice, many artists during the Harlem Renaissance empowered the black community as well. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential time for African Americans to celebrate and show their art...
4 Pages 1783 Words
 Jazz started in the late nineteenth and mid twentieth hundreds, and was created from the establishment of blues and jazz. Jazz is viewed as 'America's old style music'. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has gotten perceived as a method for melodic articulation. Jazz is arranged by swing and blue notes, call and reaction vocals, polyrhythms, and spontaneous creation. Jazz roots are from the West African culture, in African-American music, and European military band music. Influencing every aspect of our...
2 Pages 974 Words
During the 1920s and 1930s Harlem, New York became the capital for African Americans, attracting talented artists from across the country. Musicians, dancers, and poets were among those in search of a newfound life. In an era that produced bootleggers, speakeasies, and bathtub gin, Harlem was also home to some of the most notable nightclubs of all time. These nightclubs included the Cotton Club, the Plantation Club, the Lenox Lounge, and the Savoy Ballroom. Harlem’s nightlife was the birthplace of...
3 Pages 1505 Words
Langston Hughes and the Powers That Be When it comes to poetry pushing racial freedoms, only a few have gone as far as Langston Hughes. Langston was a famous American writer and poet in the 20th century. He published many well-known works such as ​I, Too, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, ​and ​Let America Be America Again.​ Some of his poetry was controversial for the Cold-War era time, as he was investigated by the American government for interpreting his poetry...
5 Pages 2423 Words
As history progress, many accounts of literature are likely to be encountered by authors and directors who attempt to inform and invite us to live inside the world of slavery. Living inside the fiction we learn to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, and learn to find who we are, where we are, and where we are going. The plethora of literature produced regarding the issue of slavery doesn’t do the work of discernment for us, but by inviting...
2 Pages 1136 Words
 Duke Ellington was born in Washington, and with his music, he gained a national profile through his band's performances at the “Cotton Club” in Harlem. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington is one of America’s significant composers. Ellington’s birth in 1999 brought in a lot of people interested in his kind of music for listeners, other musicians, and students alike. This research is an evaluation of three of Ellington’s songs: “Oclupaca,” “Cottontail,” and “East St. Louis Toodle-O.” All three songs will be...
4 Pages 1784 Words
Jazz was not originated on a specific day. It was created over time. According to Henry Louis, Jazz rose in the first decades of artistic gathering of a few components including ragtime band music, opera, and European classical music. When Africans were working in American farms they were prevented to talk to each other so that they could not make a revolution against them. They find a way in which they could communicate with each other by making releases of...
3 Pages 1175 Words
One of the most prominent figures in the Harlem Renaissance was by the name of Duke Ellington. The Harlem Renaissance was an extraordinary expansion in social, intellectual, and artistic aspects in the 1920s for the African-American community. The Harlem Renaissance was very significant because it marked a moment when white America started recognizing the intellectual contributions of African Americans. Duke Ellington apart from many others rose against the whites’ and made history for all African Americans, not only in the...
2 Pages 696 Words
The ‘Black Capital’ of the twentieth century, Harlem served as a cultural nexus of black America. It was a refuge for African Americans fleeing from oppression in the South and a new home for those seeking new opportunities. Harlem was a haven, a place of self-discovery, cultural knowledge, and political activism for African Americans, especially during the first half of the twentieth century. It fostered an artistic new age of literature, painting, music, and cinema. The neighborhood was home to...
6 Pages 2692 Words
Many movements have happened over the years but none were as powerful as the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was a social development that gave another lifestyle to African Americans. While Harlem gave off a setting with amazing materials for an artist to thrive, it also highlighted struggles during those times. Things such as verses, books, and short stories were loaded with scenes and characters that made Harlem pop. Essayists, for example, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale...
2 Pages 1022 Words
“Too much knockin' will ruin any 'oman. He done beat huh 'nough tuh kill three women, let 'lone change they looks,” says Elijah Mosley one of the characters discussing how Sykes Jones treats his wife Delia Jones in Zora Neale Hurston’s short story, Sweat. He uses this comment to express the extent of Sykes’ abuse and Delia’s resilience. Elijah says that beating a woman will ruin the beauty of any women and Sykes did not only beat Delia enough to...
1 Page 534 Words
One culture factor that influences social changes is communication through music and art. The Civil Rights Movement in United States was infused with religion and lead by a social group of people to share the interests of equality. The Civil Rights Movement began between the Harlem Renaissance era (1910- 1929) to the Chicano Mural Movement (1951-1964). Both eras created murals and sculptures as a representation of civil rights. For example, the civil rights movement was created due to discrimination and...
3 Pages 1390 Words
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that spoke to a range of issues and concerns like hostility, racism, and anger. Authors spent lots of time aiming to highlight them in ways like power struggles, emotions of hate/animosity towards white people, and even colorism between individuals in their own race. How many African Americans back then faced so much discrimination from white people that it created a hated in them that affected them deeply and created issues in their day to...
3 Pages 1338 Words
The Harlem Renaissance was a time for cultural growth for African Americans, who had been marginalized and dealt with racism and discrimination in their own country. It was a cultural movement that took place during the 1920’s. Poets and writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston are easily associated with the movement; however, author, Nella Larsen’s contributions are more obscure, but still equally relevant and important. Though her most notable works are only two novels ‘Quicksand’ and ‘Passing’,...
2 Pages 975 Words
Growing up, I have learned about how slavery has been a very important, but horrible tragedy that happens within African American society. I have seen teachers focus on the oppression of African American rather than the pride of the African American culture. In every history book that I have read, they each given vague information about African American culture. The era known as the Harlem Renaissance has sometimes been underappreciated. However, I have grown to love this stage in history...
1 Page 572 Words
Manhattan was once considered the mainstay of wealth and fortune due to the largely rich white population that resided there. The growing population in the area was a suggestion for developers to build more residential living spaces which lead to the erection of more empty buildings and not enough tenants. Over time, more and more black families were beginning to migrate to the east coast to escape the trenchant Jim Crow laws that were oppressive and escape the violence that...
4 Pages 1901 Words
Both Hughes and Cullen were significant writers during the Harlem Renaissance, establishing their sole topic of race and equality. According to Theresa L. Stowell, the author of ‘The 1930s in America’, the Harlem Renaissance began as African-Americans came to realize that they were not offered the same programs for those in poverty as white people. This unfair realization initiated a new era where African-American artists, philosophers, and authors became acknowledged. This era later became known as the Black Literary Renaissance...
7 Pages 3308 Words
The movement that the Harlem Renaissance created was a huge deal in New York. It spread all the way to Paris. It’s crazy to think that a little movement started in New York and got so big that it finally spread to Paris. That is all the way across the world. The Harlem Renaissance created a huge movement. White Americans did not like it, but on the other hand some supported it without telling anyone. “At the beginning of the...
1 Page 412 Words
‘A Raisin in the Sun’ was brought to the public on March 11,1959 where it resembled the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance had many characteristics that tied into black history. It was a racial pride that developed the idea of black identity through the production of literature, art, and music that could challenge the racism presented to promote progressive politics. The whole plot of ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ was to elaborate on how colored people used to get treated...
2 Pages 727 Words
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