The Harlem Renaissance
This week I really have become intrigued with learning about the Harlem Renaissance.
Wikipedia defines this movement as “an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater and politics centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the “New Negro Movement”, named after The New Negro, a 1925 anthology edited by Alain Locke.” Wikipedia also states that this movement being a re-birth of African American arts has never stopped with the coming alive of stride piano, jazz, blues, bebop, hip hop, R&B, Rock & Roll, Soul and Disco. All of these musics have roots of African American music. I truly feel that without the beauty of the African culture we wouldn’t have the incredible music and art that we do today.
History.com describes the Harlem Renaissance as “The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a Black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.”
From my research, Harlem was actually meant to be an all white neighborhood, but because of over development the empty houses needed to be filled so middle class black families were welcomed in by landlords. Many white families fled the neighborhood when this happened, of course. And because of the horrid strict Jim Crow laws of the Deep South, many black families fled and ended up in Harlem between the 1910’s and 1930’s. By 1920 300,000 African Americans landed in Harlem.
Because of the sudden influx of African Americans in this one area many movements came about such as the Black Pride Movement, which strove to give credit to Black artists for their work that they did! Poetry was a huge break through within this Renaissance! One of the books of poems was by Claude McKay with Harlem Shadows in the year 1922.
I managed to find McKay’s notes about the book as well as the first poem of the book called The Easter Flower within Princeton University’s archives:
McKay was one of many poets who blessed us with his art in the Harlem Renaissance.
Of course there was more than poetry! One major musician would most of the world knows helped bring African American music to the center! His name was Louis Armstrong.
Through his beautiful musical talent he reached so many people, and united all races of people through music.
Here is him performing his famous Hello Dolly:
His smile is CONTAGIOUS!
And of course there were MANY black musicians who helped bring rise to African American music! Artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Besse Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and SO MANY MORE. I encourage you to look them all up and listen to their musical influence.
Another part of the Harlem Renaissance was at incredible NIGHTLIFE with clubs filled with jazz music, dancing, and drinking what was then illegal alcohol. One of those most famous clubs is the Cotton Club, which opened in the 1930's. The Cotton Club was a place where blacks and whites would come together to enjoy this nightlife of music. They housed MANY performances, some of the most frequent being by Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.
There are many INCREDIBLE things that happened because of the Harlem Renaissance. I hope this intrigues you as a reader enough to do some research on your own!
References:
“[Claude McKay, Half-Length Portrait, Facing Right] | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 1920, https://www.loc.gov/item/92512415/.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Harlem Renaissance — Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 28 Feb. 2003, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance.
“Cotton Club.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cotton-Club. Accessed 30 Mar. 2021.
“Harlem Shadows : The Poems of Claude McKay / with an Introduction … — Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library | HathiTrust Digital Library.” HathiTrust, New York :Harcourt, Brace and company,[1922], https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101012485411&view=1up&seq=33. Accessed 30 Mar. 2021.
History.com Editors. “Harlem Renaissance.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 21 Jan. 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance.
“Louis Armstrong | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016647527/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2021.
