The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance

The Great Migration Roots of the migration Between 1910 and 1930 hundreds of thousands of blacks left behind the racial discrimination of the south and moved north looking for better opportunities Northern cities did not always welcome the influx of blacks, resulting in over 25 race riots in 1919

The Great Migration

The Great Migration The NAACP, founded by W.E.B. duBois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and others, led the fight to secure black rights in Congress. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, organize the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and led a “back to Africa” movement.

The Harlem Renaissance A literary and cultural movement led by well educated, middle class African Americans Harlem Renaissance writers celebrated the New Negro, emphasizing their African heritage and racial pride, as well as economic independence

The Harlem Renaissance Claude McKay urged Blacks to fight discrimination. His writings expressed the pain of life in the ghetto. Langston Hughes was a poet, playwright and author whose writings expressed the everyday lives of working class blacks set to jazz and blues tempo.

The Harlem Renaissance Zora Neale Hurston was an author an anthropologist whose writings celebrated the simple folkways and portrayed the lives of poor, uneducated southern blacks Countee Cullen was a writer whose classical style works probed the meaning of Black life

The Harlem Renaissance Performers Paul Robeson was one of the best known African American actors of the time Known for doing Shakespearean plays Because of racial and political persecution in the U. S., he moved to Europe

The Harlem Renaissance Performers Bessie Smith was a jazz vocalist who achieved enormous popularity and became the highest paid black entertainer in the world by 1927

The Harlem Renaissance Performers Duke Ellington was a renowned composer and musician He was a frequent performer at the Savoy and the Cotton Club, Harlem nightclubs which were also popular with whites