1. Harlem Renaissance
A Community Makes Their Voice Heard

2. What inspires the Harlem Renaissance?
Great Migration (African-Americans)
Between 1910 and 1920
Leaving Sharecropping and Jim Crow Laws
Moved North to join the industry-based economy (work in factories)
North didn’t necessarily mean better or safer

3. What inspires the Harlem Renaissance?
Race Riots
Racial tensions high
1908 Springfield Race Riot
Springfield Illinois
Transfer of 2 African-Americans out of prison, upset white sheriff, he goes around burning black businesses
7 dead
Around 25 other major urban race riots in alone

4. What inspires the Harlem Renaissance?
Organizations:
In response to Springfield Race Riots:
NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Founded in 1909 (Date listed on founding on the 100th birthday of Abraham Lincoln)
Still working today to ensure equal rights
On the other side of the coin:
UNIA: Universal Negro Improvement Association
Led by Marcus Garvey who believed in separate African American Society
Struggles to stick around after Garvey leaves

5. Harlem Renaissance Rehabilitation of “authentic blackness”
Reaction to racism (especially in Modernist literature)
Freud for example thought Africa was land of animals)
Can’t have NO opinion although many different opinions-need change

6. Why “Harlem”? Why “Harlem”?
Harlem is a neighborhood of New York City, New York
Originally a Dutch settlement
All the influential African-Americans lived there
Highest percentage of blacks in 1950
Jazz and Dance clubs including famous Cotton Club

7. Why “Renaissance”? Renaissance means rebirth
First “Renaissance” considered after the dark ages in Europe when people began rediscovering Latin and Greek scholars
This Renaissance was artistic: Music, Literature, Paintings etc.

8. Jazz and Blues
Music was incredibly important to the development of the culture
Jazz:
Allowed for improvisation (making up a solo on the spot)
Commentary on racial discrimination through songs
One of the first truly American forms of music
Blues:
Form of Jazz
Largely in deep south
Uses repetition with a punch line
Expresses sadness(the blues)

9. Langston Hughes Home life Harlem: Poetry
Born 1902 in Joplin, Missouri (the south)
Elected “School Poet” as a kid
Father left U.S. to escape racism, Hughes tried living with him for a while but it didn’t work
Harlem:
Moves in 1922
Leaves for a while to do the expatriate life
Returns in 1929
Poetry
Develops “Jazz Poetry”
Upset people with some of his poems
Focused on racial issues and poverty issues

10. Zora Neale Hurston We’ve taken notes on her (Regionalism)
Anthropologist (Wrote about the people’s cultures)
Novelist
Short Story writer

11. Claude McKay Home life: Move to Harlem: Born 1889 in Jamaica
Studied British literature growing up
1912 went to Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute
Didn’t like the military aspect of it
Preferred W.E.B. DuBois
Move to Harlem:
1914
Published some Jamaican poems and poems that followed British structure
Travels London to Russia looking for solutions to economic issues

12. James Weldon Johnson Home Life: Political Life: Writings:
Born 1871 in Jacksonville Florida
Studied the classics (Latin and Greek) growing up and in college
Political Life:
Worked for Theodore Roosevelt as consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua
One of the first blacks to pass the Florida State Bar
Became treasurer of NAACP- most influential
Writings:
Wrote poetry and stories from his literature studies
Wrote words for the “Negro National Anthem”: “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Wrote influential “Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” that addressed the issues of “Passing”

13. The Great Depression Economy hit the toilet. Communism is intriguing
Later in history communism becomes more evil.
At this point, many turned to Communism and Socialism for the answers to the questions of poverty
Harlem speaks out
Many of these voices spoke out against the poverty- especially amongst African Americans
White people couldn’t understand why they weren’t just focusing on race.