1. The Harlem Renaissance
Chapter 21: Section 4
The Harlem Renaissance

2. What was the Harlem Renaissance?
Flowering of a unique African American identity and culture
Redefined African American expression
Artistic and literary movement of African-American culture during the 1920s and 1930s
Produced famous writers such as Langston Hughes
Famous musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

3. What led to the Harlem Renaissance?
The Great Migration
Locke: "something like a spiritual emancipation"
Rise of radical black intellectuals
Locke, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois
New African American goals

4. The Great Migration
Between 1910 and 1920, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved north 
Went to big cities looking for jobs
By the end of decade, 40% of African Americans lived in urban cities

5. Tension in the North
Northern cities didn't welcome this massive influx of African Americans
Tensions escalated
Summer of 1919: About 25 urban race riots
Led to an increased desire to improve African Americans' situation

6. African-American Goals: NAACP
Founded in 1909
Urged African Americans to protest racial violence
W.E.B. DuBois: Founding member of NAACP 
Led parade to protest such violence
Led struggle for civil rights
James Weldon Johnson: leader of NAACP
fought for legislation to protect African American rights
Antilynching laws made priority
New, more militant voice of African Americans

7. African American Goals: Marcus Garvey and the UNIA
Believed African Americans should build separate society
Different, more radical message of black pride
UNIA founded in 1914
Appealed to followers with messages of pride, mass meetings, parades, etc.
Practical plans to promote African American businesses
Encouraged followers to return to Africa
Support declined in mid-1920's
Left behind legacy of newly awakened black pride, independence, and celebration of heritage

8. Harlem, New York Many who migrated north moved to Harlem
World's largest African American urban community
Overcrowding, unemployment, and poverty persisted
 Problems in the 1920s were eclipsed by a flowering of creativity... the Harlem Renaissance
Became a center of culture and creativity

9. African American Writers
Above all, the Harlem Renaissance was a literary movement
Led by well-educated, middle class African Americans
Expressed new pride in African American experience
Celebrated heritage and wrote about life's trials

10. African American Writers:
   Langston Hughes
An African American poet
His poetry moved to the tempo of jazz
Poems described the difficult lives of working-class African Americans
He embraced his African American culture and background while living in a white dominated society

11. Langston Hughes Poem: "I, Too"
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.
Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.
Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America.

12. African American Writers: Claude McKay
Novelist and poet with militant voice
Urged African Americans to resist prejudice and discrimination
Wrote about the pain of life as a black man in a "white world"

13. African American Writers: Zora Neale Hurston
Novelist and poet
portrayed lives of poor, unschooled southern blacks 
"the greatest cultural wealth of the continent"
Celebrated the common-people's art: the folkways and values of those who survived slavery

14. African American Performers
The Harlem Renaissance was more than writers and intellectuals
Performers gained large followings
Roland Hayes: concert singer
Ethel Waters: singer and actress on Broadway
Raul Robeson: major dramatic actor

15. African Americans and Jazz
Jazz was born in the early 20th century in New Orleans, where musicians blended instrumental ragtime and vocal bluse into an exuberant new sound.
It quickly spread to cities such as Kansas City, Memphis, and New York CIty, and it became a popular music for dancing. 
During the 1920s, Harlem pulsed the sounds of jazz, luring admirers of the music to places such as the Apollo Theater and Cotton Club.
Famous artist included Louis Armstrong,  
      Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, and many more. 

16. Duke Ellington
Bessie Smith
Louis Armstrong