The Harlem Renaissance

The Roaring 20s

The 1920s EraFollowing U.S. victory in WWI, a new sense of

optimism, with many challengesEconomy enters a strong a vital periodAge of Transportation (Airplanes, Autos –

Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford)Prohibition and the Gangster era (Al Capone)Consumer Culture (Credit Cards, New Products)Film, Sports, and Celebrity Culture (Babe

Ruth, Jack Johnson)Changing Roles of Women (The Flapper, Voting

rights – 19th Amendment)Harlem Renaissance (Jazz, Poetry, Art, African-

American Pride)

The Harlem Renaissance: OverviewRefers to the cultural and intellectual explosion

that took place in Harlem, N.Y.Began in the 1920s up into the 1940s

Era of a new sense of pride and communityExpressed through music, art, and writing

Some of the greatest artists of American history emergedLouis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Zora Neale

Hurston, Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday

Harlem Renaissance: Background The Great Migration

1914-1920: Thousands of African Americans moved to northern cities (from the south) for new job opportunities

By the 20s, large African American communities had sprouted in major northern cities – approximately 4.5 million African Americans had moved north

These communities were the foundation of the H.R.

During this era, African Americans began to:Openly oppose racial discriminationOpenly express frustration at poor treatment following WWIHighlight and focus on the beauty of their raceThe messages came through their art

Music was probably most influential – and the most popular music of the 1920s, and GREATEST MUSIC EVER)???

JAZZ! JAZZ! JAZZ! JAZZ! JAZZ!

Jazz in the Harlem RenaissanceJazz comes from a distinctly African American

traditionMost important site of early jazz: New

OrleansWith the Great Migration, jazz came north

Combine: a new sense of African American community, and the Prohibition era (speakeasies, etc.) = HUGE Popularity

The most famous jazz artists of this era:Louis ArmstrongBillie Holiday

Louis Armstrong “Pops”Born in New Orleans, began his early career there,

and moved north to ChicagoOne of the most important musicians in American

historyWas known for his virtuoso trumpet playing, his

voice, and his showmanshipNotable for his ability to draw racially mixed

crowds

Billie Holiday “Lady Day”Born in Philadelphia, later became one of the

most famous singers in American historyMost well-known for her rendition of a poem:

“Strange Fruit”

“Strange Fruit”Originally a poem written by a Jewish schoolteacher, Abel

Meerpol, from the BronxWritten in response to the horror Meerpol felt when he

viewed a photograph of two African-Americans being lynchedHoliday took the song and made it part of her nightly routine

– the song later became the anthem of the anti-lynching movement

Strange Fruit  Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black body swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia sweet and freshAnd the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for a tree to dropOh, here is a strange and bitter crop

“The White Ones”By Langston Hughes

I do not hate you, 

For your faces are beautiful, too. 

I do not hate you, 

Your faces are whirling lights of liveliness and splendor, too.

 Yet why do you torture me,

 O, white strong ones,

 Why do you torture me?

The Janitor Who PaintsBy Palmer Hayden

AspirationBy Aaron Douglas

“I Too”By Langston Hughes

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 sit 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.

Street Life in HarlemBy William H. Johnson

School’s OutBy Allan Rohan Crite

"Race Pride”W.E.B. DuBois, The Crisis, Vol. XIX (1920)

 Our friends are hard--very hard to please. Only yesterday they were preaching "Race Pride."

 "Go to!" they said, "and be PROUD of your race. . ." Today Negroes, Indians, Chinese, and other groups, are gaining new

faith in themselves; they are beginning to "like" themselves; they are discovering that the current theories and stories of "backward" peoples are largely lies and assumptions; that human genius and possibility are not limited by color, race, or blood. What is this new self-consciousness leading to. . ."

 No sooner do whites see this . . . than they point out . . . , "You spurn our knowledge." "You need our wealth and technique. . . ."

 Very well. Some of the darker brethren are convinced. They draw near in friendship; they seek to enter schools and churches; they would mingle in industry--when lo! "Get out," yells the White World. . . .

 Can you wonder, Sirs, that we are a bit puzzled by all this and that we are asking gently, but more and more insistently, Choose one or the other . . . .

 1. Leave the black and yellow world alone. Get out of Africa, Asia, and the Isles. Give us our states and towns and sections and let us rule them undisturbed.

  Or- 2. Let the world meet as men with men. Give utter justice to all.

Extend Democracy to us all and treat all men according to their individual desert. Let it be possible for whites to rise to the highest positions in China and Uganda and blacks to the highest honors in England and Texas.

 Here is the choice . . .

The Green MillBy Archibald Motley, Jr.