Map of Harlem – 1920’s
• In the early 1920s, African American artists, writers, musicians, and performers were part of a great cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.
• The huge migration to the North after World War I brought African Americans of all ages and walks of life to the thriving New York City neighborhood called Harlem.
• Doctors, singers, students, musicians, shopkeepers, painters, and writers, congregated, forming a vibrant mecca of cultural affirmation and inspiration.
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In the 1920’s, large numbers of African American musicians, artists , and writers settled in Harlem. This period of time became known as the Harlem Renaissance. During the Harlem Renaissance young black artists celebrated their African and American heritage.
Duke Ellington and his orchestra
W.E.B. Du Bois was a famous writer of the Harlem Renaissance
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCEGreat Migration saw
hundreds of thousands of African Americans move north to big cities
1920: 5 million of the
nation’s 12 million blacks (over 40%) lived in cities
Migration of the Negro by Jacob Lawrence
Demographical Changes• Demographics:
statistics that describe a population.
• Migration North– African Americans
moving north at rapid pace.
• Why?– Jim Crow laws
– New job opportunities in north
– 1860 – 93% in south
– 1930 – 80% in south
• Struggles:– Faced hatred from
whites– Forced low wages
African Americans Move North
• 1865: 93% of African Americans lived in the South.
• 1930: 80%• BUT
– Jobs weren’t much better in the North
– Racial hatred in North– Women often worked as
low-paid domestics.
HARLEM, NEW YORK
Harlem, NY became the largest black urban community
Harlem suffered from overcrowding, unemployment and poverty
Home to literary and artistic revival known as the Harlem Renaissance
LANGSTON HUGHES
Missouri-born Langston Hughes was the movement’s best known poet
Many of his poems described the difficult lives of working-class blacks “Thank you Ma’am”
Some of his poems were put to music, especially jazz and blues
Zora Neale Hurston1891-1960
American writer
Zora Neale Hurston was remarkable in that she was the most widely published
black woman of her day. She authored more than fifty
articles and short stories as well as four novels, two books on folklore, an autobiography, and some plays. At the height of her success she was known as the “Queen of the Harlem “Queen of the Harlem
Renaissance.”Renaissance.”
In 1925, at the height of the jazz era in Paris, the
sensational cast of musicians and dancers
from Harlem, assembled as La Revue Negre,
exploded on the stage of the Theatre des Champs
Elysees. Its talented young star, Josephine
Baker (1906-1975), captivated audiences with a wild new dance called
the Charleston.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Jazz was born in the early 20th century
In 1922, a young trumpet player named Louis Armstrong joined the Creole Jazz Band.
Armstrong is considered the most important and influential musician in the history of jazz
EDWARD KENNEDY “DUKE” ELLINGTON
In the late 1920s, Duke Ellington, a jazz pianist and composer, led his ten-piece orchestra at the famous Cotton Club. Band: “The
Washingtonians”
Ellington won renown as one of America’s greatest composers.
BESSIE SMITH
Bessie Smith, blues singer, was perhaps the most outstanding vocalist of the decade
She achieved enormous popularity and by 1927 she became the highest- paid black artist in the world
William H. Johnson Street-life Harlem
Johnson arrived inHarlem when the
Renaissance was in the making. While
there he created several paintings that dealt with
political and social Harlem. Chain
Gang is one example.
William H. Johnson1901-1970
Chain Gang. 1939
William H. JohnsonSwing Low, Sweet Chariot
1939
Johnson always showed great
devotion to painting themes that celebrated
Black Christianity. This painting is an example
of one based on a literal interpretation of a spiritual occasion.
Jazz Clubs
• Artie Shaw – First to use black musicians for white audiences.
• Benny Goodman – First to take jazz to white America.– SWING– First racial mixed
band.
Jazz Clubs and Dance Halls
• To hear the “real” jazz – NYC and the neighborhood of Harlem.– 500 jazz clubs– Cotton Club the most
famous– BUT
• Most white Americans did not want to hear jazz.
AFRICAN AMERICAN GOALS
Founded in 1909, the NAACP urged African Americans to protest racial violence
W.E.B Dubois, a founding member, led a march of 10,000 black men in NY to protest violence
MARCUS GARVEY - UNIA Marcus Garvey believed that
African Americans should build a separate society (Africa)
In 1914, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
Garvey claimed a million members by the mid-1920s Powerful legacy of black pride,
economic independence and Pan-Africanism Garvey represented a more
radical approach
W.E.B. Dubois
• Didn’t think the answer was separation of the races.
• Also didn’t approve of Garvey’s business practices.
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