The Harlem Renaissance is widely known as a period in the history of the United States that greatly influenced the general development of American society and in particular the development of Afro-American culture. It was the time when African-American culture flourished producing enormous amounts of literary, music, and artworks that redefined the following course of American history and social makeup.
This phenomenon has received several names. Apart from the Harlem Renaissance, it was also referred to as Black Literary Renaissance (highlighting the flourishing of the Afro-American writers and unprecedented scale of their talent) and New Negro Renaissance in more general terms describing the development of African American art, literature, drama, etc. Overall, it was the time when black artists, writers, and dramatists invented their own methods and styles rather than imitating the achievements of the white population. The Harlem Renaissance continued throughout the period that between 1919 and 1930 with the highest point of its progression located between 1924 and 1929.
The Harlem Renaissance received its name from a historic district of New York City – Harlem where at that time a large population of African Americans settled down. From Harlem, the renaissance spread to other urban centers of the United States, the original name, however, was preserved (Bloom, 1995).
The appearance of this cultural and social phenomenon was predetermined by a number of historic events: the end of the Civil War manifested at least partial liberation of the African American population and resulted in increased migration from the South to the North in search of a better future (Wintz, 1988). The migrants brought with them largely unknown to the North before Jazz and Blues music, the life of African American nightclubs, and dancing.
In addition to that, the African American community was able to become a part of the American middle class changing the face of American class stratification. These changes were also associated with increased levels of African American advocacy and the appearance of such organizations as the NAACP, and at the same time with the increased levels of violence as not all people easily accepted the changes through which the country was passing at the time (Helbling, 1999).
All these changes lead to an unprecedented rise in the amount of literary, art, music African American creations that influenced not only the status of African American community but the whole society.
The group of people who built and developed the Harlem Renaissance was comprised of African Americans that fell into three primary categories: descendants of slaves, migrants from the Southern communities who searched for an environment with lower levels of prejudice, and improved living and opportunities. The third category consisted of black immigrants from other countries who traveled to the United States in the hope of a better life.
All these segments of the population came together in the district of Harlem in New York City to create and develop a new culture and new forms of social phenomena.
Those who belonged to the Harlem Renaissance tended to identify themselves with the idea of New Negro – an educated artistic person that through creations in various spheres, such as art, music, and literature could address important social issues and break groundless racial stereotypes (Kramer & Robert, 1997). This theme became a widely discussed topic analyzed in numerous literary works and depicted in pictures and paintings.
The Harlem Renaissance was not identified with any particular form of art that resulted from the development of this era. This renaissance was characterized by a mix, a variety of experiments, and diversity of expression that encompassed all manifestations of new and traditional: traditional African American music and jazz and blues; use of traditional poetry forms, and such new form as “jazz poetry”.
Such a mix of forms and styles appealed to a mixed audience. The works of the Harlem artists and writers were equally interesting for the black population and large portions of the white population and actually relied in many ways on the magazines owned by white people (Bloom, 1995).
Similarly, Harlem entertainment attracted a variety of people, not necessarily African American, a lot of white people visited Harlem nightclubs and cabarets searching for good entertainment. Especially popular and interesting in this respect was the White Cotton club of New York City that provided black entertainment for only white clients.
Unfortunately, very little of the Harlem Renaissance promotion at the time when it existed would have taken place without the protection from the white people. The whites helped African Americans to publish their novels, to popularize their music, to sell their art.
As historians point out, they did so for three main reasons: some of them considered African American culture to be primitive and found joy in almost “playing” with the bright minds of Harlem, others quickly realized that African American culture was in fashion, and wanting to keep up with the pace of ever-changing fashion helped the black (Singh, 1976). A relatively small portion, however, strived to help the African Americans as they realized that the changes that occur in the society were important democratic changes that lead to the collapse of much of prejudice and stereotyping. While for some of the white population, the Harlem Renaissance did not seem a worthy and fertile endeavor, for the majority of African Americans it was a chance to state their identity and fight for equality and opportunity (Bloom, 1995).
It is believed that the most prominent field of the Harlem Renaissance development was literature. Literature was something like an escape for African Americans through which they could express any of their fears, hopes, and aspirations. The era of the Harlem Renaissance introduced to the world such renowned authors as Langston Hughes, Claude Mckay, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, and many others who opened the realities of the black community to the rest of the world representing in their works the struggle of African American identity to ‘fit in’ (Kramer, Robert, 1997).
Among the main themes explored by the Harlem Renaissance authors were the issues of racism and segregation, defining new Negro identity, fighting for equal opportunities, and securing rights and freedoms, etc. The range of themes was extremely large and covered the majority of aspects of the day-to-day existence of the African American community at the time, those changes that were brought by the Civil War, and those obsolete ideas that still circulated in society.
With the evolution of the Harlem Renaissance, the writers received increased opportunities for self-determination, and often discussed and analyzed such themes as alienation and marginalization which had never been done before. Many authors also relied on the rich traditions of African Americans drawing their inspiration from folk, different dialects, blues, and jazz music creating unique forms of literature (Kramer, Robert, 1997).
Apart from that, the literature depicted the development of the black community in terms of its educational opportunities and sophistication in the context of growing urbanization and migration.
Although the creations of the Harlem African American community grew more and more popular with the general public, in reality conquering the white reader was not as important to the “new Negroes” as “expression of our individual dark-skinned selves”, as Langston Hughes pointed out.
Just like the upheaval of the Harlem Renaissance, its decline was defined by several aspects. The biggest factor for the decline of the Renaissance played the Great Depression that raged in the United States in the 1930s. Consequently, many of those who created the atmosphere of Harlem left New York City, and riots that happened in Harlem at the time mainly due to economic and financial issues (Wintz, 1988). Of course, Harlem Renaissance did not disappear in a day, and many Harlem Renaissance books and artworks were produced after the renaissance had already declined (Helbling, 1999).
It should be noted that like during any other period when significant changes take place, a conflict occurred in the African American between an old conservative community that did not want to accept the modernization of the black population, and the creative minds of Harlem who expressed themselves through every possible means and medium (Bloom, 1995).
The Harlem Renaissance laid the foundation for the United States Civil Rights Movement and is a period where many contemporary writers and artists still draw their inspiration from. It was during the Harlem Renaissance that the American mainstream publishers accepted the works of African American authors to make it accessible to a very wide range of populations, and the white population accepted them and expressed great interest. It was then that African Americans were able to prove that culture, literature, music, and art did not belong solely to the white population. This discovery was extremely empowering and vitally needed to the black community that after so many years of slavery and oppression finally was able to hope for a change and a change for the better.
References
Bloom, Harold, ed. Major Black American Writers Through the Harlem Renaissance /. New York: Chelsea House, 1995.
Helbling, Mark. The Harlem Renaissance The One and the Many. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Hill, Anthony D. Pages from the Harlem Renaissance: A Chronicle of Performance. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.
Kramer, Victor A., and Robert A. Russ, eds. Harlem Renaissance Re-Examined. Rev. ed. Troy, NY: Whitston Publishing Company, 1997.
Singh, Amritjit. Twelve Black Writers, 1923-1933. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976.
Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance. 1st ed. Houston, TX: Rice University Press, 1988.