HARLEM RENAISSANCE (Ange)

 The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s centered around the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.


ORIGINS:
Harlem was a city known by the Amerindians as Muscoota. In 1658, the holland governor Peter Stuyvesant set in a small village called Harlem because of the holland city of Haarlem.
With the European conquest, the wealthiest families stablished their country-cottages.
• Becoming the XIX century, the lands had lost the quality to be grown so they were abandoned. The area was now, inhabited by new residents who were looking for cheap properties. These population grew up because of the creation of the New York and Harlem railroads. But, again the properties became expensive to the new inhabitants.

• At the begining of XX century Philip Payton, an african american estate agent rented a big amount of devaluated houses to the members of his community who had been evicted from other parts of the city.
• In 1920, the white community had left the area and the african-american community had set in all the neighborhood

• With the arriving of many african-american artists to the neighborhood, the music and the lifestyle of this community came to the surface. It increased with clubs like The Cotton Club or The Apollo Theatre where only black artist could perform.

FAMOUS FIGURES AND THEIR WORKS

PHILOSOPHY

• JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

• historian
• diplomat
• novelist
• poet
• lawyer
• songwriter
• editor
• civil rights leader

• The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) y The Books of American Negro Spirituals (1929, 1926).

MARCUS GARVEY

• formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association,
• began the “back to Africa movement”

LITERATURE


• LANGSTON HUGHES

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

– The creator of Jazz poetry

• COUNTEE CULLEN

‘Your grief and mine
Must intertwine
Like sea and river,
Be fused and mingle,
Diverse yet single,
Forever and forever.’


• ZORA NEALE HURSTON

• Novelist
• playwright
• collected & preserved African-American folklore
• Editor of the Fire! magazine

ART

• AARON DOUGLAS
• PALMER HAYDEN
• WILLIAM JONSON
• META WARRICK FULLER

MUSIC

• DUKE ELLINGTON

one of the most influential figures in jazz

• BESSIE SMITH

• The most important Blues singer of the 1920’s

• LOUIS ARMSTRONG

He was the first to record a song with scat!

PAUL ROBESON

• Harvard Law School
• All American Football Player
• Writer
• Baritone Singer
• 1st African American to Play Othello on Stage


THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

*The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and African American arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large.
*Instead of more direct political means, African American artists and writers used culture to work for the goals of civil rights and equality.
*African American writers intended to express themselves freely, no matter what the public thought.
* The Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of a new age: The age of equal rights to everybody.