The Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance

2. The Beginning • During the early 1900s, the African-American middle class started a movement calling for racial equality.- • In 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created to promote civil rights and fight African-American disenfranchisement. • Along with two other groups (Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and National Urban League (NUL))

3. These African-American civil rights activists used artists and writers from their culture to achieve their goals of civil rights and equality. • The mainstream culture absorbed jazz music, African-American fine art, and black literature, bringing focus to a segregated part of American culture. • “This blossoming of African-American culture in European-American society, particularly in the worlds of art and music, became known as The Harlem Renaissance.”

4. Authors of The Harlem Renaissance • NUL published Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life believing that art and literature could inspire African-Americans • Printed promising black writers in each issue • Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer • Aaron Douglas and Charles Ashton illustrated the cover art of the magazine • These artists used their fame as a chance to comment on the themes they found problematic to the American culture.

5. Jazz Age • During “The Roaring 20s” Americans experienced an economic boom after WWI • The decade was known for its celebration of excess and its rejection of wartime frugality and conservation • Americans invested time and money leisure activities and artistic endevours • The Prohibition Act made obtaining alcohol difficult and speakeasies (liquor-serving nightclubs) became a place where Americans would socialize, drink alcohol, and rebel against the traditional culture

6. The Cotton Club in Harlem featured only African-American entertainers but only allowed white clientele (with few exceptions) • Looked and felt like an extravagant Southern plantation • Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway – some of the most famous jazz performers of the time • Whites from NY attended club in Harlem to indulge in two taboos: drinking and mingling with blacks • As jazz hit the mainstream, the older generations associated the behavior of young people with the music.

9. The End of the Renaissance • As the 20s came to a close so did the whites’ infatuation with Harlem • The Great Depression also crushed “The Roaring 20s” ending the indulgence and decedance that fueled the upkeep of Harlem artists and their establishments • The depression cut off many blacks from the American dream that had seemed so close at hand.

10. White shop-owners and the black community had a strained relationship in Harlem and finally fell apart during the Harlem Riot of 1935, the nation’s first modern race riot. • Broke the truce between white and black America • Shattered the idea of Harlem as a “Mecca” • Changed the cultural landscape of America forever • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idqeiACqn4 • "Harlem Renaissance - Black History Milestones on Biography.com." Biography.com. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/harlem-renaissance.jsp>.

11. Harlem by Langston Hughes • 1. Select words or phrases from each stanza that suggest the speaker’s attitude. How is the attitude conveyed through your selection? • 2. What is the tone of these lines? Cite evidence from the text to support your claims. • 3. In one sentence, describe the message of the poem.