The Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance

2. The Great Migration • 1910-1920 – 100,000s of African Americans moved North in search of jobs • By the end of the decade, 40% lived in cities • Racial tensions escalated • KKK on the rise • 25 urban race riots erupted

3. African American Goals • Fight racial violence • NAACP • W.E.B Du Bois • Led Protests • The Crisis • Platform raising awareness for civil rights • Antilynching laws • Find their voice • Marcus Garvey • Believed in a separate society for African Americans • Left a powerful legacy • Newly awaked black pride • The “New Negro”

4. The Harlem Renaissance Blossoms • Harlem • Neighborhood in New York • 1920s – the world’s largest urban black community • “black capital of America” • Harlem Renaissance • Literary & artistic movement celebration African American culture Harlem

5. African American Writers • Well-educated, middle class African Americans • Wrote about being black in a white world • Claude McKay • Novelist, poet, Jamaican immigrant • Poems expressed pain & strain of life • Militant writing • Langston Hughes • Missouri-born • Movement’s best known poet • Poems described the difficult lives of working-class

6. African American Performers • During the 20s, African Americans in the performing arts won large followings • Including white audiences • Many rose to stardom via acting, singing, dancing etc.

7. African Americans and Jazz • Jazz • Born in New Orleans • Blend of instrumental ragtime and vocal blues • Louis Armstrong • One of the most important and influential musicians in the history of jazz • Quickly spread • Became the most popular music for dancing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efaTlg2XsTI