Harlem renaissance

1. Harlem renaissance Mr. Goddard | PLUSH | March 2009

2. What you are learning • California Content Standard 11.5.2 & .5 • 11.5 Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s. • 2. Analyze the international and domestic events, interests, and philosophies that prompted attacks on civil liberties, including the Palmer Raids, Marcus Garvey's "back-to-Africa" movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and immigration quotas and the responses of organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Anti-Defamation League to those attacks. • 5. Describe the Harlem Renaissance and new trends in literature, music, and art, with special attention to the work of writers (e.g., Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes).

3. What is The Harlem renaissance • The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African American social thought which was expressed through: • Paintings • Music • Dance • Theater • Literature

4. Where is The Harlem The island of Manhattan Neighborhoods New York City is on Manhattan island

5. Where was the Harlem Renaissance centered? • Centered in the Harlem district of New York City, the New Negro Movement (as it was called at the time) had a major influence across the Unites States and even the world.

6. Causes – Great migration • The economic opportunities of the era triggered a widespread migration of black Americans from the rural south to the industrial centers of the north - and especially to New York City. • In New York and other cities, black Americans explored new opportunities for intellectual and social freedom.

7. 1920 1911 1930 Causes – African-American Middle class An African American Middle Class developed as a result of improved educational and employment opportunities for African Americans. BUT…. Increased contact between African Americans and white Americans in the workplace and on city streets forced a new awareness of the disparity between the promise of the American dream and reality.

8. Causes – technology/Mainstream publishing • Corresponding with the Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of mainstream publishing. • Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. • Publishers began to attract a great amount of attention from the nation at large.

9. Causes – red Summer of 1919 • In response to the gains by African Americans, many whites fought back during the summer of 1919. • There were 25 major race riots and at least 83 African Americans were lynched. • The Ku Klux Klan held over 200 meeting to increase enrollment.

10. Causes – Returning troops The 369th “Hell Fighters” were rewarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry in battle and returned to the U.S. as heroes to African Americans. Although the French recognized the courage and skill of the regiment, the U.S. government downplayed their role and even tried to convince the French to do the same. “…We must not eat with them…shake hands or seek to talk or meet with them outside of the requirements of military duty…We must not commend too highly the [black] troops…” excerpts from a memorandum entitled “Secret Information Concerning the Black American Troops.”

11. Lead to civil rights political agenda Leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey and the NAACP helped to inspire racial pride in the middle and working class. Du Bois was instrumental in the foundation of the NAACP. Marcus Garvey pushed for the Back to Africa movement

12. Civil rights agenda - NAACP • The first of these schools of thought was represented by W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson. • They saw the arts as an area where talented and culturally privileged African Americans could lead their race’s fight for equality. • Art functioned as propaganda: works of art inspired by the artists’ racial heritage & experiences would prove the beauty of the race and its contributions to American culture. • These artistic successes could foster pride among all African-Americans and prove their educated class to be the equal of the white educated class. “Lift every voice and Sing till the earth and heaven ring. Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;” James Weldon Johnson

13. Du Bois’ Talented tenth • Du Bois also believed in the “talented tenth.” This was the idea that a small percentage of the African American population who were exceptionally skilled should be designated and educated as artistic and cultural leaders. He proposed absolute equality for the "talented tenth" and technical training for the black masses.

14. Civil rights agenda - Garvey • Black politics shifted as Marcus Garvey mobilized tens of thousands of supporters and confronted the newly formed NAACP and the African-American establishment with a mass political movement championing black nationalism and Pan-Africanism. • formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) • began the “back to Africa movement”

15. Art’s role in Pervading Racism • The Harlem Renaissance would help lay the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement • The Harlem writers and artists were, like their Modernist white counterparts, in quest of new forms, images, and techniques. They, too, were skeptical and disillusioned. • What chiefly differentiated them, however, was their view of artistic endeavor as an extension of the struggle against oppression. • The Harlem Renaissance created an environment where art flourished in a rediscovery of the past, a celebration of the present, and a determination to change the future. • “Harlem was not so much a place as a state of mind, the cultural metaphor for black America itself.”

16. Urban experience and Racism • African-American Urban Experience and Racism: - represented by Langston Hughes and Claude McKay - some writers were accused of over-emphasizing crime, sexuality, and other less savory aspects of ghetto life to feed voyeuristic desires of white readers and publishers. • Use of Black Music & Folklore as an Inspiration for Poetry, Short Stories, and Novels: - Langston Hughes used rhythms and styles of jazz - black religion as a literary source: James Weldon Johnson’s God’s Trombones - Sterling Brown used blues and southern work songs in his book of poetry Southern Road ART FOR ART’S Sake or for EQUALITY?

17. Despite the differences…. • Through all these themes Harlem Renaissance writers were determined to express the African-American experience in all its variety and complexity as realisticallyas possible.

18. Langston Hughes • Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful, realistic portrayals of black life in America. • He wrote poetry, short stories, novels, and plays, and is known for his involvement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing. • His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. • He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

19. Langston’s - I, too, sing America I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.  Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen,“ Then.  Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--  I, too, am America. • 'I, Too' written just before Hughes’ return to the States from Europe and after he'd been denied passage on a ship because of his color • The calm clear statements of the 'I' have an unstoppable force like the progress the poem envisages. • Hughes's dignified introductions to these poems and his beautiful speaking voice render them all the more moving.

20. CLAUDE MCKAY African American Poet, Claude McKay memorialized the bloody summer of 1919 with the poem, “If We Must Die,” which was published in the magazine Liberator. If We Must Die If we must die--let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursed lot.If we must die--oh, let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe;Though far outnumbered, let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!What though before us lies the open grave?Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

21. Zora Neale Hurston • Novelist • Playwright • Collected African-American folklore and tales • Some characters in her novels were women searching for identity and community.

22. Duke Ellington • Ellington was a jazz composer, conductor, and performer during the Harlem Renaissance. • During the formative Cotton Club years, he experimented with and developed the style that would quickly bring him worldwide success. Ellington would be among the first to focus on musical form and composition in jazz. • Ellington wrote over 2000 pieces in his lifetime.

23. The Cotton Club • The Duke Ellington Orchestra was the "house" orchestra for a number of years at the Cotton Club. The revues featured glamorous dancing girls, acclaimed tap dancers, vaudeville performers, and comics. All the white world came to Harlem to see the show. • The first Cotton Club revue was in 1923. There were two new fast paced revues produced a year for at least 16 years.

24. The White Influence on the Harlem Renaissance: • The Harlem Renaissance appealed to a mixed audience—the African American middle class and white consumers of the arts. • Urbane whites suddenly took up New York’s African-American community, bestowing their patronage on young artists, opening up publishing opportunities, and pumping cash into Harlem’s “exotic” nightlife.

25. The cotton club – White crossover • The famous Cotton Club carried this trend to the bizarre extreme by providing black entertainment for exclusively white audiences. • The relationship of the Harlem Renaissance to white venues and white audiences created controversy. • While many African-American critics strongly supported the movement, others, like W.E.B. DuBois were sharply critical and accused Renaissance writers and artists of reinforcing negative African-American stereotypes.

26. Louis “Satchmo”Armstrong • Louis Armstrong was a jazz composer and trumpet player during the Harlem Renaissance. • He is widely recognized as a founding father of jazz. • He appeared in 30 films and averaged 300 concerts per year, performing for both kids on the street and heads of state.

27. Bessie Smith • Bessie Smith was a famous jazz and blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. • Smith recorded with many of the great Jazz musicians of the 1920s, including Louis Armstrong. • Smith was popular with both blacks and whites

28. How did it impact history? • The Harlem Renaissance helped to redefine how Americans and the world understood African American culture. It integrated black and white cultures, and marked the beginning of a black urban society. • The Harlem section of New York City was transformed from a deteriorating area into a thriving middle class community. • Blacks view surge in art, music and literature as the creation of a new cultural identity. • Whites see it as another new, exotic, and trendy form of entertainment. • The Harlem Renaissance set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.

29. Comparing Early rap and Art from the Harlem ren. • Similar • African-American Realism/Experiences/Racism/Rage • White Cross Over • New Technology assisted the creation/spread • Art for Art’s Sake versus Political messaging • Different • Pride? • Harlem Renaissance was middle/upper class focused • Commercialism?