The Impact of the Harlem renaissance on the African American

1. The Impact of the Harlem renaissance on the African American

2. Also known as "The New Negro Movement" • More than a literary movement and more than a social revolt against racism. • Political, social and cultural change.

3. Was this “good” for the AA’s? • the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. • African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become "The New Negro” • a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke.

4. Results of the H.R. • One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities between 1919 and 1926. • Locke described the northward migration of blacks as "something like a spiritual emancipation." The New Negro (1925).

5. Black urban migration, combined with trends in American society as a whole toward experimentation during the 1920s, and the rise of radical black intellectuals —Garvey, . Du Bois Wells-Barnett etc.— all contributed to the particular styles and unprecedented success of black artists during the Harlem Renaissance period."

6. The trends started in the H.R. • These “distinctive features of black life in the United States, [enhanced by]… black isolation in American society has allowed blacks to preserve cultural patterns. (Hale, 1982) • Many of these cultural patterns became destructive and anti-social. • Absentee fathers • Drug and Alcohol abuse. • Matriarchal family structure. • “Us versus them” mentality.

7. These anti-social and destructive and behaviors are reinforced culturally and taught to others. • This createed a “Ghetto Cycle” as described by Chochez.

8. During and after slavery, • Euro-centric racist attitudes and defacto segregation that whites kept between themselves and blacks strengthened African cultural values of cooperation, community, and strong family ties and fostered a supportive black social structure, a unique black culture, and a consciousness of race. • This “consciousness” came to a peak during the H.R.

9. After the first few post civil war generations. • Negative black behavior during slavery and at present, viewed in the context of the hostility and violence perpetrated by whites against blacks in America, emerged as blacks' adaptive responses for their survival in inhumane conditions. (Jones, 1981)

10. Resources: • Diesman, J. (2000). The Harlem Renaissance.[online]. Northern Kentucky University. • Hale, J. (1982) Black Children: Their Roots, Culture, and Learning Styles. • Merelman, Ri. (1995) Representing Black Culture: Racial Conflict and Cultural Politics in the United States. • Chochez et al. (19)The Black Culture Ghetto Cycle Syndrome. • Jones, F. (1981)White Racism and Africanity in the Development of AFro-American Communities.