The Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance

2. Famous Quotes “If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.” “Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly” Claude McKay Langston Hughes

3. Overview • The Harlem Renaissance also known as “The Negro Movement ” It was a time when intellectual growth was at the peak for African Americans. • A time where African American artists, writers, poets and musicians were given a chance to express themselves. • Taken place in Harlem, New York

4. Artistic Elements The artists during the Harlem Renaissance painted what was they saw outside , how they were treated in slavery or the idea of it and also their club/party life A lot of painters turned to painting because that was the only job they could get . In the north African Americans still could not have the “whites man” job. So they used their talents to bring an income for their families and themselves • Famous Painters: • Aaron Douglas • Jacob Lawrence • James A. Porter

5. Musicians one of the world’s greatest composers and musicians. He played over 20,000 performances worldwide in the course of his musical career, during which time he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States, and awarded the Legion of Honor from the French government Josephine Baker Duke Ellington an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement During the Harlem Renaissance The Cotton Club was one of the most famous nightclubs in history. The Cotton Club

6. Poets These men were in the top 10 list for best poets of the Harlem Renaissance period. Most of their work can be found today and we learn about them in literature . W.E.B DuBois Arna Bontemps “To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” “Is there something we have forgotten? Some precious thing we have lost, wandering in strange lands?” “I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” Langston Hughes

7. Political Elements an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and collections of folklore. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University. Later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University. James Weldon Johnson

8. Continued … Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and was elected by its council to be President of the association. He had a Black Nationalist philosophy and was a proponent of a black migration back to Africa. The leading black politician and philosopher during the Harlem Renaissance. His views were in direct conflict of those of Garvey since  Dubois favored integration and Garvey favored  separation. Marcus Garvey W.E.B DuBois

9. Politics Cont’d… During the early 1900s, the burgeoning African-American middle class began pushing a new political agenda that advocated racial equality. The epicenter of this movement was in New York, where three of the largest civil rights groups established their headquarters. During the Harlem Renaissance , many activist supported the civil rights movement to continue the fight for equal opportunities for African Americans

10. Great Migration The Great Migration, a long-term movement of African Americans from the South to the urban North, transformed Chicago and other northern cities between 1916 and 1970. Chicago attracted slightly more than 500,000 of the approximately 7 million African Americans who left the South during these decades While the Great Migration helped educated African Americans obtain jobs, eventually enabling a measure of class mobility, the migrants encountered significant forms of discrimination. Because so many people migrated in a short period of time, the African American migrants were often resented by the European-American working class; fearing their ability to negotiate rates of pay or secure employment, they felt threatened by the influx of new labor competition

11. Social Elements The Civil Rights movement was also part of the social elements but was bigger . continued injustices against Negroes forced black intellectuals into the harsh realization that prejudice against Negroes was deeply rooted in American society. It was useless trying to show white America that the Negro had “worth” and could become a contributing individual. One of the main goals of the black writers and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance was to show the Negro as a capable individual. Providing a positive self-image for the Negro was not an easy task. The Harlem Renaissance succeeded in depicting the Negro as an individual who was capable of making great achievements if given the opportunity

12. Social Conditions Slavery had ended only shortly before the Renaissance and the migration of blacks to the north had concentrated them in industrial cities. 

13. Religious Elements The Gospel aspect was introduced during the Harlem Renaissance. The African Americans wanted to praise the man above for the blessings they received. They gathered in the streets at night, to give thanks and to pray that soon they would have equal rights and be treated the way they deserved to be . They kept faith in him through the ups and downs

14. CONTINUED …. •     The Harlem Renaissance encouraged distinctive thinking patterns and very divergent creativity as related to religious and philosophical ideals. In many cases, the climate of this era invited critique and revisions to existing spiritual and theological assumptions. As a result, neo-orthodox approaches to traditional Christianity became popular. This phenomenon • included: mega-type churches; sect/cult approaches; religious nationalists; and highly emotional storefront churches. • The artistic and political musings in Harlem impacted spiritual imagination in many ways.

15. Religious Timeline • 1919 - W. E. B. Dubois organizes the first Pan African Congress. this effort opened dialogue related to African unity and spiritual values. 1920 - Marcus Garvey holds a convention of the United Negro Improvement Association in New York. This movement presented revolutionary challenges to African American socio-religious life and ideals. • 1920 - African American Pentecostal roots emerge from the founding location of the Azuza Street Missions in Los Angeles. This Pentecostal presence is soon realized in Harlem as migrants and native Harlemites find an exciting spiritual alternative to the traditional denominations. The African American Pentecostal experience will greatly impact music, writings, and art expressions. • 1921- Garvey organizes the African Orthodox Church. This religious creation fostered direct correlations to Orthodox Christianity in Africa. A branch church was located in Harlem.

16. Literary Movement/Period •      It has been argued that the Harlem Renaissance, or the New Negro Movement, is the defining moment in African American literature because of an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among black writers. The importance of this movement to African American literary art lies in the efforts of its writers to exalt the heritage of African Americans and to use their unique culture as a means toward re-defining African American literary expression.

17. Harlem, New York

18. Why was it called the Renaissance? • The word renaissance means rebirth and may not be the best word to describe the events in Harlem in the 1920′s and early 1930′s but it is the word that was chosen. In actuality the movement was new, not reborn from something else. The Harlem Renaissance opened up the world of art and literature to black Americans. It allowed a declaration of cultural differences while proving that talent and intelligence were alive and thriving in black society. The renaissance forced people of many cultures to look at prejudice and racial bias, and to question the inequalities that were evident. While this movement may not have made improvements in the day to day life of many black people, the long lasting effects are still found in the music, art and literature of our times.

19. Artwork

20. The Harlem Renaissance! • This rebirth of an era, set the pavement out for all African Americans. For them to pursue the dreams they always had. Gave them the chance to have equal rights and to live the “American Dream”