Allison Mackenzie

Langston Hues

A Harlem Poet:
James Langston Hues lived from 1902-1967. His writing career began with his publication Weary Blues in 1924. Langston left a legacy of poetry, prose, short stories, novels and dramas. Hues reflected the everyday life of African Americans during the 20s, which contributed to the Harlem Renaissance.

CAP English 9A Honors Red Group

Palmer Hayden Jeunesse ("Jeunesse.")

November 25, 2013

YOUR GUIDE TO THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Art/Music/Writing
During the Renaissance, there were many African Americans writing fictions, essays, poetry and dramas. Famous writers included Langston Hues, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay. The Talented Tenth, influenced by W.E.B. Dubois, was a group of African Americans who believed that African Americans should find their identities specifically through writing. This group helped the writing aspect of the Renaissance flourish, which consequently affected the domains of music and art. W.E.B. Dubois was a famous leader who argued that the African Americans of the time had a twoness, where they had a conflicted identity as an African and an American. (Black Writers Tell It on the Mountain") This so called new negro philosophy is reflected through murals and paintings including the work of many artists like Aaron Douglas, Selma Burke and Palmer Hayden ("The Harlem Renaissance"). Also, the music scene exploded with Jazz along with famous musicians like Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith ("46e. The Harlem Renaissance"). Theaters and clubs like the Lincoln Theater and Cotton Club featured African American musicians ("A Place Called Harlem"). African American began to be accepted with contributions to Broadway after the success of the musical Shuffle Along ("Shuffle Along: The Musical at the Center of the Harlem Renaissance"). The arts, music and writing of this time focused on the idea of going back to Africa or discovering their roots to ergo finding their identities (Reuben).

History Overview
Aaron Douglas Aspects of Negro Life (The Harlem Renaissance)

Political Impact

The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic, cultural and social movement from the end of WWI to the 1930s. The Great Migration jump-started the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration was when Southern blacks migrated to Harlem, New York and other urban cities in the Northeast and Midwest. The post-Civil War era of the south was filled with racial oppression like Jim Crow Laws. African American oppression pushed African Americans to migrate. Southern blacks wished to find a safe haven for free expression with more acceptance. African Americans apart of the Harlem Renaissance were known as the New Negroes. This movement impacted African Americans pride and sense of identity ("The Harlem Renaissance (19171935)].

W.E.B Dubois

The Harlem Renaissance also had a political impact. W.E.B. Dubois created the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Another politician was Marcus Garvey who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). These leaders had different views but both impacted the Renaissance. Dubois voiced for integration while Garvey campaigned for a migration to Africa. Both African American leaders during the Renaissance impacted the movement politically through their creation of the UNIA and NAACP. Dubois and Garvey used their political power to fight for African American equality ("Politics/Issues").