How The Harlem Renaissance Shaped Literature - 1596 Words

Marie Eggly 12/9/2014 ENG 320 Hoeppner How the Harlem Renaissance Shaped Literature The Harlem Renaissance was a revolutionary time for African Americans in the Twentieth Century. It lasted from around 1918 until 1937 and is described as â€Å"the nation’s first self-conscious black literary and artistic movement† (Tindall 804), but the ideas cultivated within those years are still relevant in today’s society. In New York the city of Harlem had a rapidly growing population of African Americans due to the Great Migration and it was also the destination for immigrants from other areas of the United States. Once people began hearing about the Harlem Renaissance even more writers, photographers, musicians, and scholars moved to the area. Due to the large population of African Americans here, a sense of common identity and cultural expression were apparent and this led to the embracing of their own culture separate from what white people had defined it as. A path was laid out for new African American lite rature and had a huge impact on all of the black literature to follow. The early stages of the Harlem Renaissance took off due to several plays, poems, and a newspaper. Three Plays for a Negro Theatre was written by Ridgely Torrence, a white playwright, and his play showed African American actors expressing complex yearnings and emotions instead of the usual stereotypes of blackface and minstrel shows. Then in 1917 Hubert Harrison created The Voice, a newspaper that focused onShow MoreRelatedThe Harlem Renaissance Movement By Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, And Ralph Waldo Ellison931 Words   |  4 PagesKnown as one the most impactful movements on African American arts, the Harlem Renaissance Movement represented a period of artistic and intellectual change that initiated a new identity on black culture. Often called the â€Å"New Negro† Era, the Harlem Renaissance opened doors for African American to express themselves in the form of visual arts, musical elements, and even performing arts during the 1920s. Due to this movement, Harlem became the city that â€Å"gave African Americans a physical cultural centerRead MoreLangston Hughes : The Face Of Harlem Literacy1147 Words   |  5 Pages The Face of Harlem Literacy James Mercer Hughes, most commonly known as Langston Hughes, was a notorious writer during the Harlem Renaissance period. The Harlem Renaissance is considered a cultural explosion of African American cultures during the 1920’s. Hughes was an important figure and supporter during the Harlem Renaissance era. Through Hughes literature and activism during the 1920’s he created a positive change within the black community. The Harlem Renaissance coincided with theRead MoreImpact Of Langston Hughess Contribution To Harlem Renaissance1697 Words   |  7 PagesLangston Hughes contribution to Harlem Renaissance Harlem was founded back in the 17th century as a Dutch outpost. Harlem adjoins New York City and host a large population of the African American Community. The blacks found New York City to be more accommodative to their culture and ideologies, during the great migration of the early 1900s, Harlem became the major destination and it became home to many African Americans. [1] Harlem received over time, Harlem developed from a farming village to becomeRead More`` Walls Of Jericho ``999 Words   |  4 Pagesthe floor to dance I am lost in a sea of white faces†¦Time was when white people went to Negro cabarets to see how Negroes acted; now Negroes go to these same cabarets to see how white people act.† African-American physician, radiologist, musician and novelist Rudolph Fisher was coupled with the Harlem Renaissance, whose fiction credibly illustrated black urban life, particularly in Harlem. In his first novel, Walls of Jericho, Fisher humorously and satirically presented a hopeful vision that AfricanRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance Of The 1920s1557 Words   |  7 Pagespeople, we decide what hue is intriguing, how it makes us feel, and unfortunately how it makes us different. We are calmed by the blueness of water, and we are awakened by the yellowness of the sun. It was not until the evil intentions of slavery crossed mankind’s thoughts that hue became our downfall, our separator. White supremacy eroded the idea of equality, and darker hues began to symbolize worthlessness, inferiority, and ugliness. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s evoked the idea of black consciousnessRead MoreBlack And Blues - Langston Hughes1623 Words   |  7 PagesKelsee Robinson Mrs. Fiene English 12 14 March 2017 Black and Blues – Langston Hughes The Harlem Renaissance was a time in history when the African American culture had one of its most influential movements by using creativity and the arts (Hutchinson 1). This movement took place between 1918 and 1937 and was shaped by both African American men and women through writing, theatre, visual arts, and music. The purpose of this movement was to change the white stereotypes that were associated withRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance : An Important Piece Of History For America1473 Words   |  6 PagesThe Harlem Renaissance, originally called the New Negro Movement, was a movement that shook the 1920’s in the United States of America. The Harlem Renaissance spanned between the years of 1918 all the way to the mid 1930’s. This movement was a movement of the arts. It has been said that this time period was a rebirth to the African American arts. The Harlem Renaissance is an extremely important piece of history for America. The Harlem Renaissance took place soon after the â€Å"Great Migration.†At thisRead MoreThe Poetry Of Langston Hughes1727 Words   |  7 PagesLangston Hughes is arguably one of the best known American writers of the twentieth century. He played an important influential part in the Harlem Renaissance, his poetry and other literary works helped pave way to a new wave of African American culture and literature. Hughes had a wide variety of works, he was much more than just a poet; he was a short-story writer, novelist, and playwright (Brucker). He was also very involved in the Black Arts Movement, and had works published in â€Å"The Crisis† theRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes And His Harlem Dream1639 Words   |  7 Pagesand His Harlem Dream The 1900s found many African Americans migrating from the south to north of the United States in an event called the Great Migration. Many Southern African-Americans migrated to a place called Harlem and this is where the Harlem renaissance originated from. The Harlem renaissance began just after the first world war and lasted into the early years of the great depression. Harlem became the cynosure for blues and jazz and birthed forth a Negro Artist era called the Harlem RenaissanceRead MoreEssay on Modernism at Its Finest in Literature756 Words   |  4 Pagesthe twentieth century, literature changed and focused on breaking away from the typical and predicate patterns of normal literature. Poets at this time took full advantage and stretched the idea of the mind’s conscience on how the world, mind, and language interact and contradict. Many authors, such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Twain, used the pain and anguish in first hand experiences to create and depict a new type of literature, modernism. In this time era, literature and art became a larger