Harlem Renaissance Movement: The Harlem Renaissance Movement

There are so many different issues that African Americans had to overcome in order for our society to be where it is today. Each different movement that our pioneers had to encounter left a major impact for the way things are done in today’s society. Because African Americans did not have their own identity, the Harlem Renaissance Movement allowed their creative juices to flow and gave them an out to some the stressors of society during that time. During the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans would use art, music, stories, poems, etc. to express themselves.
The Harlem Renaissance is a great movement in African American history. The Harlem Renaissance Movement got its name from the city in New York which kind of became the birth place
All of these were poets during this time who said a lot through the writing of poetry. “Their poems were full of hushes, whispers, sighs, wails, moans, etc” (Chasar, 2008, pg. 57). By far Langston Hughes is probably the most well-known of this group primarily because he wrote plays, short stories, and many other works. His writings had a focus of African American culture, how it was to be black during the Jim Crow era and not have jobs, and what it was like to live in the ghetto and make it from day to day. When reflecting on the writings of Hughes, television shows such as “Good Times” come to mind because the main point of the show was to express how it was to live in an era where it was hard to find work due to the color of one’s skin and how it was to be
This type of music was performed using little to no words but with and enormous amount of trumpet, saxophone, and drum playing. Jazz often time had an upbeat tempo that one could dance to and also went along with other types of music such as be-bop or the blues. In comparison to what is known as white music, jazz is far more upbeat and allows for entertainers to have fun and be creative with dancing. Although jazz was created to be an outlet for African Americans to enjoy and be away from the rules of segregation, whites found themselves enjoying the soulful sounds of jazz music. Whites also used this as a time to sell alcohol which was not permitted during this era. Although the focus of the Harlem Renaissance was for African Americans, whites still found ways to keep African Americans under their lock and key. The first club that emerged from the soulful sounds of jazz was known as the Cotton Club whose owner was a white gangster, Owney Madden. Madden used this opportunity to provide entertainment for white people by having the blacks perform and work in the club which became a set back because blacks were not allowed to be customers. Two popular jazz singers and band members during this era were Louis Armstrong and Bessie