Harlem Renaissance
Maxwell Wright
HIST557 C001
September 23, 2012
The Harlem Renaissance and a Hip Hop Culture
In the 1920’s a group of African-American intellectuals decided to come together and construct the New Negro Movement, later called the Harlem Renaissance. It was a time when black poets, novelists, and artists set out to disprove the negative stereotypes and prove that black people were not inferior to white people—they felt that they deserved respect. “The Harlem Renaissance was the African American community’s first attempt to make its voice heard in a sea of White voices.”[1] For the most part “…they did not want people to disregard color, but to see black as beautiful.”[2] However, there were a few artists during the movement that did not care to be seen as black artist; they wanted to be seen and respected as artist instead. In other words, there were those that wanted to be respected as black people, while others just wanted to be revered and accepted as a person first that happens to be black. Nevertheless, the Harlem Renaissance provided a chance for African Americans to uplift themselves despite the discrimination that they dealt with in society. As a result of the movement, African Americans were able to move on to greater heights in the realm of art, experience some sense of interracial relations which they had not before and they were able to build from this arts driven movement into a full-fledged Civil Rights movement. “The major political theme of the Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of a people, the creation of the New Negro.”[3] This use of art forms as a means to express, uplift and motivate still plays a major role in today’s African American society. While literature has taken a back seat to hip hop and African American produced films, these art forms continue to give voice to African Americans who would otherwise be left silent.
“The fight for African American equality in the United States has been
HIST557 C001
September 23, 2012
The Harlem Renaissance and a Hip Hop Culture
In the 1920’s a group of African-American intellectuals decided to come together and construct the New Negro Movement, later called the Harlem Renaissance. It was a time when black poets, novelists, and artists set out to disprove the negative stereotypes and prove that black people were not inferior to white people—they felt that they deserved respect. “The Harlem Renaissance was the African American community’s first attempt to make its voice heard in a sea of White voices.”[1] For the most part “…they did not want people to disregard color, but to see black as beautiful.”[2] However, there were a few artists during the movement that did not care to be seen as black artist; they wanted to be seen and respected as artist instead. In other words, there were those that wanted to be respected as black people, while others just wanted to be revered and accepted as a person first that happens to be black. Nevertheless, the Harlem Renaissance provided a chance for African Americans to uplift themselves despite the discrimination that they dealt with in society. As a result of the movement, African Americans were able to move on to greater heights in the realm of art, experience some sense of interracial relations which they had not before and they were able to build from this arts driven movement into a full-fledged Civil Rights movement. “The major political theme of the Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of a people, the creation of the New Negro.”[3] This use of art forms as a means to express, uplift and motivate still plays a major role in today’s African American society. While literature has taken a back seat to hip hop and African American produced films, these art forms continue to give voice to African Americans who would otherwise be left silent.
“The fight for African American equality in the United States has been