The Journey Throughout the Harlem Renaissance
Gianellys R. García Rodríguez
American School
Author Note:
This paper was prepared for the English Literature class.
RUNNING HEAD: THE JOURNEY THROUGHOUT THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
The Journey Throughout the Harlem Renaissance:
"Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear." (Zora Neale Hurston). The Harlem Renaissance defines as, "the expression of being black in a white dominated world" - (McDougal Litell Literature, Grade 11, pg. 830) and it is exactly that what I am trying to define with the quote above. These people, African Americans who were part of the Harlem Renaissance, those people that strived for their liberty. Those who in that time were brave enough to get away from the racial hostility and the oppression held against them. African Americans who searched for a chance, an opportunity to demonstrate who they really were and what they were capable of. But , who were these members of the Harlem Renaissance? When did all the riot and all this chaos begin? And what exactly was this "thing" called the Harlem Renaissance? Those are some of the questions that I am precisely going to answer here…
World War I started the Harlem Renaissance in the year 1916 and continued throughout the 1920's. This movement known as the Harlem Renaissance could also be called "The Great Migration" since millions of African Americans who were tired and extremely fed up with all the racism against them, settled in New York, specifically in the neighborhood of Harlem. Soon, after all these African Americans migrated, Harlem was filled with life, as in creativity; the air was filled with it. Harlem was the place to be for any African American who wanted to get out of the life of discrimination they had, and have a new life filled with freedom of expression. Training in the arts was provided in Harlem; for instance being