The Harlem Renaissance: An Era Of Change

Jennifer Macy
American Literature II
12/07/2010
The Harlem Renaissance: An Era of Change
Throughout the history of man there has existed a need to define ourselves. Often this need has driven us to a point of creation that signifies our growth as humans and enhances our ability to better understand each other. During the early part of the twentieth century the African American populace entered into such an era. The Harlem Renaissance from its beginning to end was a time of literary creativity and social awakening that forever impacted the face of our culture.
After World War I there was a large migration of African Americans from the South to the North. This mass exodus helped lay the foundation for the Harlem Renaissance and set the
place for its epicenter in New York. It was here that the three biggest civil rights groups made their camp (“The”). The first group was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP for short. It was founded by W.E.B. DuBois “to promote civil rights and fight African-American disenfranchisement” (“The”). Soon followed the UNIA-ACL founded by Marcus Garvey for the purpose of unifying the African-American people. This group allowed for color people to take pride in their race. Lastly the National Urban League was created to help those moving from the South to be trained and find work. It was these three groups that gave a community feel to color people in New York and all over the country.
Though racism was still rampant the Harlem Renaissance severed as a small time of a somewhat fragile peace with blacks and whites. White writers of the post WWI era found African American art to have a “primitive” feel causing a growing interest in black art and writings (“Harlem”). This interest overlapped with a basic curiosity that intellectuals had in pronouncing a more independent American ethos from the global community. Essentially the idea of cultural pluralism was being cultivated which “inspired notions of the United States” being a country of an evolving civilization (“Harlem”).
The same sentiment was being pushed by black writer W.E.B. DuBois. He believed that the history of African Americans was the only genuine American institution. It was through their hardships in living in a world not their own that they created a unique growth of culture set beside the white way of life. It was this unified thinking amongst white and blacks that birthed the artistic heartbeat of many artist of the Renaissance.
In 1924 Charles S.
Johnson, the editor of the NUL published magazine Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, “encouraged black writing” which he said “shakes itself free of deliberate propaganda and protest” (Boyer). He managed to put together the first Civic Club dinner. This allowed a place for struggling black writers to come convene with affluent white benefactors. Many now famous writers such as Langston Hughes launched their careers through the forum.
Out of the plethora of writers from the Harlem Renaissance era there were several that stood out. Hughes by far was the most memorable. His writing was created from the desires of the black people to be a race equal to the world around them and expressed the “aesthetic sensibilities of the black working class” (“Harlem”). It was his blending of blues and poetry that made his work a true literary art. In the same vane as Hughes, Sterling Brown used his writing to eternally capture the folk tradition of African American roots through
ballads.
Not only did black male writers flourish but also black female writers made an impact in the literary world. Zora Neale Hurston’s wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, what is thought to be a crowning accomplishment of the Harlem Renaissance, was very much a tale of female self-realization. The story would go on to inspire modern writer Alice Walker to write the equally famous story The Color Purple. Nella Larsen wrote the novels Quicksand in 1928 and Passing in1929. With the two she analyzed “the psychological intricacies of race consciousness, and exposing the massive pressures to subordinate women’s sexuality to the rules of “race” and class” (“Harlem”).
As time moved out of The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression hit our beloved country.
Being hit so hard by the economic downturn the African American populace was denied the American Dream that seemed to be in reach through the twenties. The Depression brought a closure to the fragile peace between races and ended “the decadence and indulgence that fueled the patronage of Harlem artists and their establishments” (“The”). With the Harlem Riot of 1935, the conclusion of the Harlem Renaissance was brought about. It was an end of an era of true development for the African American race. Though the Renaissance was over 90 years ago it is still influential today. It has become a staple in American music, art, and literary work and proved to be historical turning point in our nation. Without it the face of our way of life would be in a proverbial stone age of ignorance and intolerance towards our fellow African American
brethren.

Works Cited Boyer, Paul S. "Harlem Renaissance." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 3 Dec. 2010 .
"Harlem Renaissance." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 3 Dec. 2010 .
“The Harlem Renaissance.” Celebrate Black History. n.d. Biography.com. 3 Dec. 2010.