What Were The Causes Of The Harlem Renaissance

The 1920s was a very exuberant decade in which America was introduced to many African American writers, musicians, poets, photographers, and scholars. This decade is well known as the Harlem Renaissance. It was a movement that involved racial pride and it encouraged African Americans to take a stand and demand civil and political rights. All seemed well in the renaissance until the stock market crashed in 1929. Many seem to argue that the stock market crash was the primary cause of the end of the Harlem Renaissance, but there were many other factors that contributed such as civil unrest, the NAACPs change of focus, the prohibition act, and the great depression as a whole. On March 19, 1935, a riot occurred in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem. According to blackpast,”At 2:30 p.m. on March 19, 1935, a 16- year-old black Puerto Rican boy named Lino Rivera stole a 10 cent penknife from the Kress Five and Ten store on 125th Street.” (blackpast.org). The community was already fed up by the racial injustice, economic problems, and the distrust of law enforcement units. “More than 10,000 people took to the streets to protest the perceived police brutality” (Harlem). As night fell, looting and more damage started to
De Bois. It was originally created to concentrate on minority rights in many different areas such as educational, legal, and employment. The NAACP played a significant role in the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance. “NAACP officials W.E.B. Dubois, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Jessie Fauset provided aesthetic guidance, financial support, and literature to this cultural awakening,” (Loc.gov). The main purpose of the organization was to inform whites of the need for equality and the groundless segregation in America. The NAACP advertised through several different works to raise awareness throughout the states. Towards the end of the decade the organization turned its attention to more important issues