The Harlem Renaissance

The 1920s:

The Harlem Renaissance was a very large movement that showed the importance of African American identity through the arts and the proper mixing of Whites. This all happened in Harlem, New York and was the first time African Americans could express themselves freely. Some of the most influential people at the time include Louise Armstrong, James Weldon Johnson, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson, Langston Hughes, Bille Holliday (She preformed at the Apollo Theater), Zora Neale Hurston and many others.

The Harlem Renaissance would be placed under liberation because it’s was a time of letting African American people speak freely without being oppressed. They also had the freedom to express themselves through their different forms of art with no limitations.

In 1925 a New York Herald Tribune article announced, "we are on the edge, if not in the midst, of what might not improperly be called a Negro Renaissance." The causes of this renaissance—as with all such movements—were financial and educational with entertainment thrown in. Blacks participated in the postwar prosperity—although to a much lesser extent than did whites more ethical the profitable and the young generation of literate and literary blacks made the best of it. Many of the most gifted gravitated to a center of black population north of 125th Street in Upper Manhattan that gave its name to the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem nightlife attracted white audiences, and black culture began to receive serious critical attention from white intellectuals. As process continues The Times wrote “Bill Clinton’s move to Harlem shows that even this black suburb can’t resist gentrification”.

"Harlem Renaissance." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 3: 1920-1929. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

Comes from *Here* With Edits

High spots in the Theater

1920

Brownie's Book—first issue of magazine for black children; edited by W. E. B. Du Bois and Jessie Redmon Fauset. Issued to that specifc people instead of the masses kinda like how some are issued to women for fashion.

1921

Shuffle Along—first all-black Broadway show; score by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake includes "Love Will Find a Way" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry." Which was about a mayoral race which means run by the government  that was a musical

The Light—weekly black newspaper—begins publication; subsequently renamed Heebie Jeebies.

1922

The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. To book showed the hardship black were put through.

1923

Cotton Club nightclub opens.

Opportunity—first issue of magazine sponsored by the Urban League.

Runnin Wild—black musical produced on Broadway.

1924

Publication of Jean Toomer's Cane that was about the experiences and origins of African Am ericans in the United States

Publication of There Is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset A novel of the black middle class's quest for social equality in the early twentieth century

1925

The Book of American Negro Spirituals, edited by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson. It was about what they believed in

Small's Paradise nightclub opens.

Publication of The New Negro, edited by Alain Locke. How Blacks were more treated in the present day

1926

Savoy Ballroom opens.

Fire!!—only one issue published, edited by Wallace Thurman.

Encore—first issue.

Publication of Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues.

Arthur Schomburg's collection of African American books is acquired by The New York Public Library.

1927

Plays of Negro Life, edited by Alain Locke and Montgomery Gregory. Apdations of day to day life

Publication of Langston Hughes's Fine Clothes to the Jew.

Publication of James Weldon Johnson's God's Trom-bones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse.African-American religious oratory in 1

Death of Florence Mills; 57,000 people pay their respect.

1928

Harlem: A Forum of Negro Life—only one issue published, edited by Wallace Thurman.

Publication of Claude McKay's novel Home to Harlem.

Blackbirds of 1928 stars Florence Mills.

Fats Waller and Andy Razaf's Keep Sbufflin' produced at Connie's Inn.

1929

Wallace Thurman's play Harlem produced on Broadway.Publication of Wallace Thurman's novel The Blacker the Berry.

The Renaissance Slowly died out and lose energy with the Great Depression

Blues and jazz were the musical genres of the Harlem Renaissance. Here, prominent jazz musicians Duke Ellington, seated at the piano, and Louis Armstrong play together in 1946. (Link)

"Blues and jazz were the musical genres of the Harlem Renaissance. Here, prominent jazz musicians..."UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 4. Detroit: UXL, 2009. Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

This portrait of the artist Aaron Douglas, Jr., was painted by Betsey Graves Reyneau. Douglas’s paintings gave a “signature” style to the Harlem Renaissance. (Link)

"Aaron Douglas, Jr." The African-American Experience. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey. Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.