Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance

Between 1860 and 1930, African Americans experienced continuous segregation and hatred from the Whites; in spite of this, as the African Americans migrated from the South to the North, they began to rapidly advance in not only cultural arts, but also in education. Before the dawning of the African Americans’ historical movement, they were forced to endure the adversities of slavery. Despite their lack of individualism and say, they continuously strived to prosper in their discriminative society and eventually led their own race to freedom. The Harlem Renaissance, a literary and artistic movement that kindled a novel Black identity, triggered the African Americans’ motivation to personally articulate their beliefs through paintings that are …show more content…
Because they were forced to harbor their individuality under Whites, African Americans had no opportunity for independence and continued to live under injustice. However, they soon discovered they were capable of influencing the nation with their artistic aspects and employed that into their endeavors toward liberty. Langston Hughes, a celebrated social activist and poet, commonly wrote addresses regarding the hardships of African American lives and the actions they must take to restore their rights. In his speech concerning the need of cultural expression, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, he strongly asserted that “we build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves,” broadcasting that the Whites’ “displeasure don’t matter” to the African Americans. Hughes stressed that the Black community should convey their individualism and embrace their creativity without fear of Whites oppressing them. By doing so, the African Americans would fully acquire equality across the nation, rather than being obliged to live unjustly under the artificial standards of Whites. Through their inventive and artistic movement, the African Americans were consequently able to cultivate their own unprecedented identity. Similarly, the artistic …show more content…
Around the 1860s, there were little to no educational opportunities for African Americans, but as the economy progressively became industrialized and as they worked to reconstruct their roles in society, this community of people soon gained access to principled educational rights. After the establishment of the 13th Amendment, slavery was finally abolished, granting African Americans civil equality and opportunity to overcome segregation in societal aspects, such as education. Overtime, more schools were opened solely for African Americans and many pursued higher education as well. Although Whites originally overpowered the Blacks in the educational system, the amount of African American teachers gradually increased among the schools, easily outnumbering the Whites. The infamous social leader, W.E.B. Du Bois, made a stance upon the educational rights of African Americans as he claimed that “the school system in the country districts of the South is a disgrace and in few towns and cities are the Negro schools what they ought to be.” In order to resolve this issue, Du Bois called for the impartial education of Blacks: “we will fight for all time against any proposal to educate Black boys and girls simply as servants and underlings, or simply for the use of other people. They have the right to know, to think, to aspire.” His address towards the controversy of the South’s unfair