The Great Migration During The Harlem Renaissance

Improved Essays
The Harlem Renaissance, was a time where art, music, poetry, and theater came alive. Jazz could be heard from every corner , the sounds of poetry lifted every ear. The migration of African Americans from the south to north in search of a better life. Changing art from something basic to a masterpiece full of color, design, and rhythm. Since the spark of the Harlem Renaissance, music, art, and poetry of African-Americans has evolved. “Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the opportunities.” This is a prime example of how the Great Migration started. During the Great Migration, African Americans began to make a better place for …show more content…
“They were done cowering under the bludgeon of white racism and were willing to take risk to prove their worth to a society the had never valued their contributions.” They felt unappreciated and worthless by the “white man”. In the effort to find a better life most migrated up North to areas like Harlem, which played a key role in starting the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was very important because white America was starting to recognize the important contributions and values of African Americans. “ African Americans became more proud of their heritage and began expressing their feeling about their oppression and their day to day lives.” Blacks were beginning to feel proud and not ashamed about who they are and their …show more content…
During the 1920 the Harlem Renaissance was frequently referred to as the ‘Negro Literary Renaissance’. The writers, poets, and intellectuals were the center of the movement. “ One of the most influential figures of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes”. Langston Hughes was an inspiration to a lot of upcoming poets. Hughes helped pioneer jazz poetry, a genre of poetry that showed the syncopated rhythms that were showed in jazz music. Langston Hughes opened a new style of poetry that had a tremendous effect on the movement. Even though the Harlem Renaissance ended years ago, it had a major effect on the art, music, and literature we see and here today. African Americans felt unappreciated and discriminated by their racial backgrounds. Moving from the South to escape their unfair circumstances, most migrated North for better opportunities. The Harlem Renaissance introduced new styles of music, art, and poetry which will have a long lasting

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance took place between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930’s, it was a cultural movement that had many impacts on society. African Americans were never treated equally, they were always treated very badly and they were put through slavery. They were not able to vote and they didn’t have a say in anything. During segregation everything was very unfair for them and that was during 1900-1939.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When one is asked of some of the most significant periods of African American history, two spans of time that are always thought of: The Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement. During the Great Migration, Americans moved to New York to seek a better standard of living and relief from the institutionalized racism in the South. The pouring in of black people into Harlem created the Harlem Renaissance. This brought the debate over racial identity and the future of black America to the forefront of the national consciousness. Artists and writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston championed the “New Negro,” the African American who took pride in his or her cultural heritage.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Window for Opportunity: The Renaissance and Apollo The Harlem Renaissance was a time for blacks to show their skills and improve their personal situation and as well as the racial setting in America. The Harlem Renaissance was a gateway for any type of talent such as writing, acting, singing, playing an instrument, playing sports, or painting. Big names in the literature corresponded with W. E. B. Dubois, George S. Schuyler, and Langston Hughes. They would write stories, essays, and novels on each other, racial dilemma’s, and propositions on how to fix Americas inequality problems. Musically famed people such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Earl Hines changed the way people saw music in almost every way.…

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance occurred from the 1920’s to the mid 1930’s. It was a cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement that ignited a new cultural identity for the blacks. It was time for a cultural celebration. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and were looked at as less than human. Even after slavery was abolished not much changed in that white supremacy was quickly restored to the south where most African Americans lived.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harlem Renaissance Essay

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Prior to the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans were nothing but slaves. The Harlem Renaissance helped African Americans establish their identities as culturally developed people who well deserved of a place in American society. During the Harlem Renaissance,…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This “New Negro Movement” brought black life to reality through its literary, artistic, and intellectual aesthetic. The cultural celebration of the Harlem Renaissance signified “The idea . . . that a different kind of black person was emerging out of the shadows of the past, a person much more assertive and demanding of his rights” (Gomez 2005, 185). Blacks reinvented “the Negro” from what they had previously been in the past as a result of white stereotypes that influenced black culture. Blacks were breaking free of racist beliefs while adopting a great sense of racial pride.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Migration Influenced African Americans to bring out cultural pride. African American culture was reborn in the Harlem Renaissance. The musician’s, artiste, and poets were all influenced by the jazz, and the need for a form and individual rights for African Americans. The African American people believed that the power of the Great Migration brought along the artistic explosion. Black people move from southern states to northern states to find a way out of poverty.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harlem, one a white only city, fell prey to overdevelopment, and many tenement owners had to concede to the many blacks seeking housing, or lose their properties altogether. Because of these factors, Harlem became a primarily black community: a center where many blacks, and intellectuals, writers, artists, musicians, singers and other entertainers would converge, and ultimately create a movement.…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that started in New York City during World War I and continued into the 1930’s. It was an African American movement, which was also known as the “New Negro Movement”. Many African American’s were sick and tired of the way they were being treated by white Americans and used many forms of art to express and represent who they were and what was happening in their culture. The Jim Crow laws and white supremacy were becoming too much for many to handle, which is why the Harlem Renaissance had such major impact on society during this time period. The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of artists who came together to express their feelings using poetry, music, photography, literature and more.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1920’s there was a large movement of African-Americans from the south to the North. This was called the Great Migration this relocation was due to the discrimination and disfranchisement of Blacks in the south. 6 million blacks poured into Northern, Midwestern, West coast cities ,largely New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, in search for a better life and job opportunities. Due to restrictions on where blacks could live, they were limited to ghettos in the inner city.2 In New York, many moved to the upper Manhattan area, particularly Harlem; in fact, by 1923, there were an estimated 150, 000 African-Americans living in Harlem.3 This migration of people helped fuse cultures and greatly contributed to what many know as the Harlem Renaissance,…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Modernism In The 1920s

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Since white supremacy was dominant in the south, many African Americans moved to the north. One location that was especially popular among the black race was Harlem in New York. In Harlem, African Americans expressed pride for their race through creative art which included literature, music, painting, and sculptures. After the African American population in Harlem rapidly increased the “new negro” was then known as the “Harlem Renaissance”(Roark, Pg.764). The “new negro” was mostly supported by all African Americans in America when fighting for their rights since they would initiate picketing protests, sit-ins, and court challenges…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harlem Renaissance Dbq

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the early 1900s many African Americans fled the south and moved north. The reason being, the north had some better economic opportunities, which was called the Great Migration. One of the cities they migrated to was Harlem city in New York. Harlem city was considered to be a cultural center drawing in African American writers, artists, musicians etc. coming from the south to freely express their talents.…

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance was a great movement in history in which changed White people’s perspective of Black people. The Harlem Renaissance began in the 1920s and ended in the mid 1930s. The event mainly revolved in Harlem, New York and involved Black culture and the identity they wanted portray in terms of art. Poets, authors, and artists fought for their equality and suffered through everyday struggle. Black people used their art to explain and emphasize that they deserved the same equality as white people.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After WW1, blacks were still racially oppressed in America. Many African Americans relocated toward the northern urban areas to look for employment. Blacks still confronted segregation in business, in schools, and public accommodations. Despite everything, they confronted less issues towards voting rights than those in the southern states. The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that occurred in Harlem, New York.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Had it not been for the Harlem Renaissance, African American literature would not exist so prevalently in today’s society. It was difficult for black northerners to avoid being victimized by the pervasive determination among white people to segregate society. Unless they were servants of white guests, taverns, hotels, and resorts in the north turned black people away. They were also banned from public lecture halls, religious revivals, and art exhibits. If they wanted to go to the movies or church, they had to sit in the “Negroes Only” section.…

    • 1809 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays