The Harlem Renaissance contained some of the first impactful, original, and insightful writers and artists for African Americans in the United States. These writers and artists helped influence African Americans achieve acceptance and continue the progress to help them become accepted into society. During the 1880s, the legalization of segregation laws created inequality for African Americans; however, in the early 1900s, both Aaron Douglas, an artist, and W.E.B Du Bois, a public speaker, advocated for change for African Americans. It would not be until the 1930s when the desire for change of education and a cultural identity helped establish a voice for African Americans even though illiteracy levels for African Americans demonstrated insufficient
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As an effect of Jim Crow laws even after the abolishment of slavery, African Americans received little respect and limited rights. These laws gave the African American race little hope for change. In the speech by Langston Hughes in 1926 titled “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”, he talks about the achievements African Americans have made and how African Americans should be proud for who they are. He expresses, “We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.” Jim Crow laws presented a dilemma for African Americans because it created a clause that claimed things would be separate, but equal. Granted that something is equal, there would be no need to keep it separate. As a result, African Americans settled to be “free within themselves” instead because they could not have freedom in society due to the separate, but equal clause provided by the Jim Crow laws. Although being “free within themselves” allowed a change of perspective for African Americans, it did not change the issue of inequality between African Americans and Whites. Even with the change in the fine arts and the way African Americans have cultural pride, segregation laws created another way to establish separation between Whites and African Americans. Whites would not accept equality between African Americans who once worked as slaves for them; therefore, creating laws against African Americans to preserve their social statuses. Disenfranchisement furthered the case of white supremacy because of the hasty requirements in order to vote. People who wanted to vote would have to pay a poll tax and pass a literacy test which coincidentally made most African Americans unable to vote. Even though the historical statistics of the United States
As an effect of Jim Crow laws even after the abolishment of slavery, African Americans received little respect and limited rights. These laws gave the African American race little hope for change. In the speech by Langston Hughes in 1926 titled “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”, he talks about the achievements African Americans have made and how African Americans should be proud for who they are. He expresses, “We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.” Jim Crow laws presented a dilemma for African Americans because it created a clause that claimed things would be separate, but equal. Granted that something is equal, there would be no need to keep it separate. As a result, African Americans settled to be “free within themselves” instead because they could not have freedom in society due to the separate, but equal clause provided by the Jim Crow laws. Although being “free within themselves” allowed a change of perspective for African Americans, it did not change the issue of inequality between African Americans and Whites. Even with the change in the fine arts and the way African Americans have cultural pride, segregation laws created another way to establish separation between Whites and African Americans. Whites would not accept equality between African Americans who once worked as slaves for them; therefore, creating laws against African Americans to preserve their social statuses. Disenfranchisement furthered the case of white supremacy because of the hasty requirements in order to vote. People who wanted to vote would have to pay a poll tax and pass a literacy test which coincidentally made most African Americans unable to vote. Even though the historical statistics of the United States