Harlem

The

Renaissance

What’s the Harlem Renaissance?

The Harlem Renaissance was an American cultural movement of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Named after the Harlem community of New York City, this period brought about some of the most influential African-American visual artists, musicians, writers, and dancers.

In later decades, the Harlem Renaissance influenced the American Civil Rights Movement.

What Started the Harlem Renaissance?

• Many factors combined to spark the origins of the Harlem Renaissance. These included: – The 13th, 14th, and 15th

Amendments – The Great Migration – World War I

13th, 14th, 15th

Amendments

•The 13th Amendment (Ratified 12/6/1865): - Abolished Slavery

•The 14th Amendment (Ratified 7/9/1868): - Citizen Rights…No state can “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

•The 15th Amendment (Ratified 2/3/1870): - Right to Vote Could Not be Denied Based on Race

The Great MigrationEven with changes to the Constitution,

African-Americans still faced racial hardships and brutality in the south.

Some of America’s most violent race riots happened during the early 1900’s. Black

citizens were lynched, bombed, and burned out for trying to exercise their basic rights.

From 1889 and 1918, over 2,552 black Americans were lynched.

The Great MigrationIn response to their harsh treatment in the south, between 1910 and 1930, African-American families migrated to northern cities in multitudes.

!This became known as “The

Great Migration.”

The Great MigrationThree major destinations of the Great Migration were: - Detroit - Chicago - New York City

African-American Population Increases:

- Detroit: + 611.3 %

- Chicago: + 148.2 %

- New York City: + 66.3 %

World WarWhen America entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. Army was reluctant to enlist African-Americans at first.

400,000 Black Soldiers would eventually be enlisted.

200,000 served in Europe--50,000 on the Front Lines.

World WarAfrican American Soldiers, such as the 370th and 369th Infantries, became French war heroes.

French High Command honored the 369th by choosing their

regiment to lead Allied forces into the Rhine Area. This

infantry became known as the “Hell Fighters”.

World WarThe U.S. War Department did not share the French admiration of African-American soldiers’ feats.

Upon returning from the war successful, Black Americans were empowered and more confident in their abilities.

This optimism was faced with horrific retaliation in over 25 violent race riots in 1919, called the “Red Summer” because of the bloodshed.

Even with opposition, Black communities were determined to bring democracy to their people in the United States after doing so in France. This mentality would come to support the Harlem Renaissance.

Why Harlem, New York?

Harlem, New York

Before the Great Migration, most African-Americans lived in small, crowded, over-priced tenement homes.

In the 1880’s and 90’s, Harlem, in midtown Manhattan, was a white upper-class community that was undergoing intense development. This included a mass transportation transit subway.

With so much investing and developing, real estate values became so high that hardly anyone would move in. By 1902, whole buildings were vacant and soon developers were begging for tenants.

Harlem, New York

In 1903, Philip A. Payton Jr., an African-American real estate agent, made deals with white landlords to lease some Harlem houses to middle-class Black families that were anxious to leave crowded tenements.

Tensions increased as Harlem became racially blended. Racist property owners tried to organize companies to buy out tenements and evict the African American’s living their. To retaliate, Black property owners bought apartment buildings and evicted white tenants.

Harlem, New YorkBy 1910, many white Harlem citizens abandoned the neighborhood. This left even more abandoned tenements. Eventually, the white property owners that resisted African-American tenants were forced to sell homes at prices much cheaper than market value.

With the Great Migration was in full swing, Harlem’s affordable homes for African-Americans became a popular destination.

The “New Negro”Prominent African-American citizens began a propaganda campaign with the idea of inventing a “New Negro” identity.

One of its main supporters, critic Alain Locke, spoke of the “New Negro” as promising new opportunity and respect for blacks in America.

The Harlem Community celebrated this new age of awareness, which brought about the Harlem Renaissance.

The “New Negro”

New Negro supporters knew how powerful propaganda tools were in creating cultural changes and used this to their advantages. As part of this campaign, African-American citizens deviated from their professional jobs to pursuit artistic ones.

In order to support their artistic pursuits, black artists required economic alliances with white supporters. An example being art contests held by The Harmon Foundation.

They knew that this would lead to racist censorship, but this would allow for “Black Progress.” Black artists knew that they could still be in charge of what was aesthetically important to them.

Dilemma of Harlem Renaissance Artists

The New Negro campaign caused a dilemma for visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance: Would their work express the artist heritage of Western art or that of Africa?

Some African-American artists were criticized negatively and called “Traditionalists” because they worked in a realistic style favored by the dominant white culture.

Dilemma of Harlem Renaissance Artists

These artist felt that their African connection was the key factor in helping them to create a new kind of visual art.

The most successful black visual artists were those that used a modernist, stylized aesthetic directly influenced by African heritage.

In addition, these artists received support from New Negro backers, and were more celebrated.

Famous European artists like Picasso and Matisse were successfully using African

influences, and they felt that African-American artists had a

legitimate claim to do so as well.

The End of the Harlem Renaissance

Even though the Harlem Renaissance was one of the most exciting and influential artistic movements of

American History, it only lasted a little over a decade.

Two crucial events lead to the downfall of The Harlem Renaissance:

- The Great Depression

- The Harlem Riot of 1935

The Great DepressionOctober 29, 1929 was the day the stock market crashed, launching the United States into the Great Depression.

Business owners adopted the slogan “Last Hired, First Fired” which caused black workers to lose their jobs long before white

workers. The February 1930 New York Herald Tribune reported that

the stock market crash had resulted in “five times as much unemployment in Harlem as in

other parts of the city.”

Due to the lack of jobs and massive

unemployment, Harlem tenements became slums where 2-3 families might live in a single apartment.

1935 Harlem RiotsEven though the Great Depression had left Harlem an

undereducated, underemployed slum, Southern migrants continued to move to New York because

conditions were worse in the southern United States.

Tensions rose as businesses that served

blacks refused to hire them, the community became overpopulated, and over 50% of Harlem’s African-American citizens were

unemployed.

In March of 1935, the streets of Harlem broke out into a major riot. Over one hundred people were shot, stabbed, clubbed,

or stoned--one death resulted. More than 500 policemen were

called in to quiet to riot.

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Legacy of the Harlem Renaissance

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