Harlem Renaissance

By: Morris Jackson

Jazz

• The Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of jazz music• Jazz was created by African

Americans in a racist world, but it was enjoyed by all who listened to it.

• “The international appeal of jazz and its connection to common black life, accompanied by the sheer virtuosity of its musicians, encouraged black intellectuals in other fields to turn increasingly to specifically “Negro” aesthetic forms as a basis for innovation and self-expression” (Hutchinson)

• Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington were some of the most famous musicians during that time.

• Together they composed thousands of songs that are still enjoyed today.

Duke Ellington

Ella Fitzgerald

Louis Armstrong

Literature

• The Harlem Renaissance was filled with writers and poets who wrote about life during that time• This new literature began to

break up stereo-types about African American culture

• The most famous poet during the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

• He was born February 1902 and died in 1967 due to post surgical heart failure

• He wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of editorial and documentary fiction, twenty plays, children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts and dozens of magazine articles.

• Langston Hughes refused to be held back because of the color of his skin

• “I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--Hungry yet today despite the dream” (Hughes)

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore--

And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

• The combination of jazz music and poetry strongly influenced the lives of everyone who listened • They also influenced other

forms of music that are popular today

Art

• The Harlem Renaissance was all about a rebirth of the African American race. The art that was created during this time reflects that.

• The pictures created were supposed to depict everyday life for African Americans• They also revealed true

feelings about civil rights in America

Politics

• One of the reasons people moved to Harlem was to avoid the brutal racism that was in the south• Although in New York, racism

was still prevalent which made obtaining civil rights was a necessity

W.E.B Dubois

• Born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts• Graduated from Harvard with

a Master’s degree• One of the founders of the

NAACP

• “NAACP, founded in 1909. Du Bois played a prominent part in the creation of the NAACP and became the association's director of research and editor of its magazine, The Crisis. In this role he wielded an unequaled influence among middle-class blacks and progressive whites as the propagandist for the black protest from 1910 until 1934” (Biography)

"history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Marcus Garvey

• A leader during the Harlem Renaissance who came up with the “ Back to Africa” campaign

• Which encouraged African Americans to return to Africa and become reconnected with their heritage.

Civil Rights

• All of the moves made politically during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920-30’s led up to the civil rights movement in the 1960’s