the harlem renaissance harlem, ny – 1920’s an upsurge in african american cultural expression
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Renaissance – a rebirth or revival
• Usually refers to European Renaissance of 1300-1600
• An era of curiosity and innovation in science, architecture & fine arts
• A rebirth of the Golden Age of ancient Greece and Rome
Harlem Renaissance
• After WWI – a huge African American migration to the North
• Harlem (in NYC) welcomed writers, artists, musicians, performers, doctors, students and shopkeepers
Literature – the “Talented Tenth”
• Highly educated writers promoted the African American identity in poetry, short stories and drama.
• Harlem newspapers Crisis and Opportunity published new works.
Harlem Literary Magazines
• Writings celebrated rhythms of blues and jazz
• Captured street-wise wit of “real” African-American people
• Expressed frustration of a “dream deferred””
Harlem Renaissance Authors
Row 1: (left to right) Countee Cullen and Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Row 2: Angelina Weld Grimké and Langston Hughes
Row 3: Alain Locke and Claude McKay
Row 4: Wallace Thurman and Carl Van Vechten
The BluesOrigin – New OrleansInfluences:• African American
folk music• Work songs (shouts
and hollers from slave fields)
• Gospel music
Jazz - An original American art form
Earliest Jazz styles:• Ragtime and
Dixieland in 1890’sNew Orleans
Has roots in:• African rhythms• European harmonies• American Gospel
sound• Work songs
After 1917, Jazz spread north and west to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and St. Louis and developed into an improvisational type of music.