1920 to 1936

Harlem Renaissance Defined

Harlem Renaissance (HR) is the name given to the period from the end of World War I and through the middle of the 1930s Depression, during which a group of talented African-American writers produced a sizable body of literature in the four prominent genres of poetry, fiction, drama, and essay.

Harlem Renaissance Defined (continued)

Not limited to literature, the movement also includes philosophy, theater, the visual arts, and music.

Harlem Renaissance Dates

Beginning dates range from 1914 to 1920

Ending dates range from 1935 to 1940

Great Migration

Beginning of World War I Job opportunities in North 1915-1918 Some believe this to be the beginning

of H.R.

Key

Figures

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

Philosopher Sociologist Civil rights

activist

W.E.B. Du Bois

African Americans must be taught racial pride and African cultural heritage

Coined the term “Talented Tenth”

Charles Gilpin (1878-1930)

Performing arts:theater

Theater and Film

Charles Gilpin founded the Lafayette Players

Few plays were written by African Americans

Alain LeRoy Locke (1886-1954)

Philosopher Educator

Alain Locke

The New Negro Saw Harlem as race

capital

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

Political leader Publisher and

journalist Jamaican

National Hero

Marcus Garvey

Back to Africa movement

Claude McKay (1890-1948)

Writer

Claude McKay

“If we must die—let it not be like hogs hunted and penned in an inglorious spot…Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

Writer Anthropologist Folklorist

Jean Toomer (1894-1967)

Writer

Jean Toomer

Poet Envisioned an

American identity that would transcend race

Did not seek out “black” forms for his poetry

Bessie Smith (1895-1937)

Jazz and BluesSinger

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Writer

Langston Hughes

“We younger Negro artists…intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter.”

End of World War I

“We return. We return from fighting. Make way for democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America or know the reason why.” W.E.B. De Bois

Creative Forms

Writers Poets Philosophers Musicians Visual Artists Filmmakers

African-American Literature

Sought to reach entire community, not just highly educated

Periodicals (magazines) acted as a medium of intellectual discourse

End of the Renaissance

The Great Depression

50% of families in Harlem were out of work

Harlem Race Riot, 1935

Gains of the Harlem Renaissance

African Americans proved themselves to be talented and capable

Created a new consciousness in blacks and whites

New art forms Socioeconomic

changes

The Harlem Renaissance