The Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance An Overview

2. The Harlem Renaissance • Period – End of WWI-Mid 1930’s • Harlem, New York • A neighborhood in northern district of NYC

3. Common Themes • Notion of “Two-ness” • Divided awareness of one’s identity • WEB De Bois- a founder of NAACP wrote: “One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

4. Common Themes • Alienation • Marginality • Use of folk material • Use of the blues

5. More than a Literary Movement • Included racial consciousness • “Back to Africa” movement • Racial integration • Explosion of music • Jazz, spirituals, blues • Painting • Drama • Philosophical thought Billie Holiday

6. HR brought the Black experience to the general American consciousness • Black Migration • South to North • Rural to Urban • Peasant to sophisticate • Created international networking for Blacks • Spirit of self-determination

7. Harlem Renaissance Significance • Name, more than place, became synonymous with new vitality, Black urbanity • Racial focal point all over the world • Stood for urban pluralism

8. Harlem Renaissance Significance • Alain Locke wrote: “The peasant, the student, the businessman, the professional man, artist, poet, musician, adventurer and worker, …each group has come with its own special motives …but their greatest experience has been the finding of one another.”