Essential Question:
Despite overt racism, how did Negro's improve life in the 1920s?
Negros improved their lives by taking pride in their heritage and coming together as a proud people. They came together under literature, art, and jazz, which allowed them to show their rich cultural beauty not only to themselves but to those who tired to suppress them. The sense of unity that was shared by blacks that adhered to their new culture brought them together and gave them something to take their minds off of the oppression they faced.
Despite overt racism, how did Negro's improve life in the 1920s?
Negros improved their lives by taking pride in their heritage and coming together as a proud people. They came together under literature, art, and jazz, which allowed them to show their rich cultural beauty not only to themselves but to those who tired to suppress them. The sense of unity that was shared by blacks that adhered to their new culture brought them together and gave them something to take their minds off of the oppression they faced.
Rise of the Harlem Renaissance ~ The Great Migration
What developments during World War I helped give rise to the Harlem Renaissance? Many more African Americans arrived during the First World War. Due to the war, the migration of laborers from Europe virtually ceased, while the war effort resulted in a massive demand for unskilled industrial labor. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans to cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and New York City. In particular, the area known as Harlem in New York City drew blacks and eventually established a primarily all-black neighborhood. Thus, the Harlem Renaissance was born. |
Racial Consciousness & Racial Pride
How was racial consciousness and racial pride affected by the Harlem Renaissance? The focus of the Harlem Renaissance was on racial consciousness and challenging stereotypes of African-American culture. The influence of the "black art and music" of the movement gave blacks a sense of uniqueness, something that had rarely been felt before. For once, being black was beautiful. The well-known Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes wrote in The Nation magazine stating: "Why should I want to be white? I am Negro-and beautiful." This installation of black pride brought confidence to blacks throughout the country. No longer did blacks have the somber attitude that was expressed by many of the blacks that suffered from racial discrimination. The sense of unity that was shared by blacks that adhered to this new culture brought them together and gave them something to take their minds off of the oppression they faced. |
African American Contributions to the Arts
What contributions did African Americans make in the fields of music, literature, and the arts? A new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride Style was created during the Harlem Renaissance. The traditional jazz band was composed primarily of brass instruments and was considered a symbol of the south. The popularity of jazz soon spread throughout the country and was consequently at an “all time high.” Innovation and liveliness were important characteristics of performers in the beginnings of jazz. During this time period, the musical style of blacks was becoming more and more attractive to whites. White novelists, dramatists and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African-American in their works. Composers used poems written by African American poets in their songs, and would implement the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of African-American music—such as blues, spirituals, and jazz—into their concert pieces. Negros began to merge with Whites into the classical world of musical composition. Jazz musicians at the time like Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Willie "The Lion" Smith were very talented and competitive, and were considered to have laid the foundation for future musicians of their genre. Most of the principal jazz musicians, singers, and dancers of the period appeared at the Cotton Club; the most famous of the New York's nightclubs in the 1920s and 1930s, attracting an audience that often included the cream of New York society. In 1917 Hubert Harrison, "The Father of Harlem Radicalism," founded the Liberty League and The Voice, the first organization and the first newspaper of the "New Negro Movement." Harrison's organization and newspaper were political, but also emphasized the arts (his newspaper had "Poetry for the People" and book review sections). The literary focus of the Harlem Renaissance centered around the negro and who he was as a person. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses. Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. The new fiction attracted a great amount of attention from the nation at large. Prominent writers from the time usually black, such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Jessie Fauset. However, not all writes during the time were black, such as Walter White, a white man. 1917 saw the premiere of Three Plays for a Negro Theater. These plays, written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, featured African American actors conveying complex human emotions and yearnings, and they rejected stereotypes. Other forms of art ranged from murals, paintings, sculptures, and even wood carvings. |
New Blend of American Culture
How did mass media, the birth and evolution of jazz, and the Harlem Renaissance create a new blend of American Culture? The new edition of Jazz music brought both blacks and whites to dance and lose the frigidity what had always served to distinguish the civilized from the darker people. Mass media of plays conveying complex human emotions and yearnings and more mass media such as magazines and newspapers helped to broadcast and emphasize the arts and literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Jazz and music in general helped to blur the lines between the poor Negros and elite. It combined brass instruments, symbols of the South, and piano, an instrument of the wealthy. The popularity spread throughout the country and it was at an all time high. The music became more and more attractive to whites, and Negros and whites began to merge together. The new blend of American culture came from integration of whites and blacks hesitantly contributed by mass media and jazz. |
UNIA
How did Marcus Garvey's UNIA show an emergence of blacks asserting themselves?
Marcus Garvey was the leader of the largest mass movement organized in black history and supported the ideal, "black is beautiful". Garvey is best-remembered as champion of the "Back-to-Africa" movement, and he was hailed as a redeemer, or a "Black Moses". His movement represents a liberation from the 'psychological bondage of racial inferiority'. Garvey had arrived in America from Jamaica at the dawn of the "New Negro" era, during the rise of the Harlem Renaissance. He traveled and lectured and organized a chapter of the UNIA (the Universal Negro Improvement Association). He combined his Jamaican roots of peasant aspirations for economic and cultural independence with the new American gospel of success and as a result there was a new gospel of racial pride. "Garveyism" eventually evolved into a religion of success that inspired millions of black people worldwide to seek relief from racism and colonialism. Garvey added a great shipping line to foster black trade to transport passengers between America, the Caribbean, and Africa to serve as a symbol of black grandeur and enterprise. By 20's the UNIA hosted elaborate international conventions and published The Negro World, a widely read weekly that was soon banned in many parts of Africa and the Caribbean. The movement began to unravel due to internal dissension, opposition, and government harassment, but while it was active, the movement helped African Americans to assert themselves by preaching accommodation and political protest, and advocation of loyalty to established colonial government. The idea of self-government provided Garvey with his advocations of racial independence.
How did Marcus Garvey's UNIA show an emergence of blacks asserting themselves?
Marcus Garvey was the leader of the largest mass movement organized in black history and supported the ideal, "black is beautiful". Garvey is best-remembered as champion of the "Back-to-Africa" movement, and he was hailed as a redeemer, or a "Black Moses". His movement represents a liberation from the 'psychological bondage of racial inferiority'. Garvey had arrived in America from Jamaica at the dawn of the "New Negro" era, during the rise of the Harlem Renaissance. He traveled and lectured and organized a chapter of the UNIA (the Universal Negro Improvement Association). He combined his Jamaican roots of peasant aspirations for economic and cultural independence with the new American gospel of success and as a result there was a new gospel of racial pride. "Garveyism" eventually evolved into a religion of success that inspired millions of black people worldwide to seek relief from racism and colonialism. Garvey added a great shipping line to foster black trade to transport passengers between America, the Caribbean, and Africa to serve as a symbol of black grandeur and enterprise. By 20's the UNIA hosted elaborate international conventions and published The Negro World, a widely read weekly that was soon banned in many parts of Africa and the Caribbean. The movement began to unravel due to internal dissension, opposition, and government harassment, but while it was active, the movement helped African Americans to assert themselves by preaching accommodation and political protest, and advocation of loyalty to established colonial government. The idea of self-government provided Garvey with his advocations of racial independence.
Vocabulary
Renaissance ~ revival in the world of art and learning
Jazz ~ music originating in New Orleans, arranged for a large band and marked by intricate rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom
Renaissance ~ revival in the world of art and learning
Jazz ~ music originating in New Orleans, arranged for a large band and marked by intricate rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom
Thinking Like a Historian ~ Using the Past
The past is similar to the present in the fact that there will always be some prejudice or people that think they are superior to someone else. Over time, African Americans have gained all the rights whites had, similar to any movement for rights. Presently, all people, including African Americans, have acquired the basic and principle human rights that may have been denied to them before. The Roaring Twenties seemed to be a sort of gateway into the introduction into equal rights for all, though it was just beginning in that time.
The past is similar to the present in the fact that there will always be some prejudice or people that think they are superior to someone else. Over time, African Americans have gained all the rights whites had, similar to any movement for rights. Presently, all people, including African Americans, have acquired the basic and principle human rights that may have been denied to them before. The Roaring Twenties seemed to be a sort of gateway into the introduction into equal rights for all, though it was just beginning in that time.
APPARTS
Author- The author of the magazine The Independent Place and Time- March, 1925 New York (spread to the entire country through The Independent) Prior Knowledge- The Harlem Renaissance was important to the development of racial consciousness and racial pride that occurred during the Roaring Twenties, and literature, art, and music were built up to the culture of the African Americans, who developed their own sense of literature, art, and music, which included the creation of jazz. Igor Stravinsky was an acclaimed composer who advocated and practiced the composition of mechanical music, particularly the player-piano. He once said, "The player-piano resembles the piano, but it also resembles the orchestra. It shares the soul of the automobile." Audience- The audience could have been anyone in the 20's, specifically African Americans or musically inclined people that were interested in the development of African American music during the Harlem Renaissance. Reason- This source was produced as an informative article towards any audience interested in the development of art, literature, and music. The author's key point concerned the distinguished African American man Igor Stravinsky, and his involvement with the player-piano ensemble. The Main Idea- The main message was that you do not have to search for the good music that comes from the simple player-piano. Significance- This article shows the passion and excitement that comes from music and art. It is important to remember this passion and find it in ourselves. |