The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s - Essay Example

Even though many African American writers shared this ideology, which many considered militant, some did not for more reasons they believed would stifle their creativity.

Some Black writers during the Harlem Renaissance were not fully on board with the Crusaders. Black poet, Stanley Braithwaite, encouraged interracial marriage as a means to solve the race problem, but Cyril Briggs, editor of a Black publication promoting militancy and racial difference  − the Crusader – vehemently lashed out against such an idea as being ignorant and backwards. Another Black writer, Langston Hughes, wrote many works that appealed to both educated Black and white Americans, as he did not harbour animosity toward Caucasians. Hughes expressed in an essay that “black artists intended to express themselves freely, no matter what the black or white public thought. Both authors reasoned that a racial motivation of opposition in the Renaissance would work to suffocate their creative expression – not augment it.

With all of the well-intentioned underpinnings of the Harlem Renaissance, not all African Americans were of one mind regarding artistic expression, as some Black writers of the time felt that following the New Negro Movement Crusaders’ ideology of militancy, pride, and the racial difference would ultimately work to crush their expressive talents. Black writers such as Hughes believed that the major motivation and goal of the Harlem Renaissance was to break racial ignorance, let Black artistic expression thrive, and work as an agent to bring success and liberty to African Americans. So, even though Black writers such as Braithwaite and Hughes were not card-toting members of the New Negro Movement Crusaders, they were fully behind the movement forwarding the advancement and open creativity of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance.