Culture in Vogue - Harlem Renaissance - Literature review Example

Put the Culture in Vogue: Harlem Renaissance Background The Harlem Renaissance refers to theintellectual and literary pinnacle that nurtured a new black cultural identity in the 1920’s and 1930’s (Hutchinson 12-14). The Harlem Renaissance was started out in the Harlem district of New York and was a part of a nationwide revolution that was triggered by World War I. The cultural outpouring of the Harlem Renaissance was trailed by an increase in migration of the southern African Americans to the Northern cities and presented the discussion over racial identity and the prospects of African Americans to vanguard of the national awareness (Lewis 23-28). This cultural movement started after World War I and ended during the great recession of the 1930’s (Wintz 13). Rampersad (x-xi), Richard (47) and Lewis (52-55) contend that the First World War improved economic opportunities in the cities in the north due to industrialization and decrement in the number of European immigrants. The movement of the Blacks from the south to the north also significantly contributed the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance (Lewis 31-34). The black Americans in the south were encountering cultural, social and economic repressions, and they would not leave any chances or miss any opportunity to escape to the north. Because of the deficiency in political voice and predominant racial revulsion, many African Americans expressed themselves through artistic ways (Lewis 17). One such artist was Locke, an African-American writer who came up with the phrase “New Negro” to refer to the new wave of young African American artists who would modify the black American culture by portraying that their people were not useless and submissive (Rampersad xiv, Worth 72-77). This was also backed up by numerous intellectuals such as Du Bois, Marcus Garvey and Weldon Johnson by being the spokesmen of the youth (Lewis 36). The Key Players and Reasons for the Emergence of the Harlem Renaissance According to Lewis (46-48), Harlem renaissance was grounded on the discontent that African Americans had because of the restricted opportunities they had as United States was transforming to an industrialized nation. The increased interaction between the whites and blacks in workplaces and the streets compelled an awareness between the distinction between the promised United States democracy and the reality (Worth 124-29). The African American soldiers who had taken part in the First World War were devastated by the discrimination they faced after returning home, compared to the immense significance they had attained while in Europe (Rampersad xi-xii). A huge part of the literate and intellectual population understood the restrictions that the whites had placed for them. As blacks became progressively disappointed with attaining justice that World War I had promised, they were determined to chase their goals of justice and success more belligerently than before (Hutchinson 38-45). Economic and organized political movements played a significant role in triggering the Harlem Renaissance through motivating and empowering African Americans (Lewis 42-44). One such civil right movement was the NAACP, which empowered and motivated almost forty-four thousand members (Lewis 48-51). Other movements were the Back-to-Africa and the United Negro Improvement Association that was led by Marcus Garvey in the early 1920’s (Lewis 64-67). Marcus Garvey’s message of racial pride made thousands of African Americans top join his association. By the beginning of 1920, a huge number of African Americans from different economic and political classes were unwilling to continue with the old way of living (Wintz 156-64). This took an unexpected turn when the whites embraced the New York’s black American community, giving support to the young African America artists and opened up opportunities for publishing and put up a huge amount of money to Harlem’s outlandish night life (Lewis 245-65). This gave way to the exceptional outburst of music, writing and visual arts. The artistic outburst of the Harlem Renaissance was controlled and directed by two primary ideologies, both motivated by racial pride and consciousness. The first ideology was presented by Du Bois and Weldon Johnson, Locke and other talented and privileged young people who would guide their race towards equality and justice (Lewis 67-72). This group of people had the conviction that the works of fine art motivated their racial culture and encounters would show the beauty of their race and its significant role in the American culture (Hutchinson 56-57). In the “Crisis”, Du Bois wrote, “We have a right, in our effort to get just treatment, to insist that we produce something of the best in human character and that it is unfair to judge us by our criminals and prostitutes. This is justifiable propaganda” (Du Bois 55-56, Lewis 63). Du Bois together with the rest of the talented men in the society believed that if Negros were observed as equals to whites in letters and arts, then they should be viewed as equals in humanity. On the other hand, Locke agreed with Du Bois in his writing and noted that equality was a God’s given right. Purpose of the Harlem Renaissance The primary purpose of the Harlem renaissance was to empower the African Americans towards equality and citizenship (Lewis 34-37). The newly educated African-Americans were opposed to the second-class citizenship that was applied to the African American community and this spread to the rest of the black Americans. Additionally, the African American soldiers who had taken part in the First World War were devastated by the discrimination they faced after returning home, compared to the immense significance they had attained while in Europe (Worth 31). Opposition There were some of the elite African Americans who were opposed to this art-as-propaganda view. These artists included Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and Aaron Douglas. These artists took a stand demonstrated through Wallace Thurman’s journal, Fire! proclaiming the requirement to present the ordinary African American individual accurately as a person simply subsisting in the flesh and blood world (Lewis 112-124). They contented against typifying only the cultured and literate black Americans who reflected the values of the whites. By doing this, this group of artists voiced the needs of the young artists who decided to follow art for its sake. These artists noted that the elite African Americans mimicked the whites through adoption of their clothing, etiquette and complicated manners (Worth 134). Additionally, these artists acknowledged that the literature by the elite African Americans fascinated only the middle-class African Americans and the whites’ community. This group of artists also believed that the elite African Americans had been assimilated to the Whites’ culture because all the literature was published in publishing houses that were owned by the whites (Hutchinson 176-79). Characteristics of the Cultures Harlem Renaissance culture was represented by the conception of the New Negro, who through publication of art, literature and music would alter the permeating stereotyping and racism to encourage social integration and progressive politics (Wintz 51). Worth (104) acknowledges that the art that emerged during the Harlem Renaissance cannot be characterized by one singular form, but numerous cultural aspects and styles. Such aspects and styles included the Pan-African perspective, “high-culture” and “low-life”, from traditional music to jazz and blues, and the jazz-poetry (Wintz 62). The Negro renaissance was one of the movements that majorly involved the African Americans. The movement entirely depended on the African American principles and black-owned ventures (Lewis 34). Nonetheless, it also relied on the support of the White Americans such as Charlotte Osgood Mason (Lewis 134-36), who offered numerous forms of help, and therefore, opening opportunities to publication of literature which would have been kept away from the African American’s access. Notably, the interest in black American lives also produced new and cooperative work. The talented tenth members such as Locke and Du Bois observed the impulsive artistic expression of the Harlem Renaissance and the conventional enthrallment with the Negro Vogue as the impeccable chance to boost the civil rights movements (Lewis 56-58). In this regard, the exponents of cultural incorporation maintained, since the aim of the civil rights movement was the integration of the two races, black art had to portray a given decency that white Americans would adopt. If the artists were to be given any role, it would be that of an activist. This is because the African American artists conveyed a positive and refined demonstration of African Americans in order to eliminate the negative stereotypes about the African Americans. Works Cited Du Bois, W.E.B. "The Crisis." vol 21 No. 5 Mar. 1921: 55-56. Print. Hutchinson, George. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1995. Print. Lewis, D. L. When Harlem was in vogue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print. Rampersad, Arnold. Introduction: the new Negro: voices of the harlem renaissance. Public Domain, 1925. Print. Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance. Houston: Rice UP, 1988. Print. Worth, Richard. The Harlem Renaissance: An Explosion of African-American Culture. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, 2009. Print. Read More