Harlem Renaissance in the Literary Works - Essay Example

Harlem Renaissance in the Literary Works Harlem Renaissance is a cultural phenomenon not only in the American culture in general, but also in the cultural tradition of the African-American people living in the USA. It is both an evidence of rich cultural thinking and creative minds of these people and another means of their constant struggle for equality, which they have to prove even today when looking at the latest news related to the situation with the rights and freedoms of the African-American people of the United States. This direction of culture of the USA experienced its flowering relatively not a very long time ago, but it would be logical to shed light on the situation that led to its emergence. It is a very well-known fact that the two parties of the Civil Was conflict in the USA which took place in the years between 1861 and 1865 had opposite opinions about the situation of the Black population which resided in the US, and this was one of the reasons of the war. Till the time of the beginning of the conflict the problem of the Black population and its discrimination had become so serious that it could not be ignored anymore already and demanded some solution. It is debatable now whether such solution had to be that radical – 4 years of permanent shooting, hundreds thousands of killed and wounded, immense economic damage, but the fact that the South wanted to preserve human discrimination only because of the skin color and defended it with weapon proves its choice. The discrimination of the Black people was only a single most common adverse tradition of the slavery supporters, and the worst thing was that they used the Black people for the purposes of free labor force and did it by means of physical punishment. This, naturally, could not inspire the Black and their supporters to approve such actions, and the victory of the North was a new hope for all the depressed and discriminated Black people of the entire state, not only one of its parts. (McPherson, 2015). The situation after the victory of the “light” forces, though, did not improve immediately, and the Black people had to prove their equality and finish the struggle for their being identical and not different from the others. Many representatives of the African-American population of the Southern states decided to migrate to the North searching for better living and labor conditions, and their desire to leave their homes was inspired by violent radicalism and segregation of the Jim Crow law. (Pearson Education, 2007). The main direction of migration and the prospective center of the new Black people culture formation was Harlem, which is an explanation why the culture is called ‘Harlem Renaissance’. Many artists, including actors, writers and musicians, stayed here creating their works of art and forging the Black culture of a new type. (Harlem World Magazine, 2015). The time of Harlem Renaissance is traditionally defined as the 20s years of the XX century, or, to be more precise, the years between approximately 1920s and 1930s. (History.com, 2009). “The era of the Harlem Renaissance is one of the most intensively studied periods in the history of black life in America.” (Cotter, 1998). This is not only because of the natural historical interest of the researchers who deal with this period of time, but also because the significant changes that this culture managed to introduce into the society’s attitude towards its Black elements. The period of time between the Great Depression and World War I was a moment when the art, theater, literature and music created by the mainly area of the Black population of Manhattan experienced their flowering. “In that efflorescence, African-American culture and North American modernism merged in a uniquely urbane and stylish blend.” (Cotter, 1998). Cotter also states that renaissance bears an imprint of the immigrants’ adversary influence of the new living conditions: looking for something better, they left their agrarian homeland of the South and settled in the industrial area, the North, which meant that they needed time to adapt both mentally and physically to the new realm of their lives. Another unpleasant thing was that their arrival to a new area was not welcomed by the locals, because the situation with the boom of violence on racial basis was still very difficult. (Cotter, 1998). The artists of this cultural movement tried to change the attitude towards the Black society by means of showing that it is also capable of thinking, creativity, and the only difference made, and still makes, the color of the skin, which they successfully fulfilled. There were, however, opponents of division of such a cultural tradition into a separate one. One of the most famous opponents of the Harlem Renaissance was Georg Schuyler, who argued that “Negro art “made in America” is … non-existent…. Negro art there has been, is, and will be among the numerous black nations of Africa; but to suggest the possibility of any such development among the ten million colored people in this republic is self-evident foolishness.” (Schuyler, 1926). He is very critical about the very origin and essence of this culture: according to his findings, many of the works of this art, including songs, are very similar to the texts of the Bible and the Protestant ones, and that the Whites have assisted the Blacks with the emergence of ragtime and jazz music directions traditionally referred to as the Black music. (Schuyler, 1926). His attacks covered the sculpture, painting and literature as well, arguing that they have nothing different from the same kinds of the art of the White population of the United States. (Schuyler, 1926). It is logical and natural that the Black people and the artists could not allow such criticism spoil their identity and cultural achievements, and one of the most renowned defenders of the Harlem was Langston Hughes, who defended the culture of the New Negro People in his “When the Negro Was in Vogue”. Langston Hughes not only defends, but also develops the ideas supported by the Harlem Renaissance cultural traditions. The main focus of the work is the ironical situation with the clubs for White and black People, and this irony is tragic without any exaggeration. The author argues that the situation with the clubs has similarities with discrimination: when the Whites enter the club for the Blacks, they are not asked to leave the premises, moreover, if they are gangsters or at least have much money they are like kings here and spend their time looking, even staring, at the Blacks the same way they do in the zoo with the animals. (Hughes, 1926). The reaction of the characters of the work is quite predictable, as they are not content with such state of affairs and want to pay the attention of the Whites that the only difference is very conditional and rather physiological, that is, natural rather than artificial and has nothing to do with the proper relations between people in a normal society. This means that the author develops the Blacks’ struggling efforts for their equality, for gaining their rights and freedoms which would be guaranteed and not limited by anything or anyone which is a crucial moment of the African-American identity. The thing that develops Renaissance tradition of this culture is that the author provides examples of many artists belonging to the Black community whose creative work, talents and masterpieces are admired by the White people. The author emphasizes that the Negro performers were popular then, which is traced in the name of his literary work. Then, the Negro actors, musicians and writers were the main amusement of the White people, and there were a chance to prove them that the Blacks performed the same mental activity and, therefore, were equal to them, but this thought was not picked up from the surface and much time passed before the Blacks gained something similar to what they had been struggling for centuries. (Hughes, 1926). The author also concerns himself with the problem that adversely affected the art in the primary sense of this word. As the 1920s-1930s were the times of overwhelming total commercialization, that is, all the spheres of human activity became oriented at making of maximal profit, this trend could not leave the Negro art uncovered, and some critics suppose that this was the time when the Blacks did a terrible mistake – they stopped writing for their own amusement, but started doing it for the White people who paid for such time passing, that is, enjoying the African-American arts. (Hughes, 1926). The main objective of this art according to the author, though – preserving and developing of the identity of the Black people – was fulfilled completely, because even today, for example, the word ‘jazz’ is firmly associated primarily with the great jazzmen of the past who were representatives of the Harlem Renaissance. A story of Zora Neale Hurston under the title “Spunk” is another good example of the work of the art from the Harlem Renaissance cultural tradition. This is one of the best, if not the best one, examples of the literary works which preserves the African-American identity to full extent. This is reached by means of the use of the language dialect in an unchanged way which conveys the Black identity and proves the nation’s striving for saving their connections with the traditions and customs of the past. (Hurston, 1925). This is also a proof to the White critics who attack the art identity of the Black people – it is not simple to read the text written with saving the pronunciation norms, which, definitely, reflects on the works of art created by means of such language. The traditions of art are developed in this literary work by describing the plot which is traditional for the Renaissance art, that is, the story about love is the central one. The characters are typical for a story with such plot: the main male character is tenacious and aggressive in terms of conquering a woman’s heart and keeping her by her side, he is determined at creating their own family and their own house which would serve as their common shelter. The female character is also canonic, as she obeys her prospective mate and follows him and his intentions. There is also a drama with a conflict between two men because of the woman, resulting in murder of one of them, and later on the second one dies with some tint of mystery and supposed spiritual matters. (Hurston, 1925). The other tradition that is developed in this story is continuation of the course at proving the White society erroneous division of people only because of their skin color. The Black men in this story took up hard physical work, for example, Spunk was a worker of a lumber mill and carried and sawed big and heavy logs. In the same time, in their free time they were rather usual people with the typical human interests and passions: Spunk was in love with Lena so much that these relationships determined his and her life and affected the others. (Hurston, 1925). This problem was not considered in the social life of the country because the Black people were traditionally associated with hard work and nothing else, and no one thought that they might feel the same feelings and experience the same things. Conclusion The two literary works mentioned above are evident examples of the cultural phenomenon of the USA in 1920s-1930s called Harlem Renaissance. This cultural tradition was aimed at preserving the Black identity and continuation of the struggle of the Black people for equality, and the stories of the authors mentioned reveal development and interpretation of the tendencies and traditions of this cultural direction. Works Cited Cotter, H. Art; A 1920’s Flowering That Didn’t Disappear. 1998. Web. 09 May 2015. Harlem World Magazine. Harlem History. 2015. Web. 09 May 2015. History.com. Harlem Renaissance. 2009. Web. 09 May 2015. Hughes, L. When The Negro Was in Vogue. 1926. Web. 09 May 2015. Hurston, Z. Spunk. 1925. Web. 09 May 2015. McPherson, J. A Brief Overview of the American Civil War. A Defining Time in Our Nation’s History. 2015. Web. 09 May 2015. Pearson Education. African-American Population. 2007. Web. 09 May 2015. Schuyler, G. The Negro Art Hokum. 1926. Web. 09 May 2015. Read More