The Role of African-American Literature in the 1920s - Essay Example

? The Role of African-American Literature in the 1920s The Civil War was not enough in freeing the Negro slave. Hewas still discriminated and treated inferiorly even after the war, and many blacks had to suffer numerous consequences brought about by racism, hatred and violence. Eventually, however, they succeeded in being recognized as a people equal to whites. Nevertheless, one of the most crucial instruments that paved the way to this success was the African-American literature in the 1920s, which reflected the greatness of the black culture. It is true that there is a known level of resistance that confronted African-American culture during the early stages of the development of its literature (McLloyd 45). However, it is true that this was the beginning of their triumph. In an era known as the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, African-American literature has made black identity a “counterforce to the rationality and sterility of the capitalist modernity” (Glick 417). This means that the emergence of black culture as shown by the development of African-American literature served as a defiance of the traditional and conservative but capitalistic culture that white Americans have established. In short, black American literature served to overthrow the white American system that financially exploited African-Americans through slavery. This sense of freedom brought with it a renewed sense of identity which reflects in black literature, such as in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, where young Douglass fights back the white landowner Mr. Covey and says, “…but at this moment – from whence came the spirit I don’t know – I resolved to fight” (Douglass 62). He then says, ““I seized Covey hard by the throat, and as I did so, I rose” (62). In fact, the phrase “I rose” is rather demonstrative of the reversal of role of the black slave and the white capitalist landowner. Through Douglass’ book and other similar examples of African-American literature, the blacks have redefined themselves in the 1920s through their literary work. Although white Americans viewed the emergence of the black culture as “sexualized exoticism packaged and sold as blackness” as shown by the excesses brought about by interracial parties of Harlem jazz musicians, it is definitely different when it comes to African-American literature (418). Literature has become the defining factor in the cultural changes that the blacks experienced (Holloway 110). Through literature, the black culture is reborn and revived without the impurities of the slavery period. In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Story in Harlem Slang,” the main character of the story, who is a black woman, shouted to the white thieves, “If your [feet] don’t hurry up and take you ‘way from here, you’ll ride away [and] I’ll spread my lungs all over New York and call the law…And I’ll holler like a pretty white woman!” (Corbould 869). This means that literature was an instrument which African American writers used in the 1920s in order to assert their identity amidst white domination. Moreover, the emergence of African-American literature enhanced the development of a black culture that was actually a mixture of black and white elements. According to Morrison’s Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, “In American literature, constructions of white national identity depend on their juxtaposition with representations of darkness, whether through the literal presence of black characters or through more metaphorical manifestations of racial difference” (Harrison-Kahan 419). This means that the perpetuation of differences between blacks and whites in black literature will simply further aggravate the social differences between them as well as the racial discrimination that whites had always had for blacks. The solution implied by Morrison was therefore the merging of white and black cultures in literature. A number of Harlem Renaissance writers responded to this call positively. In Adele Lindner’s Arrogant Beggar, she writes that the Hellman Home for Working Girls is “the first real way out of [her] black life” (420). In the same way, Sarah Smolinsky, the main character of Yezierska’s Bread Givers, is one who “desires to break away from her black life and longs for the dark night of poverty to be over” (420). This actually means that black people simply did not want to be identified with being black as such identification would simply alienate them more from whites, and whites would alienate themselves more from them too. Thus, the African-American literature that emerged in America during the 1920s sought not only to celebrate the freedom of blacks from bondage but also equality with whites, where both races would simply be called American. Lastly, on a rather more dramatic note, African-American literature in the 1920s sought to make the black people remember their roots in order to appreciate their efforts towards freedom and towards a reversal of their identity. In Melvin Dixon’s “The Black Writer’s Use of Memory,” one learns that African-American writers “call on us to reconsider the psychic and physical spaces we inhabit and how we use those spaces to complete various sense of group or individual identity” (Parham 429). This means that in order for the black American in the 1920s to help in the efforts to regain their freedom and identity as a people, they should do their best to access their “daily commitment to tradition, ritual and transmission of the past to each generation” (429). Without such dedication and commitment to black tradition, they would sooner or later simply adopt the ways of the white man in the days of slavery. Without remembering black tradition through their literature, the African-American would not be able to properly establish their identity and they would not even have the strength and resolve needed to fight for their freedom as a people. One of the Harlem Renaissance writers, Langston Hughes, in his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” somehow speaks of the richness of the African Nile rivers and other rivers where his ancestors came from, in the lines “I’ve known rivers/ I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins” (435). If therefore the African-American of the 1920s tried to remember his rich roots in the rich ancient tradition of Africa, then he would have the pride and resolve necessary to help fight for his freedom and identity. As one can see, in this quest, it was literature that was instrumental in carrying out their purpose as a people. African-American literature in the 1920s sought to revive black culture through various means. Firstly, it was instrumental as a counterforce towards the existing white system of society and it was the source of inspiration of many blacks who did not have the courage to speak up for themselves. Secondly, literature was a vehicle by which the African-American defined himself in contrast with white Americans. Thirdly, as blacks sought equality among the whites, some of their literature did not emphasize the strong differences between the black and white races, hopefully in order to foster peace and cooperation with whites. Lastly, African-American literature sought to give confidence to the blacks and revive their confidence, courage and pride by making them remember their rich ancestry. Top of Form Bottom of Form Works Cited Corbould, Clare. “Streets, Sounds and Identity in Interwar Harlem.” Journal of Social History 40.4 (2007): 859-894. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. 2013. Elegant Books. 3 Apr 2013. Glick, Elisa F. “Harlem’s Queer Dandy: African-American Modernish and the Artifice of Blackness.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 49.3 (2003): 414-442. Harrison-Kahan, Lori. “Drunk with the fiery rhythms of jazz: Anzia Yezierska, Hybridity, and the Harlem Renaissance.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 51.2 (2005): 416-436. Holloway, Joseph E. Africanisms in American Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. Print. Mcloyd, Vonnie C. African-American Family Life: Ecological and Cultural Diversity. New York: Guilford Press, 2005. Print. Parham, Marisa. “Hughes, Cullen, and the In-sites of Loss.” ELH 74.2 (2007): 429-447. Read More