From Slavery to Freedom, Edition 9, CHAPTER 16, ODYSSEY PART 7/2 - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review: From Slavery to Freedom, Chapter 16 February 19, The book From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin, a distinguished African American historian, touched upon a racial inequality in the United States and shifting of accents in public opinion concerning a growing impact of black artists upon cultural realm of both the USA and the world community at large in the first half of the twentieth century. In this essay I will focus on the Chapter 16 of the book, which dwells on the artistic expression of African Americans in America and abroad, as well as the role of the African American cultural renaissance in the history of the USA.

In his book Franklin paid much attention to the struggle of African Americans for racial equality in the USA and a contribution that black artists, who called themselves "New Negroes", made to reshape the attitude towards African American culture and revitalize the image of blacks in the public mind of white people.1 For the artistic "New Negroes" the 1920ies were stirring times. The invention of the radio and phonograph, emergence of corporate press and introduction of recorded music to the American market, as well as new distribution techniques paved the way of talented black artists to the entertainment industry.

Black musicians, poets, writers, filmmakers and painters rose to international fame almost overnight becoming more popular each year. Thus, unlike other domains of life, the artistic field turned into the wonderland where African Americans enjoyed equal opportunities for self-fulfillment alongside with white people for the first time in American history. Some of black artists deliberately put racial inequality on the agenda within the framework of their creative efforts, others, however, preferred to focus on their personal fulfillment in search for new art forms defying old stereotypes of Victorian age.

Regardless any intentions of the black artists the American society grew increasingly interested in African American culture.The evolving of Blues and Jazz, which were black-dominated music trends emerging from New Orleans to Chicago, a growing demand of consumer markets both in the USA and oversees for non-Western aesthetics, colorful creative forms of black artists, which captured both black and white audiences, made black cultural production extremely popular and profitable. The racial prejudices against African Americans started to dissolve massively in the beginning of 20ies with white-owned recording companies selling thousands of music records of black singers and musicians like Mamie Smith, Charlie Patton, Jerry Roll Morton and many others across the nation.

2 Soon the first recording companies owned and operated by African Americans, such as Black Swan records, emerged.Numerous black artists started to move from South to Harlem in NYC long before the World War I, but only in 20ies this place became a powerful think tank of African American culture and a world-known center of black poetry, literary writing, music, theatre, cinematography and much more in the same strain. That is when a famous term "Harlem Renaissance" was coined and a great number of black poets and novelists like Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes and Jessie Fauset rose to prominence.

3 At the same time many black artists, such as a distinguished painter Palmer Hayden, attained fame living both in Harlem and Paris, which became another popular destination for African American artists.4 A substantial research of John H. Franklin showed that 20ies and 30ies turned into a Golden age of African American culture and became a huge step towards overcoming of racial inequality in the USA.BibliographyFranklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, Edited by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham.

Boston: Harvard University, 2011, 380-416.