Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

Words: 2408
Pages: 10

Black history is American history, yet our history classes so often reduce discussion of Black history and achievement to the month of February. So much is either unknown or misunderstood about the contributions Black people have made to society both here and globally. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of literary, artistic, and intellectual upheaval in the 1920s and 1930s during which Harlem and its residents provided the nutrient-rich soil that nurtured the vibrant art, music, and literature that would come to define the era. The collaborative spirit of the time is underscored by the differing ideologies held by those at the forefront and margins of the movement. At the time, the Harlem Renaissance was known as the “New Negro Movement,” …show more content…
Tolnay, “The African American ‘Great Migration’ and Beyond,” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 29 (2003): pp. 78-95. 214, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036966 6 Tolnay, “The African American ‘Great Migration’ and Beyond,” 215 7 Olivia B. Waxman, “The Overlooked LGBTQ+ History of the Harlem Renaissance,” 4 LBGTQ+ identities often weren’t accepted in their own families or other Black community spaces, such as the church. The Harlem Renaissance was far from a hegemonistic movement. Ted Gioia describes in The History of Jazz a tale of “two Harlems.” On one hand, there was a burgeoning Black cultural elite who, by the late 1920s, controlled 70% of Harlem’s real estate and was responsible for defining the history and culture of the Renaissance through literature (thinking of figures such as Alaine Locke, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes); on the other hand, there was a second Harlem characterized by “harsh economics, low salaries, and looming rent