Impact Of Harlem Renaissance On African American Culture

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100 years ago in Manhattan, a borough of NYC , there was a small neighborhood. It was poor neighborhood, and was home to many minorities, most prominently African Americans. Although the neighborhood experienced economic growth after the Civil War, it was still full of poor individuals, whose rights in society were limited. It was in this neighborhood one of the greatest cultural explosions the United States has seen began, The Harlem Renaissance. Starting in 1918, Harlem saw a massive outburst of music, art, and literature. Even decades after its initial culmination in the mid 1930s, its effects still linger, affecting every part of our culture, from the way we dress, the books we read, to the music we listen to. This era is also commonly …show more content…
Fitzgerald was born in St.Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896. Born to a upper-middle class white family, Fitzgerald didn’t encounter many of the struggles faced by those of a lower class or a different race. African Americans were prejudiced against, throughout their lives they were told where to stay. Mordecai Johnson, the first black president of Howard College, wrote an article called “The Faith of the American Negro” in The Crisis, a civil rights magazine. In one of the portions of the article, he looks at reactions towards African Americans after the WW!, one specific newspaper was quoted as stating the …show more content…
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of expression of the feelings of the writers, a period of getting over that prejudice against them. Fitzgerald goes on to go to join Princeton University, but gets put on academic probation, and goes to join the US Army in 1917. Before Fitzgerald gets deployed, the war is over, and Fitzgerald is left penniless. Shortly before he proposed to Zelda, his future wife,which she accepts, but Fitzgerald did not enough money to support her, and they break the engagement. Fitzgerald finally publishes his first book, “ This Side of Paradise”. The book becomes a huge financial success, and Fitzgerald finally marries Zelda. The couple go on to travel Europe and be near the center of the intellectual community of the early 20th century. They lived a lavish lifestyle, travelling, and the cost was heavy. In the 1930s his wife became diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Fitzgerald began to have financial struggles, and due to his history of being drunk, he fell into ill health. He moved to Hollywood in 1937, following tense relations with Zelda. He lived with his new romantic interest, Sheilah Graham, until his death on December 21, 1940. While there is no doubt Fitzgerald faced many difficulties in his life, he is no indicator of the main focus of the people included in Harlem Renaissance. Most people in Harlem had financial struggles as well, but their struggles were not caused by their opulent lifestyle.
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