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Complete notes on North American literature III
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UNIT 4 : NEW AESTHETICS ANDAFRICAN ROOTS; THE HARLEM
RENAISSANCE OR THE NEW
NEGRO MOVEMENT
1. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE:
“At every station I kept watching for the sign: 135th street. When I saw it, I held my
breath […] I went up the steps and out into the bright September sunlight. Harlem! I
looked around. Negroes everywhere! […] I took a deep breath and felt happy again”
(Langston Hughes, The Big Sea)
This quotation by Langston Hughes, in which he describes the first time that he was in
Harlem, represents very well the Harlem environment and spirit. The Harlem
Renaissance was the first movement that expressed who black people were, what was
to be African American, and their shared culture and values.
“The world’s most glamorous atmosphere! Why, it is just like the Arabian nights!”
(Duke Ellington, upon arriving in Harlem in the early 1920s)
The name of the movement was the Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro
Movement. It was the name given in the early 20’s by a group of black intellectuals and
artists (Alain Locke). However, it was more than just a literary movement and it
extended to all artistic disciplines, for instance, music had a great influence. This group
of African American artists produced a group of fiction, drama and poetry works, and
nonfiction works, like essays, to prove that black people could produce literary pieces.
The New Negro Movement is another way to call it and it was coined by Alain Locke.
Time: It took place in the 1920’s and it extended from the First World War to the
Great Depression. With the Depression, the living conditions of Harlem went down and
this put an end to this artistic movement.
Place: It was located in Harlem in Northern Manhattan principally, which had a
population of 1500.000 African American people. There were also other centres of
activity as well, as said by Alain Locke. It was spread throughout the country.
Significance: It was the first artistic African American movement. Nevertheless, the
Harlem Renaissance was more than just an artistic movement because there was a
sense of racial consciousness and thinking about what it means to be African American
,Influential on Civil Rights movements (blacks and other minorities in the 1960s. There
were other things in it like racial integration.
It belongs to a time when African American people realised that they could be
respected as artists and they could be political fighters and activists. They could be
artistic architects. It comes together with a process of race construction concerning
stereotypes, the border of social distinction depending on race, the double
consciousness (that is, being black and American at the same time, and reconcile
both), if African American culture should be assimilated into American culture or not…
It anticipates the political activism of the 60’s. In the 60’s, there were social unrest,
riots and a fight against segregation and discrimination in the African American
community. This also influenced other minorities. The Harlem Renaissance was the
seed for all of these Civil Rights movements of blacks and other minorities in the
1960s.
Harlem grew as a suburb of New York and it was a fashionable residential area in its
origins but from 1890 to 1930’s was a centre of black culture. After the Depression, it
started to deteriorate and converted into a collection of slums until very recently when
it was gentrified.
An important thing is that African American did not speak with one voice. One of the
most relevant characteristics of the starts of this racial consciousness was that there
were several positions about what it was to be African American. For example, there
were people who wanted to join the mainstream and general American culture and
others that wanted to found their own artistic domain.
Also, there were those who wanted to embrace the simple primitive African culture,
and those who wanted to be urban and cultivated African American intellectuals.
Furthermore, some African Americans wanted to be Americans but others did not
want that. To understand the Harlem Renaissance, we need to take a look at the
context. It is not only a literary but also political and social movement so there are
important names and events in it.
HISTORICAL FACTORS:
GREAT MIGRATION
After the Civil War, there was a great migration of former slaves to the north. Lots of
them ended up in Harlem. They were free and had the opportunity of looking for a job
in the North because even if they were no longer slaves, they were severely
discriminated and segregated in the Southern states, which had individual laws that
endorsed this. This caused this migration of black people from the South to the North.
,At the first, these people chose to go to Harlem because they thought they could build
a community there. Harlem became the black capital of the world. By 1920, a quarter
million of African Americans lived there.
‘JIM CROW’ SEGREGATION LAWS
These were laws that endorsed racial segregation in public facilities, transport,
schools… and they were installed from the 1870/80’s until the 1960’s in the South.
“At the beginning of the year 1917 Negro Harlem was well along the road of
development and prosperity. There was plenty of work, with a choice of jobs, and
there was plenty of money. The community was beginning to feel conscious of its
growing size and strength. It had entirely rid itself of the sense of apology for its
existence. It was beginning to take pride in itself as Harlem, a Negro community”
(231). (James Weldon Johnson. Black Manhattan. New York: Knopf, 1930).
WHY HARLEM? There was a low price of real state in Harlem. White investors had
started to retreat and so, African Americans could afford the housing there. There
were many jobs available there for there were many factories in the North. Migration
and economy made Harlem a race capital so there was a great seen of black
community developed, with a common aim.
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND RACIAL PRIDE
Harlem energised black discourse to incredible levels. Lots of them were attracted to
the area and so, many benefactors were attracted to it for its dynamic spirit. Thanks to
the economic growth of the First World War, for the first we had a middle class of
African American thanks to social stability. Some had access to literacy and education:
The Talented Tenth, that is, the 10 percent of the population in Harlem. These are the
ones who become the political and social leaders of the Harlem movement.
Nevertheless, not all African Americans were educated and had a good situation. It
was not wonderful at the time and most African Americans did not enjoy equal
conditions and education, and suffer poverty, terrible working conditions and racism.
These terrible conditions raised the consciousness of the group.
After this great migration, even in the northern states that considered themselves not
racist, the levels of racism and violence increased there were bloody racial assaults in
1919 in Chicago, East St. Louis and other cities. After the war, there was an outburst of
violence. There were lynching and racial assaults. Events such as this became quite
common.
This tension and these attacks were carried out by groups like the KKK, founded in the
South after the Civil War. It was outlawed in 1871 but it still persists today. This shows
, that the Reconstruction after the Civil War terribly failed because American society
experienced extreme racism.
Important names and events in the Harlem Renaissance:
MARCUS GARVEY (1877 – 1940)
He was the first African American leader. He was founder of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA). For him, Arica was the ancestor of all and his
objective was to bring a free and united black Africa back.
In this negative context, African American wanted a leader that was aggressive enough
to improve their situation. Garvey had a plan to do this which was to “uplift the race”.
Garvey and his actions gave black people a sense of class and group consciousness.
BLACK ASSOCIATIONS AND JOURNALS
Apart from the UNIA, there were other associations and journals which helped
improve black people situation: 1) Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA,
founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914). Negro World, published between 1918 and 1933;
2) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded
by W.E.B. Dubois in 1909. The Brownies’ Book. The Crisis: A record of the Darker Races
(1910; 3) The National Urban League (NUL), founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr.
George Edmund Haynes in 1910. Opportunity: A journal of Negro Life (1923 – 1949).
The Brownies’ Book (1921 – 1922)
The magazine, which belongs to the NAACP, was aimed at African American children
and it was published monthly. It contained short stories for kids, some of them by
Langston Hughes.
The Crisis (1910 –)
It was founded by W.E.B Dubois, who was the editor. It is significant because of its
radical opposition against lynching, and racial prejudice. It had a monthly publication
of 80.000 copies, which was huge. It increased his size eventually and it even began to
sponsor a literary contest. It continuous nowadays and it is the oldest black-oriented
magazine.
JOURNALS AND WHITE PATRONS
Lots of these journals and writer from Harlem had white patrons. This was a concern
and worry because some thought that the aesthetic and ideological independency of
the authors was jeopardised by these white patrons, who more often than not forced
black authors to write works that followed the trends or what was attractive for the
public of the time, especially whites.
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