Harlem Renaissance and black community in American literature Plan: Introduction 3

Harlem Renaissance and black community in American literature


Plan:
Introduction 3
Chapter 1. Harlem Renaissance 4
1.1 Harlem, New York City 5
1.2 Black heritage and American culture 6
Chapter 2. Alberta Hunter. 8
2.1 Duke Ellington's original 14-member band 8
Conclusion 23
Reference 24
Introduction
How did the Harlem Renaissance use art to challenge white supremacy? See all videos for this article
The Harlem Renaissance was a phase of a larger New Negro movement that had emerged in the early 20th century and in some ways ushered in the civil rights movement of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The social foundations of this movement included the Great Migration of African Americans from rural to urban spaces and from South to North; dramatically rising levels of literacy; the creation of national organizations dedicated to pressing African American civil rights, “uplifting” the race, and opening socioeconomic opportunities; and developing race pride, including pan-African sensibilities and programs. Black exiles and expatriates from the Caribbean and Africa crossed paths in metropoles such as New York City and Paris after World War I and had an invigorating influence on each other that gave the broader “Negro renaissance” (as it was then known) a profoundly important international cast. (Read Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s Britannica essay on "Monuments of Hope.") The Harlem Renaissance is unusual among literary and artistic movements for its close relationship to civil rights and reform organizations. Crucial to the movement were magazines such as The Crisis, published by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Opportunity, published by the National Urban League; and The Messenger, a socialist journal eventually connected with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a Black labour union. Negro World, the newspaper of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, also played a role, but few of the major authors or artists identified with Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement, even if they contributed to the paper.