The Harlem Renaissance: Written and Performing Arts

The Harlem Renaissance (known then as the "New Negro Renaissance" refers to the period of artistic boon that occurred in Harlem, New York from 1919 till 1929. A number of events can be said to have led to the birth of the Renaissance: initially, the mass movement of southern blacks from the Jim Crow South to the North--or Great Migration--contributed to a population swell and competition for jobs in cities like Harlem, Boston, Philadelphia, and Manhattan. Marcus Garvey is credited with having been a major influence on the Renaissance, as he rallied African Americans around a political campaign none had ever seen the likes of before. A newly discovered sense of unity began to form, followed by an emphasis on black nationalism in politics, a demand for deeper intellectual insight into the problems of African Americans, and a growing economy that arose from black entrepreneurship. All of these developments contributed in their own ways to the emergence of the Renaissance.

Of course the politics and philosophies of the Renaissance gave rise to the "race men" of the time. The term, coined by W.E.B. Dubois articulated the need of the artist to represent the experience of blacks in the United States and urged them to politicize their roles and their writing. Writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Rudolph Fisher, and poets Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay enjoyed great literary success during the decade of the Renaissance. 

                            Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston pose at Tuskegee Institute (1). 

While literary scholars naturally like to point to the proliferation of literature that arose in Harlem, there were other areas of artistic expression that thrived during the Renaissance. Jazz clubs--like the Cotton Club--hosted numerous famous names like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday, as well as the arrival of the Apollo Theater--a theater designed exclusively by and for African American audiences and performances. 

www.pinterest.com

Below Billie Holiday performs "Summertime":

In addition to the word, both written and sung, an upsurge of visual arts, featuring artists such as Jacob Lawrence and Archibald Motley reflected life in the hustle and bustle of Harlem: nightlife, characters, and colors were all represented. 

Archibald Motley "Black Belt"

Palmer Hayden, "Baltimore"

German-born painter, Winold Reiss, fell in love with the energy and culture of Harlem, and his paintings pay homage to the faces he observed--both recognizable and not so recognizable. His "Brown Madonna" is below.

Zora Neale Hurston by Winold Reiss:

Langston Hughes by Winold Reiss:

Finally, as Harlem was, during the Renaissance, the go-to scene for music, arts and letters, and entertainment, as well as a thriving economy, blacks enjoyed a rare and unique independence and relative freedom. Harlem author and physician Rudolph Fisher writes in "Home to Harlem" that "In Harlem, black was white" (my emphasis). Along with that freedom and self-governance came self-styling, fashion trends, and entrepreneurship.

Madame C.J. Walker became the first African American female millionaire, after having marketed her hair straightening pomade:

Image and bio of Madame Walker found at this site

And fashion was the name of the game. Below a Harlem youngster escorts his two lady friends home.

Photo shared from this site.

*Winold Reiss images, unless otherwise credited are located at www.pinterest.com

Harlem Banner at www.history.org