From music to literature and everything in between, African American culture reverberates deeply and has managed to sprinkle its influence over a wide range of mainstream practices and values in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, can best be defined as the intellectual, social, and artistic movement that initiated a revival of black culture during the 1920s. In addition to celebrating the arts of this marginalized group, this cultural progression also embodied the acclamation of an oppressed race that aided in both the preferment and redefinition of the African American image in regards to other ethnic groups in the world. The Harlem Renaissance was a significant period in which black culture was able to make its way into mainstream American culture by means of the Great Migration, the surge of African American artists and innovators, the inclusion of White Americans, the adoption of nightlife, and a return to the more primitive African roots.
The Great Migration
African Americans who traveled from the southern region to settle in the North during the twentieth century were said to have been a part of what is known as the Great Migration. The northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was viewed as a place of refuge among many black families who had fled from the segregated and racially charged South. This unprecedented movement of black Americans to northern metropolises, Harlem especially, inadvertently triggered its social, economic and cultural renovation (Tolnay 210). The Great Migration can best be described as the relocation of African Americans from the southern region into northern cities. Both the North and South experienced an abrupt demographic shift, with a reported "2.5 million southern-born blacks living outside of the region by 1950" (Tolnay 210). The negative conditions that affected and impelled many of these families to make the move to the North involved both economic and social grievances. Sharecropping, along with the fixed and disadvantageous agricultural systems of the South, left many black southerners landless and looking for alternative economic opportunities. Furthermore, push factors that strayed from the aforementioned economic hardships included "inferior educational opportunities, behavioral restrictions imposed by Jim Crow laws, political disenfranchisement, and racial violence" (Tolnay 215). The mass resettlement of blacks to this formerly desolate and overdeveloped locality led to Harlem becoming a well-known cultural mecca. Primarily, it was the "first place in which African-American art began to be accepted" and was widely regarded as both an accommodating and creative space (Ritchie 53). In all seriousness, much of the urban development and infrastructure in northern cities can be accredited to the large number of African Americans who made their way to the North to seek better economic prospects.
Major Contributors
The very people who made this movement possible and documented its progress were ordinary men and women who turned to the forms of art and entertainment in order to express themselves and their culture. The iconic figures of this renaissance were thought to have been trailblazers mainly because of their support and application of the concept known as artistic control. Swartz notes how "[in] Harlem, it was the artist who controlled the audience and the gaze," which signified a reversal in societal standings that granted the marginalized group control over what was being produced and how it was being presented (50). The many artists, writers, entertainers, and scholars that made Harlem their home during this revival were responsible for the creation of a number of innovative, and sometimes even controversial art forms. In a recent study conducted by Russell White, he repeatedly emphasizes the large role famed photographer James Van Der Zee assumed in the midst of this transformation. Like many of his imaginative constituents, Van Der Zee utilized his artistic ability to capture both the essence of Harlem and its people, and he also worked to spread it beyond the country's physical and racial boundaries (123). Unsurprisingly, the surge of creators that arose during this historical phase accompanied the establishment of a number of pro-civil rights organizations. The founding of associations akin to that of the National Urban League were believed to have urged African Americans to become more involved in society and to express themselves more freely (Ritchie 50). The artistic forms that both artists and subjects took on conveyed the developing self-esteem that many African Americans had begun to embody. As mentioned previously, Van Der Zee worked to capture the attainment of a higher social status with the showing of "images of black progress [being]… based on a white-identified form" (White 127). The success and longevity of the Harlem Renaissance will forever be associated with the creative figures and the very art forms that were motivated by the celebration of self-identity and racial equality.
White-Americans Take Notice
A vast number of white-Americans were both intrigued and weary of the abrupt headway African Americans were making during this period this time, even so, this did not deter them from wanting to personally experience what all the fuss was about. Being that African Americans were viewed as inferior, to gain the attention of the more superior race only solidified the fact that the renaissance was really making a difference. It was representative of "a radical break with the past practice of accommodating white racism… [through] racial uplift" (Stone 40). The central goal behind allowing whites to come into contact with black culture was to hopefully eradicate the racial and social barriers between the two groups. It was throughout the course of the movement that African Americans yearned to have created "new mindsets united between a white America and a black America" (Ritchie 53). In a scholarly article written by Sarah Ritchie, a graduate student of Eastern Mennonite University, she discusses how civil rights advocate Charles Spurgeon Johnson was singlehandedly responsible for introducing white society to black art. The Civic Club Dinner of 1924 was primarily arranged to celebrate the publication of the novel There is Confusion, but Johnson saw this event as an opportunity to invite white publishers to see firsthand the premise and exceptionality of African American literature (52). For these artists, it was essential that the works that they produced exhibited the growth and improvement that they had endured as a formally persecuted group in America. Ritchie draws emphasis upon the fact that a "New Negro never emerged, rather the Old Negro vanished" (53). Despite the tragic and painful history between these two groups, it was imperative that whites be included in this progressivism in order to ensure the permanence of this racial impartiality.
Harlem Nightlife
In addition to strengthening the urbanity of cities and bringing in a stream of revenue, the concept of nightlife allowed for a more intimate perusal of the arts. Much like the Harlem Renaissance, nightclubs and social spots were generally neutral dwellings that encouraged individual perception and convalescence. Harlem nightlife granted individuals the ability to "[explore] a new identity encompassing, among other elements, both the racial and sexual self" (Stone 40). This specific type of late-night entertainment, which was mainly kept under wraps, permitted club goers to carry out activities that would otherwise be deemed unlawful or undesirable in the light of day. The notion of cabareting described how "[individuals] started out at 'respectable nightclubs' and ended up at low-down dives" in order to come across matters such as the then banned alcohol, erotic art forms, and sometimes even queer entertainment (Stone 40,41). In spite of its beginnings as a clandestine operation, nightlife soon became an integral aspect of society. Many people stumbled across this metropolitan concept by means of media sources that were comprised of popular magazines, novels, and even musicals (Stone 40). It became apparent that while frequenting nightclubs had become the new norm, some white people wanted to experience black culture and forego actually having to socialize with African Americans. They often "paid guides [to take] them on an ethnic safari to the clubs" (Swartz 52). Without a doubt, the burst of nightlife activities aided in the increasing number of onlookers who took part in this cultural movement, it also grew to become a nationwide indicator of urbanity.
Return To Primitive Roots
Many artists looked to the motherland as a muse and cultural source when developing their works, they wanted to be able to express the sensual and zealous attitude of Africa. The rediscovery of the continent from which these artists derived from assisted in the creation of a more foreign and respected persona among white Americans. Black people were able to break through preconceived thoughts and were capable of adopting the role of a culturally experienced and exotic ethnic group (Graham 18). The return to a more primitive time led to the construction of a more appreciative and celebratory viewpoint among many black families. In a sense, the "idea of blackness became a commodity in its own right" (Graham 17). As was formerly mentioned, it was vital that white society be involved in this movement in order to confirm the long-lasting influence of black culture, as a result, many artists modeled the exoticness and allure of Africa in their mediums. In a current study carried out by Maryemma Graham, it was acknowledged that "exoticism [had given] birth to almost every major artistic and literary form" of the twenty-first century (19). Being able to associate with a more racially positive and liberating identity gave many African Americans a needed escaped in a time of global violence. Harlem and "its music and often primitive iconography, seemed a perfect escape for the tensions of modern life" (Swartz 52). The return and praise of African American's cultural and physical roots has allowed for the old persona of the enslaved group to be stripped and built upon to create a more resilient identity that best embodies the progressive and modernist ways.
From an outside view, it can be affirmed that the objective of the Harlem Renaissance was achieved, seeing as how black culture has managed to sustain its prime location as one of the leading paradigms of conventional life over the course of a century. The Harlem Renaissance began as a cultural movement, but with the surge of black pride and a modernized image of the "New Negro," it became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, being that it was in the midst of the first World War, this cultural movement gave Americans something to look forward to and it also spurred a national conversation regarding the inclusion of marginalized racial groups. Despite having already been recognized for their literary contributions, African American artists, athletes and entertainers especially, were able to take the forefront and alter how performers were both viewed and treated by their audience. This period of cultural development was able to take center stage with the use of the resettlement of blacks in northern cities, the emergence of non-white performers and intellectuals, the participation of Caucasians, the implementation of the club scene, and a reappearance of African practices.