Black Cultural Infancy and Intraracial Conflict Within the Harlem Renaissance

Introduction

Literature of the Harlem Renaissance documents the essence and emergence of a new post-reconstructionist Black culture. Blackness, which has never before been given the platform to develop and evolve in Western society, is now burdened with the responsibility of creating its own identity, values, aspirations, and limits. During this early 1920’s time frame it is a culture that’s still young; still growing. In other words, it is still in its infancy. Now that Blackness has an opportunity to grow beyond colonialist discourse and pre trans-atlantic Africanism, Blacks and African Americans must now find new ways to define themselves. As a result, this creates a rush to rebrand American Blackness. Periodicals, essays, fictive stories and artwork begin to emerge from Black artists attempting to shape this new identity. WEB DuBois creates Crisis, Charles S. Johnson introduces Opportunity and many more authors such as Zora Neal Hurston, Georgia Douglas, Langston Hughes et al continue crafting this American Black image. Interestingly enough, however, these crafted images are not always cohesive and congruent. Narratives, both artistic and nonfictive, usually highlight different ideals that not only vary but, at times, outright contradict each other. DuBois’s presentation of Crisis tends to highlight lighter skinned Blacks while Opportunity strays away from intentionally constructed narratives in favor of a more realistic presentation of Blackness during this time. These contradictions thus create moments of intraracial conflict. Alternate views on colorism, sexuality and what constitutes as racial uplift are now given a platform to clash both academically and culturally. Out of these intraracial conflicts and the growing pains of cultural infancy comes the crux of Harlem Renaissance texts and images. By examining these important works we can trace and contextualize many of the current ideals of Blackness birthed out of this culturally chaotic time. 

 

For my final project I will discuss what I call “Black Cultural Infancy”, the time period after Reconstruction in which Blackness was discovering its new identity within the changing American landscape. I will explain the “growing pains” of this developing new identity and how identity exploration culminated into various works of the Harlem Renaissance. I will also discuss how these new voyages of identity created conflicts between members of the Black community. These topics are important to research because the fallout from these early stages of Black culture continue to ring true to today. Topics of colorism and identity politics continue to be prevalent in our society, casting harmful shadows over Black intraracial relationships. Examining the Harlem Renaissance through the lens of emergence and conflict will allow us to reexamine the roots of current issues.

 

Cultural Infancy

In order to begin treading through this time, we have to first confront and define this idea of Cultural Infancy. This term, which already exists in some academic spaces, comes with various (and often demeaning) definitions. I do not mean to insinuate that Cultural Infancy, in regards to Blackness, means “underdeveloped” or “uncivilized”. Instead, I use this term to define a moment in time in which a new culture is “born”. The “birth” of a culture, in and of itself, is of course a complicated idea. Trying to pinpoint the chronological “birth” of a culture becomes subject to a number of debatable criterias and factors. Nevertheless, as Raymond Williams’s, “Culture is Ordinary” states: “The making of a Society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land.” (3) I believe that Williams’s definition tightly encapsulates this moment in question as Black culture is discovering new “common meanings and directions” while experiencing legitimate growth under the pressures of “experience, contact, and discovery”. Williams also argues that culture does not know class differences, but is natural to pursue and readily accessible to everyone. This further describes the Harlem Renaissance as this emerging infant of a culture is naturally pursuing the arts and self expression. Nevertheless, I am not insinuating that this is the “birth” of Black culture (as Black culture, and even American Black culture, existed before this time). Instead, I consider this Reconstruction period — and the subsequent Harlem Renaissance — to be the beginning of Blackness uncontestedly “writing itself into the land”. This unique time sees Black culture begin to manifest itself outside of the bonds of slavery while simutaneously creating a sense of community through the common and new experience of emancipation. The emphasis here is on the “newness” of this experience as this is what will set the groundwork for the texts of the Harlem Renaissance. African Americans had never experienced collective emancipation before, there were freed slaves but never to this magnitude. Emancipation can therefore be regarded as the great event or catalyst for this new “birth”. As a child enters the world for the first time with little to no self sufficiency, so do African Americans enter now into new freedoms with little to no guidelines. There are no cultural rules for navigating this new system and therefore African Americans must take on the responsibility of creating its own identity and fostering its own growth into maturity with values and ideals that will help it survive. 

I argue, then, that the Harlem Renaissance acts as the artistic roadmap (and checkpoint) of this “growth” from cultural infancy to cultural maturity. Harlem Renaissance texts, essays, and artwork illustrate the different ideals and beliefs that are emerging and evolving during this time. African American expositions on race, gender, class and more begin to find their way into the public discourse, shaping the identity of Black culture in the public image. This identity, initially shaped by colonialism and slavery in Western philosophy, is being consciously molded into something new. My blog post “Harlem and the New White Man’s Burden” addresses how periodicals like the Opportunity fight negative narratives such as Black codependence and unsustainability. This conscious molding, however, raises new questions for analysis. Who controls the process of molding this new Black image? Is there a collective agreement on the voice for Black culture, and if so, who does it sound like? These questions, amongst others, play out in the texts of the Harlem Renaissance and leave a surprisingly diverse collection of responses. These different ideals, in regards to Blackness, bring to light the intraracial conflicts that are also emerging during this time.

 

Intraracial Conflicts

Like gold being purified by heat, so does the Black culture of the early 20’s become refined by the fire that is the Harlem Renaissance. This time of cultural fervor brought the bubbling contrasting views and values to the surface. If we follow our “infant” analogy, this era could be considered the change from infancy to adolescence. Post-Reconstruction Black culture is now facing a crisis of identity, trying to find out which values and ways of living more closely resonate with the “true” Black experience. Early Harlem Renaissance writers and thinkers such as WEB DuBois found ways to reconcile Blackness with Western Culture in a way that utilizes identity politics to elevate African Americans. His “truth” was one of excellence and refinement. DubBois’s method, while debatably effective, however, presented a very singular view of Blackness. Covers of Crisis magazine featured mostly Blacks of a lighter complexion and a higher social status. While I do not believe that DuBois intended to use these images as a way of appeasing white America, the resulting effect can appear to do just that. Some of Dubois’s peers criticized him for “crafting” an image of Blackness that was too exclusive, insincere and generally misleading. My blog post “Utilizing Appeasement” will combat this idea, however I do not deny the legitimacy of this argument. I argue that while DuBois is using these images intentionally, his purpose is primarily to encourage and educate his Black readers on prominent figures and events in their history — the subsequent result of “repackaging” Blacks for the white public eye is simply a serendipitous consequence.

Nevertheless, this idea of “repackaging” Blacks comes together in a character trope known as The New Negro. The New Negro is a cultural figure that represents elements of Black class and refinement. He is the  “revolutionary” Black man who is educated and conscientious. The New Negro represents wealth and improvement and his newfound civility allows him to be acclimated into Western society. Alain Locke’s work The New Negro archives different poems, essays and short stories; solidifying this idea of negro life and truth. The question of what makes the New Negro “new” is answered by the same premise of my “cultural infancy” thesis — the idea of newfound freedom. The New Negro is different from the “old” negro in that he is no longer bound to the physical, mental, emotional and creative bonds of slavery (much like Blackness itself). He is free to pursue his own definition of self and Black identity. This is where interpretations like DuBois’s Crisis come into the fold and where images of Blackness also begin to clash.

The lasting effect of this clash, however, is damaging. Colorism, which had been rooted in  western society for centuries, is now rampantly present in Black literature. Texts like Zora Neale Hurston’s play Colorstruck and Nella Larson’s novel Passing portray the destructive (and even deadly) fallout of colonial colorism. Unspoken tensions between darker and lighter complexions are exposed and amplified within the arts. With it come new approaches to ideas of exoticism and sexuality. Periodicals such as Crisis, Opportunity and Fire!! fight to rebrand the Black image with the ideals they believe are legitimate. In my blog post “The Wary Gaze: Looking at the “Exotic” and/or Dangerous” I discuss how these tensions play out in literature through hostile and cautious gazes. While these real life conflicts continue to play out in periodicals—fictive work harnesses these contrasting ideas in subtle ways. Instead of brash stories and combative essays, we observe colorism through the everyday lens of harsh looks and long gazes. The constant recurrence of this motif in Harlem Renaissance literature, especially in regards to colorism, brings to life the everyday reality of Intraracial Black conflict.

 

Conclusion

My thesis, and overall theme of the website, addresses the growing pains of new racial independence. With unencumbered speech and expression, come new beliefs on civility, image and acceptable behavior that has never been allowed to clash before. It is an exciting time of cultural conflict that confronts internalized ideas of race, color and sexuality. As a result, the  Harlem Renaissance introduced the marketplace of identity through which we can now adopt our own interpretation of Black identity and authenticity. 

 

Citations

Williams, Raymond. Raymond Williams on Culture & Society: Essential Writings, compiled by Jim McGuigan, SAGE Publications, 2014. 

Locke, Alain. The New Negro: An Interpretation. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp, 1968. Print.

Larsen, Nella. Passing. Knopf Publications, 1929.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Colorstruck. Fire!! Magazine, 1926