The Harlem Renaissance is a unique period from 1910s through the 1930s,The Harlem Renaissance was about art and the “new nergo” Throughout the course, I’ve noticed that Harlem Renaissance writers focused on the major topic of The contributions of black peopel in the fields of art, music, writing, and education, along with black refinement and its history, commencing with the Harlem Renaissance. I’d like to bring in some New Negro themes, such as how black leaders made a concerted effort to challenge long-held stereotypes about black people in America. I’d like to discuss how black people led the re-invention of black identity in America. It’s important, in my opinion, since it contributes to people’s perceptions of the Harlem Renaissance. My first 3 blog posts connect with the fundamental issue of black refinement and identity re-invention in some way. I’m hoping that these blog posts will inform readers about some of the important contributions in the fields of art and publications that influenced the transition, as well as some of the people that helped lead the movement.
Starting with W.E.B. Du Bois The Crisis, and how the covers of The Crisis communicate the “normality” as well as the black perspective about the black experiences in America, because it is a direct parallel of their experiences at the time and their perspective and contributions to the different movements. Including art, and the first world war it shows or is an example of both the alienation and representation that Black people at this time wished to have and see in media that they didn’t have so that they made for themselves. It is the media that showed them as actual humans and people and not racist caricatures (sambo as an example below/ means cartoon). This Sambo figure and art that was constructed by white people at the time dehumanized and made Black people no more than a caricature that wasn’t taken seriously or seen as capable of any “real” contributions to society, especially intellectually. This is why publications such as The Crisis became popular especially among well educated Black people because it showed to them that they weren’t this caricature and they weren’t a “lower life form” than white people but that could do and contribute the exact same things be it art, media or politics regardless of the color of their skin or what racist cartoon and stereotypes showed
In Survey Graphic: Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro “The Making of Harlem” Johnson states “Harlem is not merely a Negro colony or community, it is a city within a city, the greatest Negro city in the world, It is not a slum or a fringe, it is located in the heart of Manhattan and occupies one of the most beautiful and healthful sections of the city. It is not à “quarter” of dilapidated tenements but is made up of new-law apartments and handsome dwellings, with well-paved and well-lighted streets. It has its own churches, social and civic centers, shops, theaters, and other places of amusement. And it contains more Negroes to the square mile than any other spot on earth.”(Johnson, page 635) With that in mind, on page 637 there is a picture of a map “This sketch map shows approximately where Negroes live in Harlem, according to a housing survey made in 1024 by the New York Urban League. The fringe of houses in which both Negro and white tenants live is not indicated. The first houses occupied by Negroes were On I34th Street east of Lenox Avenue” I include this picture because it shows Harlem it shows a visual of Harlem and how it a “city within a city” and how much history lies there, how even today walking in some parts of the city their brown street signs instead of green to showcase that (landmarks)
During the walking tour of Harlem I was able to see that the walk was intriguing. The journey began at the Schomburg, “a research library of the New York Public Library and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide.” which is located at 135st and inside there’s a room filled with images of historical figures and events from Harlem’s early years .The Harlem tour was both fun and educational, beginning with an explanation of some of the images on the walls. then walking around historic streets and picturing how Harlem was years ago. The walking tour had me thinking of a United Community and how During the Harlem Renaissance, black people were banding together to create a society where they could live their lives freely without fear of being judged by white people. The Harlem walking tour revealed a wealth of history we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Our tour guide advised us of major landmarks, In just a few streets.
In contributions of black people in the fields of art, music, there was the first modern jazz band to ever be heard in New York City. They played and sang in a dancing orchestra at The Marshall in Harlem and became the first to make use of banjos, saxophones, clarinets, and trap drums in combination to create what we now know as jazz. Comparing this to the Survey Graphic: Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro, “The Making of Harlem,” by James Weldon Johnson he talks about how Harlem is a “city within a city,” and how “a stranger is struck with surprise at the transformation which takes place after he crosses One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street (Johnson 635).” He uses such a marker, as does Carter when she compares the house above to the street below to signal how different and unique Harlem was to the rest of the city at the time, especially illustrating how easily communities can change from just turning a corner or crossing a bridge.
Works Cited
Modernist journals: Crisis. Modernist Journals | Crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://modjourn.org/journal/crisis/
Modernist journals: Crisis. A record of the darker races. vol. 18, no. 5. Modernist Journals | Crisis. A Record of the Darker Races. Vol. 18, No. 5. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr512492/
Harlem, Mecca of the new negro. Yale University Library. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17368696
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, May 8). Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schomburg_Center_for_Research_in_Black_Culture