The 1920’s ushered in a period of new awareness and enlightenment in the African American community. The hardships they faced became a launching board for personal expression through all types of art. For the first time, they began to celebrate their differences. The timing could not have been better. The brief period between World War I and the Great Depression was a time of economic explosion for the United States, with an abundance of jobs that brought unprecedented prosperity to all of America, regardless of race (Williams, 2001).
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| Courtesy: http://www.inmotionaame.org/gallery/large.cfm ?migration=8&topic=99&id=569257&type =image&metadata=&page=11 |
“The New Negro” movement (Rowen, Beth, Brunner, & Borgna, 2007) marked a pattern of growth and spirit more than a location. Each major northern city, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit, showed similar reflection of Harlem, New York City. They were not looking for acceptance by the white world, so much as searching for the “expression of our individual dark-skinned selves.” This movement was later called the “Harlem Renaissance,” and revealed writers, poets, painters, musicians and sculptors who drew inspiration from their struggles and new lives.
---Jayne F.
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Rowen, Beth, Brunner,& Borgna. (2007). Great days in harlem: The birth of the harlem renaissance.
Rowen, Beth, Brunner,& Borgna. (2007). Great days in harlem: The birth of the harlem renaissance.
Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved from: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmharlem1.html
Williams, Scott. (2001). The circle association’s weblinks to the HARLEM RENAISSANCE. Retrieved
from: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/circle/harlem-ren-sites.html
