The Harlem Renaissance - UTA October 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The End!

Courtesy: http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/jazzage.html

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Alexis, Brittany, Danesse, Jayne,

Julie, Michael, Nicholas, & Theresa

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Blacks had always been interested in finding a better education for themselves, but during the Harlem Renaissance, thousands of African Americans from the South and West Indies where drawn to Harlem, New York, for better economic and educational opportunities. Some schools discriminated this race, while others allowed them fair and equal educational opportunities. This later enhanced the population which would act as a cultural movement (HR Multimedia, n.d.).

The following are some philosophies and institutions that influenced public education in New York. Although the schools in Harlem were open to black and white students, a lot of schools maintained an all black population, primarily because of the increase of black residents in Harlem. As the number of African Americans took advantage of free public education, schools quickly became overcrowded. Some principals did not allow blacks to enter their educational institutions, which led to racial slurs by teachers and other students (HR Multimedia, n.d.).

The philosophical controversy that engaged African American educational thought was the teachings of Booker T. Washington’s doctrine of education and W. E. B. Dubois' educational philosophy. Washington did not deprecate the study of history, mathematics, etc. but viewed these subjects as more impractical for the education of African Americans than anything else. He believed that African Americans should be trained to become farmers, mechanics, or domestic servants who would later provide many of the services and products that the white community needed. Washington’s doctrine and practices of education continued to influence education in the North and South well into the Harlem Renaissance (HR Multimedia, n.d.).

As stated above, W. E. B. Dubois opposed Washington's beliefs. He censured Washington’s views as too narrow, too economic in its objectives, too deprecatory to higher institutions of learning, and too conciliatory to the South’s virtual destruction of political and civil status of African Americans. DuBois encouraged an educational group for the African Americans called "The Talented Tenth”. Click on link below to view the the manuscript:

Talented Tenth Manuscript by W. E. B. Dubois
Courtesy: http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~mbenneki/The%20Talented%20Tenth.pdf

The point of this group was to improve race relations in a time of extreme nationwide backlash following WWI by using a small number of well-educated professionals to lead the way. This act would later jump start the new Negro Movement (Harlem Renaissance) through organizations such as the American Negro Academy and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Access to books was critical to African American education, but the South lagged far behind the rest of the nation to provide African Americans the use of library facilities and resources. Between 1900 and 1910, some public libraries in the South began to extend services to African Americans through restricted services or the establishment of black branches (HR Multimedia, n.d.).

---Nicholas P.

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Harlem Resource Multimedia. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/education/page_1.htm

Political Issues

GARVEY
Courtesy:
http://www.africawithin.com/
garvey/mgp01.jpg

The Harlem Renaissance was filled with some important black political leaders, such as W. E. B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. Garvey founded the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) and was later elected President. He was a Nationalist advocate of black migration to Africa. Garvey and Dubois' views were in direct conflict. Garvey favored separation, while Dubois favored integration (HR Multimedia Resource, n.d.).

DUBOIS
Courtesy: http://www.nps.gov/hafe/
historyculture/images/dubois285.jpg

Examples of social and political conditions during the Harlem Renaissance included emancipation, southern diaspora, and the "Scottsboro Nine". Emancipation progressed about 20 years before the Harlem Renaissance; it is easy to say that slavery was still alive in the mind of the U.S. The abundance of jobs compared to the racial South began The Great Migration to the North. This was also known as southern diaspora. The "Scottsboro Nine" were nine boys rumored to be looking for government work and were forced off a train and jailed in Scottsboro. Over the next 20 years the case would make certain people famous and change the way people viewed southern justice (HR Multimedia Resource, n.d.).

Courtesy: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/trials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm

---Alexis T.

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Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Resource. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/
politics/page_1.htm

Langston Hughes Speaks!

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Click on the above link to listen to this famous poet!

---Julie M.
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Poets.org. (2010) The negro speaks of rivers. Retrieved from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.
php/prmMID/15722

Literature

The roots of modern black American literature took hold during the Harlem Renaissance. Concepts such as primitivism, pride in black heritage/solidarity, oppression, inequality, and racial conflict permeated themes of various literary works by African American authors during the Harlem Renaissance. Threads of racial uplift and optimism for a bright future were also weaved into literature during this time of cultural awakening. The mood of the day for the African American community was brought to life through protest literature, autobiographies, novels, and poetry.

Courtesy:
http://www.singleandhappy.net/singleindc/2009/04/index.html#tp

The Harlem Renaissance represented an outpouring of African American literary culture that corresponded to the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North during the first part of the 20th century. Arna Bontemps, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer were all prominent African-American writers associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Richard Wright was the first African-American author to publish a work that appeared on the national bestseller list. Langston Hughes, poet, novelist, and songwriter, was arguably the most successful black writer in to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and Contee Cullen were prominent black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Through their literature, these great African American authors were successful not only in pointing out the horrific injustice of racism, but they also were able to present a more unified consciousness within the culture (Harlem Renaissance, 2003).

Below is a cover picture of "The Crisis" magazine, which was utilized by many black authors of the period: