THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE Understanding The Harlem Renaissance by analyzing “Comments with Dr. James Haney” on the topic “The Harlem Renaissance” with Drs. S. McKoy and Gloria. C. Johnson Facharbeit Englisch Max Tillich Kalker Hauptstraße 180 51103 Köln Betreuender Fachlehrer: K. Potschka Konrad-Adenauer-Gymnasium Bonn Max-Planck Straße 24/36 53177 Bonn 12. April 2010 The Harlem Renaissance! 1 VERSICHERUNG DER SELBSTSTÄNDIGEN ERARBEITUNG Hiermit erkläre ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfsmittel verfasst und keine anderen als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel verwendet habe. Insbesondere versichere ich, dass ich alle wörtlichen und sinngemäßen Übernahmen aus an- deren Werken als solche gekennzeichnet habe. The Harlem Renaissance! 2 PROLOGUE The popular culture (also known as pop culture) developed in the early to mid 20th century. At the end of the 20th century popular culture developed into mass media and African American culture seems to be absolutely essential. As a Jazz, Soul and Hip-Hop enthusiast I am conscious about the fact that the Afro-American culture was not a part of the named popular culture from the beginning. I chose The Harlem Renaissance as the topic of this school essay (Facharbeit) because this movement foremost located in the area of Harlem, New York (USA) around 1920 means the foundation of the music and the art I love and it stands for an attitude of getting up through artistic expression instead of hate and envy. The video source “Comments with Dr. James Haney” can be watched on a website i created to amplify this essay with further information concerning Harlem today. The website also features a list of online sources I used to give evidence in various points. Link: http://maxtillich.com/harlemrenaissance The Harlem Renaissance! 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction! 6 1.1 Historical Overview! 6 1.2 New York Harlem! 6 Gangs of Harlem! 6 1.3 Comments with Dr. Haney! 7 2. Body! 8 2.1 The background! 8 Frustration! 8 The New Negro! 9 Racism! 10 2.2 The term Harlem Renaissance! 10 The importance of Harlem! 10 Explanation of the term renaissance! 11 2.3 Forerunners to the Harlem Renaissance! 11 2.4 Co"aboration! 12 2.5 Lengston Hughes! 12 The most influential poet of the Renaissance! 12 “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”! 13 3. Conclusion! 14 3.1 Controversial issues! 14 3.2 E#ects on today! 14 “Harlem Renaissance” by Immortal Technique! 15 The Harlem Renaissance! 4 Bibliography! 17 The Harlem Renaissance! 5 1. INTRODUCTION In the following I’m going to explain The Harlem Renaissance (New Negro Movement) by re- ferring to “Comments with Dr. James Haney” on the topic “The Harlem Renaissance” with Drs. S. McKoy and Gloria. C. Johnson and various literary sources. 1.1 Historical Overview The 1920s were characterized by real estate instabilities and finally the great economic crises in 1929. America allied with Great Britain in World War I against Germany and its allied. Also Afro American soldiers fought for America overseas. European immigrants stayed out during the war (1914-1918). Racism is ever-present and slavery is not even completely overcome. 1.2 New York Harlem The area of Harlem is located in the North of Manhattan New York, USA. Between the first Afro Americans who settled in Harlem as early as 1880 and the period of the Harlem Renais- sance about 40 years later, proceeded a continual growth of the African American community in Harlem. Till 1905 there were hardly any white renters for Harlem’s landlords properties, so leading personalities in the real estate market argued in support of renting to Afro Americans. This was the beginning of the population oft the first district dominated by African Ameri- cans. Some landlords even made up pacts not to deal with Afro American interested. Between 1920 and 1930, 87,417 blacks arrived, bringing the total number of African Americans to 164,566, with 25% of these being foreign-born. [1] G ANGS OF H ARLEM Today Harlem often is associated with crime and gang-affairs and as it is obviously more than just a stereotype considering one of the highest crime rate of the world, gangs and leading criminals ruled whole streets and the businesses on them. All in all it worked out because po- lice often feared conflicts with Afro Americans, so gangs established their own understanding of justice. Later outstanding rich and not less powerful bosses of former street-gangs made im- portant investments into cultural venues in Harlem and consequently took part in the devel- The Harlem Renaissance! 6 opment of Harlem to become the place to go concerning entertainment for many people living in New York and in America. 1.3 Comments with Dr. Haney “Comments with Dr. James Haney” is an independent TV-production hosted by Dr. James Haney informing about African American history. “Comments with Dr. James Haney” was produced by a production company called Comments. Comments produced the show in Nash- ville, Tennessee with Dr. James Haney himself as executive producer. The whole production based on a project for the Tennessee State University. Broadcasted via FOX, UPN and local TV stations around Nashville, Tennessee, the show reached millions of people interested in academic breakfast television. Dr. James Haney welcomed both, black and white guests to talk on one particular topic each show. Comments shut down the production in 1998. The for this essay relevant episode of “Comments with Dr. James Haney”, “The Harlem Ren- aissance”, features Dr. James Haney as host, Dr. Gloria C. Johnson as first, and Asst. Prof. She- lia Smith-McKoy as second guest to talk about The Harlem Renaissance within a 25 minutes long interview. Dr. James Haney directs his guests in a way that lets them tell freely and de- tailed about each section he pretends in by his questions. The Harlem Renaissance! 7 2. BODY 2.1 The background The Harlem Renaissance is regarded as the major and first cultural movement of African Americans which took place in a period between 1917 and 1935 throughout the USA. This is the timeframe Dr. Gloria C. Johnson sets clarifying that it was not a perfect decade as people expect [2] because of certain publications till the late 1930s. F RUSTRATION The actual movement developed through dissatisfaction and frustration in the Afro American communities, years after liberation from slavery. Mass migration of “Southern Negroes”, as they are designated in 1968’s “LIFE” Magazine about the Harlem Renaissance [3], to Northern cities like New York and most of all the obvious isolation in ghettos, caused restiveness of “black America” [3]. These former slaves were needed as workers in the booming war industry between 1916 and 1918 to replace the workers that were expected to immigrate from Europe. Because of the First World War the European laborer were absent and many Americans fought overseas as allied power of Great Britain against Germany. So the mainly liberated African American people felt put-upon again and been reminded of times of picking cotton as slaves owned by an white American. Returning Afro American soldiers from the battlefields of Central Europe had expectations of beeing treated as full American citizens after they proved the existence of a African American sentiment of patriotism by fighting for their country and in fact helped winning this war. By this time black Nationalism developed in the communities of Harlem and all over the country. As written, between 1920 and 1930, 87,417 blacks arrived and Harlem became overpopulated so that good jobs were rare. A situation like that makes up the perfect breeding ground for organ- ized criminality and social issues. And after all, gangs controlled many streets to take the law into their own hands but on the other side the liberated Afro American inhabiters of Harlem conceived a new, although very small, wealth in relation to the times of slavery. Cultural life de- veloped and took place on a regular basis and even some nightclubs and theatres opened. The Lincoln Theatre as one of its first and most important in Harlem has already been opened be- The Harlem Renaissance! 8 fore 1915 to become the original home of the Anita Bush Players, also known as the Anita Bush All-Colored Dramatic Stock Company, a musical group directed by Anita Bush. One have to become aware of that Afro Americans had still no access to any cultural venue around 1918 but their own so such venues were important and essential to be presuppositions for a growing need of experienced venues. T HE N EW N EGRO M1 African American literature and other cultural works already existed while the time of slavery but the cultural movement which doesn’t only reflect the pain of slavery and present racism but also deals with the actual African American roots in Africa, started to come up from 1917 to 1920 in a somehow revolutionary way. As Asst. Prof. Shelia Smith-McKoy states, several black riots took place in the summer of 1919 all over the country [4], known by the name “Red Summer of Hate”. People became confident caused by the expressed expectations of returning African American soldiers and civil rights activists like William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. The New Negro, symbolic part of a new confident and patriotic black minority, was born. Re- lating to this development, The Harlem Renaissance is also known as the New Negro Move- The Harlem Renaissance! 9 ment which emphasizes the importance of the nationwide protests and accordingly it refers to the new consciousness and the idea of the New Negro as a whole new mind that recollects the African history.