The Harlem Renaissance What Was the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

What Was the Harlem Renaissance? • A literary an artistic movement celebrating African American culture beginning in the 1920 s.

Causes of the Harlem Renaissance • The Great Migration • Thousands of African Americans moved to northern cities from southern towns. • Organizations like the NAACP, and the UNIA advocated for the rights and culture of African Americans.

The Harlem Renaissance Flowers in New York • The literary aspect of the Renaissance was the most impressive. • Poet Claude Mc. Kay • A militant poet urging African Americans to resist prejudice and discrimination. • He also expressed pain in he life of the ghetto. • Langston Hughes • The best known poet of the movement. • His poems talked about the difficulties of everyday life of working class African Americans. • Zora Neale Hurston • Most accomplished female writer of the movement.

Other Cultural Aspects of the Harlem Renaissance • Many African American actors and singers achieved notoriety. • Jazz Music was a virtual soundtrack for Harlem. • Louis Armstrong, “Duke” Ellington, and Bessie Smith were among popular Jazz musicians of the day.

Primary Source Activity from, “When the Negro Was in Vogue”. • Read the excerpt from Langston Hughes’s Biography and answer questions 1, 2, and 3 in complete sentences.