exam HIST 318
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UNIT3-TheHarlemRenaissance.pptxTHE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN AMERICAN CITIES
HIST 318
THE “NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT”
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, New York, spanning the 1920s
Explosion of creative arts
Known as the "New Negro Movement”
Harlem became known as the “Race Capital of the World
THE “NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT”
MIGRATION TO NEW YORK
Racial violence in the Jim Crow South led to the mass migration of African Americans to New York City
Black migrants in New York primarily came from the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida
The arrival of black migrants coincided with the transition of the center of black life in the city from other boroughs to Harlem
THE TENDERLOIN
Roots of black artistic talent planted in Manhattan’s Tenderloin neighborhood
Home to most of city’s 60,000 black residents
By 1914, middle-class blacks from the area started moving to Harlem, which had been primarily white
THE MARSHALL HOTEL
Spot for black artists to network, mentor, and collaborate
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THE “NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT”
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THE “NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT”
PHILIP ANTHONY PAYTON, JR.
An African-American real estate entrepreneur
Known as the “Father of Harlem”, due to his work renting properties to African Americans in the Harlem section of Manhattan, New York
Payton founded the Philip A. Payton Jr. Company and bought and managed Harlem real estate for black tenants
His rental properties led to the “blackening” of Harlem, which laid the foundation for the Harlem Renaissance
BLACK WRITERS
Central Harlem Renaissance figures; bodies of work contain both racial and nonracial subject matter
Claude McKay
Alain Locke
Jean Toomer
Countee Cullen
McKay, Locke, Toomer and Cullen’s work became the gold standard for black literature
BLACKS IN THE ARTS
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LANGSTON HUGHES (POET)
Wrote in various genres; incorporated jazz and blues rhythms
Admired black vernacular culture; tackled politically charged and leftist themes
HARLEM RENAISSANCE WOMEN
Jessie Redmond Fauset – universal qualities among races
Nella Larsen – questioned “Talented Tenth”
Zora Neal Hurston – anthropologist and literary modernist
BLACKS IN THE ARTS
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THE NEGROTARIANS
WHITE PEOPLE AND THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Many whites took an interest in Harlem
Nicknamed “Negrotarians” by Zora Neale Hurston
Referred to Harlem as “Nigger Heaven”
White supporters; financial backing
Saw black culture as unsophisticated and primitive, but interesting
Harlem inhabitants - exotic, curious, and uncivilized
HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
THE COTTON CLUB
Harlem’s most exclusive and fashionable nightspot
Opened during the era of Prohibition (18th Amendment); owned by Owney Madden, a white gangster and member of the mob
The club’s entertainers and waiters were black but black patrons were not permitted; white customers only
Performers included Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington
NATIONAL AND LIVE BROADCAST RADIO
Radio introduced black talent and eroded cultural and social isolation of southern blacks
White listeners given opportunity to hear black music; blacks who were otherwise excluded from white venues could listen via radio
Duke Ellington greatest beneficiary of live radio music
Came direct from Harlem’s Cotton Club
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HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
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HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
THE COTTON CLUB
DUKE ELLINGTON AND THE BIG BAND ERA
Influenced by Scott Joplin’s Ragtime jazz
By late 1920s, jazz was a national craze; and New York was the center of the jazz world
Duke Ellington central to New York’s big-band era
New Negro; racial pride and best interests of the race important to him
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HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
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LOUIS ARMSTRONG TRANSFORMS BIG BAND JAZZ
Armstrong transformed New York’s big-band jazz
New rhythmic momentum and improvisational boldness
Recordings became template for post-1920s combo jazz
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HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
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HARLEM AND THE AGE OF JAZZ
THE NICHOLAS BROTHERS
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PARIS
FRENCH CONNECTIONS
Black artists got attention from international white audiences
1920s Paris resembled Harlem
The Vogue Negre
- Influence of African art and shapes seen in Pablo Picasso’s work
- Parisian diversity created linguistic and ethnic challenges
JOSEPHINE BAKER
Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in France
She also devoted much of her life to fighting racism
In the 1920s, she moved to France and soon became one of Europe's most popular and highest-paid performers
Her costume, consisting of only a girdle of artificial bananas, became her most iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PARIS
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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PARIS
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Josephine Baker’s
Iconic Banana Skirt, 1926
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PARIS
BLACK THEATER IN HARLEM
African American theater flourished in Harlem
Lafayette Players
Black actors began appearing before wider audiences
Careers of Charles Gilpin and Paul Robeson thrived
Plays about black life by white authors
Porgy, The Green Pastures, etc.
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BLACK THEATER
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BLACK MUSICALS
Black-written and -produced musicals began to appear on Broadway
Shuffle Along; Put and Take
THE CHARLESTON
Theme music of the Roaring Twenties, “The Charleston,” written by James P. Johnson
Broadway introduced talents Josephine Baker and Florence Mills
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BLACK THEATER
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PAINTERS
Palmer Hayden
Experimented with variety of subjects and styles
Best known for scenes of urban black life
Archibald J. Motley, Jr.
Well known for paintings of black working-class neighborhoods
One of first black artists to gain critical and financial success
Sargent Johnson
Reserved sculptural aesthetic of African forms
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VISUAL ARTISTS
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Visual Artists
Palmer Hayden’s
Paintings
JAMES VAN DER ZEE
Photographs of black middle class and Harlem
Chronicled the emergence of the “New Negro”
AARON DOUGLAS
Preeminent visual artist of the period; stylized African-influenced aesthetic
Studied under Winold Reiss
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VISUAL ARTISTS
“The Negro in an African Setting” by Aaron Douglas
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James Van Der Zee Photography
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VISUAL ARTISTS
Couple wearing raccoon coats, with a Cadillac
James Van Der Zee Photography
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James Van Der Zee Photography
