Even after blacks were given the vote, racism was rife, especially in the South. After the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case institutionalized segregation, more black were encouraged to move to the north, where racism was significantly less extreme. In addition, the North promised better educational advancement for African-Americans and their children and better job opportunities. This Great Migration brought more than seven million blacks to the North.
Harlem became a mecca for the African-American population, housing many of the country’s most prominent black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals. With black historian, sociologist, and Harvard scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois as a prominent leader, Harlem was launched into a movement that advocated racial equality. Creativity exploded, inciting revolutions in poetry, fiction, music, dance, theatre, and art. Blacks were invigorated to take pride in their heritage, especially with the encouragement of Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey, who advocated for blacks in using their history to take control of their futures.
As the ’20s drew to a close, so did the renaissance. Especially influenced by the rapidly declining economic situation, the focus shifted from art and culture to financial issues.
Langston Hughes (Not Without Laughter, 1930), Zora N. Hurston (Jonah's Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937), Claude McKay (Home to Harlem, 1927; Banjo, 1929; Gingertown, 1931; Banana Bottom, 1933), and Arna Botemps (God Sends Sunday, 1931; Black Thunder, 1936) W. E. B. Du Bois, and Richard Wright are examples of Harlem Renaissance writers and some of their associated works.
Examples of Works:
An excerpt from Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues”:
2 Rocking
back and forth to a mellow croon,
3
I heard a Negro play.
5 By the
pale dull pallor of an old gas light
6
He did a lazy sway ....
8 To the
tune o' those Weary Blues.
9 With his
ebony hands on each ivory key
10 He made that poor
piano moan with melody.
11
O Blues!
12 Swaying to and fro on his
rickety stool
13 He played that sad
raggy tune like a musical fool.
14
Sweet Blues!
15 Coming from a black
man's soul.
16
O Blues!
17 In a deep song voice with a
melancholy tone
18 I heard that Negro
sing, that old piano moan--
19
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
21
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
22
And put ma troubles on the shelf."
In this example, there are very specific instances of
individualism and alienation (especially in lines 19 and 20). The singer sounds lonely, but at the same
time the man listening to him sympathizes, providing a sense that they are
together in their loneliness. The
inclusion of “Lenox Avenue,” a main street in Harlem, is an example of the
theme “urban influence.” Hughes is
exploring the effects of the city on this particular individual and the way it
has shaped his life.
An excerpt from Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God:
“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For
some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon,
never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in
resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.”
This quote contains the theme of individualism, and the
uncertainty and lack of control many men faced during this era. Many men had dreams and goals, often to reach
the American Dream. Some men were luckier
than others—they reached their goals while others didn’t. The loneliness and depression that
accompanied this lack of control are apparent in this quote and are relevant
themes in Modernism.
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