StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Impact of The Harlem Renaissance on America - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Impact of The Harlem Renaissance on America" focuses on a critical analysis of the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on America. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century Harlem in Manhattan, New York had become a prosperous black middle-class neighbourhood…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.2% of users find it useful
Impact of The Harlem Renaissance on America
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Impact of The Harlem Renaissance on America"

Supported by the African American Church and even more so by the African American writers, playwrights, artists, and musicians; the expression of African American resentment and the newly grown self-confidence was demonstrated in their protests of American entry into the First World War in 1917. The Harlem Renaissance was very vocal against what they believed was a capitalist war that was not in their interests, and so exhorted the African Americans brought into New York from the South to support the war effort, to join the trade unions instead of being involved in the actual fighting in the war. Yet, many African Americans did go to war, expecting to get full citizenship. The denial of citizenship along with the segregation faced by them in the army, caused the returning soldiers to be involved in the expression demanding more rights for African Americans (Williams, p.1-20).

The newly found prosperity of African Americans disappeared with the Great Depression in 1929. This was to have a profound impact on the survival of the Harlem Renaissance. In the beginning, the Great Depression had little impact on the fortunes of Harlem. Life went on as usual and the great writers continued to churn out inspirational works that expressed the African American desire for greater freedom and social expression. Yet, the era of the great days of Harlem was over. Erosion of the newfound prosperity gradually reduced the importance of Harlem, as people strived to face the challenges of the Great Depression. The final nail in the coffin was the repeal of Prohibition by the government in 1933. The nightlife of Harlem disappeared, with the population of Manhattan preferring to remain in Manhattan, as they could drink legally in Manhattan. Many of the Harlem residents lost their jobs and were forced to eke out a living in penury, leading to racial riots (Worth, p. 92-98). Yet, to view the impact of the Harlem Renaissance as limited to the fortunes of Harlem is to take a very narrow view of it. The impact has to be viewed from what it contributed to the senses of African American Americans, due to the huge contributions and influence that writers, playwrights, artists, and musicians had on the Harlem Renaissance. The true impact of the Harlem Renaissance was a revival of the African American culture, with exposure to the world and the sense of empowerment it brought to African Americans (Ebony, p.144-148). 

Though racial prejudice remained, the Harlem Renaissance enabled African Americans to erase the memories of slavery from their minds. The African Americans found new ways to perceive racial prejudice to reduce its impact on their lives. White Americans were forced to contend with a new resurgent African American. The more important outcome was the creativity of the African American that spurred the Harlem Renaissance lived on to continue to vitalize the creative works that instilled honour in the African Americans, though with a tinge of the troubles they faced from racial prejudice. These feelings instilled in the African Americans would give rise to the later Civil Rights Movement (Abherjani & West, p.xii-xiii).

Given the importance that literary works, artistic works, and music had in the Harlem Renaissance, it is but natural that it is in these areas that the Harlem Renaissance continues to have a lasting effect. In the early twentieth century, the eyes of the world were opened to African American culture and their aspirations, in the modern era we continue to experience the African American literary vocabulary that is based on forms, idioms, and patterns of speech, and music and songs and is easily recognized as so. The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance is seen in the shape that it gave African American literature and music of the modern era (Sanders, p.96).

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Harlem Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1586813-harlem-renaissance
(Harlem Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/history/1586813-harlem-renaissance.
“Harlem Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1586813-harlem-renaissance.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Impact of The Harlem Renaissance on America

The Rise of the African Americans Culture in Harlem

haracteristics and themes of the harlem renaissance cultureThe culture of bonding and struggle for recognition and the fight for black race weakness stereotype were the main features of this period.... he essence of the emergence of the harlem renaissance was to prove the white stereotypes, which portrayed the Africans as inferior and weak, wrong.... riticisms of the Harlem RenaissanceNotwithstanding that the harlem renaissance was a movement associated with purely black identity, it was observed to embrace some cultures of the white people such as dressing, food, and other lifestyles....
15 Pages (3750 words) Research Paper

Impact and influence of The Harlem Renaissance

There are plausible of the harlem renaissance have lived longer after and extended its influence to today's life especially in the music industry.... the harlem renaissance was a culture that cropped up in the early 1920's and 1930's, centered in Harlem neighborhood of New York City (Rampersad 2002, p 48).... The black people had a considerable huge influence to the composition and recording of the music that was connected to the harlem renaissance in the hood....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

Biography on Harlem Renaissance

It goes without saying that no one single aspect of the harlem renaissance played such an important role in influencing and shaping the American and world cultural landscape as the Jazz music.... The most peculiar aspect of the harlem renaissance was that it was ushered in by African American thinkers, artists, writers and musicians who evinced a prominent predilection towards the quintessential African American culture and heritage (Kramer & Russ 10).... One of the salient objectives of the harlem renaissance was an honest portrayal of the African American talent and heritage through art, literature, music and thought....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

The Harlem Renaissance: the Future of Artistic Expression

The paper describes the harlem renaissance that is best remembered today as an explosion of creativity bursting from the talented minds of African-Americans in the 1920s, although in reality, it was the locus for the radicalization and politicization of a disenfranchised populace.... the harlem renaissance extended far beyond books and poetry to embrace art, dance, and music.... The creative minds behind the harlem renaissance used artistic expression to make a significant impact on all aspects of society, while also endowing African-American with their first sense of identity not defined by slavery....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance

The essay "New Negro Movement and the harlem renaissance" focuses on the critical analysis of the major issues on the new Negro movement and the harlem renaissance.... This movement found its popularity alongside the harlem renaissance, a new era that depicted more outspoken advocacy of dignity by African Americans and a refusal to comply quietly to the provisions and practices of Jim Crow racial segregation.... The idea behind the New Negro movement evolved over a long period as African Americans slowly began to advocate for equal rights with their counterparts and became critical in the peak period marking the harlem renaissance....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Harlem Renaissance Development

The essay "Harlem Renaissance Development" focuses on the critical analysis of the major issues in the development of the harlem renaissance.... She inherited a successful hair-care products empire from her mother and by use of her extreme wealth, she build a famous saloon which turned into a restaurant named 'the dark tower', during the peak era of the harlem renaissance, where most of the black literature and music flourished since many of the writers and poets used to visit there and were very good friends of Walker....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Harlem Renaissance

This paper under the following headline "the harlem renaissance" focuses on the fact that Paul Laurence Dunbar – was an African American poet, playwright, and novelist.... Despite the fact that Locke's philosophy was sophisticated, it was still very popular and inspiring in the harlem renaissance period.... He also established his reputation as a writer in the harlem renaissance.... He was a leader of the harlem Renaissances....
11 Pages (2750 words) Assignment

The New Negro and the Harlem Renaissance

There were also links with the more general culture of their fellow New Yorkers, yet the culture of the harlem renaissance was a distinctive and self-created one as described by Locke and Hughes among others.... The paper "The New Negro and the harlem renaissance" discusses that the harlem renaissance can perhaps best be summed up as the emergence of voices, including of course the major ones of Locke and Hughes, from a group who had been silenced for far too long....
17 Pages (4250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us