Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance: New Negro Movement

Superior Essays
The Harlem Renaissance

by Kendall Lee and Kira Bantowsky

Overview
? Took place during the 1920s in Harlem, New York
? First called the "New Negro Movement"
? Eruption of culture and art
? Made Harlem a destination city for black culture
? Changed the way African Americans were viewed

Poetry
? Langston Hughes

? Wanted a separate "Negro" art for black poets
? Interpreted the black experience to the rest of the world

? Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway. . . He did a lazy sway. . .
To the tune o? those Weary Blues. ?Langston Hughes, ?The Weary Blues?
…show more content…
Questions
1. Who was Langston Hughes, and why was he important?
2. What was one of the main questions black philosophers

focused on during this time period?
3. What were fiction writers known for during the Harlem

Renaissance?
4. What was one of the purposes of Blues in Harlem's society?
5. What was the main goal of black artists in the 1920s?

Works Cited
"Alain LeRoy Locke." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

Bascom, Lionel C. A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Voices of an American Community. New York: Bard,
1999. Print.

Chambers, Veronica. The Harlem Renaissance. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1998. Print.

"HARLEM RENAISSANCE: PHILOSOPHY." HARLEM RENAISSANCE: PHILOSOPHY. N.p., n.d.
Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

"Harlem Renaissance." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.

"Harlem Renaissance-1." HennessyHistory - Harlem Renaissance-1. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

History.com Staff. "Harlem Renaissance." History.com. A&E Television Networks 2009. Web. 26 Jan.
2017.

Hutchinson, George. "Harlem Renaissance." Encyclop?dia Britannica. Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc., 10
June 2016. Web. 26 Jan.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The New Negro Analysis

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This essay will examine the “New Negro.” New Negro, or Harlem Renaissance, best described as an era of cultural phenomenon in which many high level of education blacks and very talented artists received public recognition. This period of African American was not only about blacks’ literary, but also because of its essential importance to twentieth-century musical, thought and culture. The “New Negro” corresponds with the Jazz Age, Roaring Twenties, Marcus Garvey’s migration movement for black’s unity and freedom. These factors impacted on African American’s community on collective levels as well as the America’s prosperous arts and cultural industries.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance took place between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930’s, it was a cultural movement that had many impacts on society. African Americans were never treated equally, they were always treated very badly and they were put through slavery. They were not able to vote and they didn’t have a say in anything. During segregation everything was very unfair for them and that was during 1900-1939.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance represented the birth of a new beginning of freedom and identity for the black artists. Following the Great Migration, blacks began to form black communities and the level of confidence in themselves and their culture. Blacks became active, known and self-assertive. Through the arts, the idea of a new type of proud, self-accepting Negro was constantly expressed. This is revealed in Zora Neale Hurston’s writing, because she uses Southern vernacular as well as Harlem slang, to the disdain of other African American authors.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance occurred from the 1920’s to the mid 1930’s. It was a cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement that ignited a new cultural identity for the blacks. It was time for a cultural celebration. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and were looked at as less than human. Even after slavery was abolished not much changed in that white supremacy was quickly restored to the south where most African Americans lived.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Misconceptions of the time during the time of the Harlem Renaissance can also be made, being full of new artistic culture, but also oppression and inequality. Although the 1920’s are normally associated with affluence and social dynamism, it was predominantly a time of hardship as shown through gender inequality, the…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The harlem renaissance was a period of African American artistic accomplishment. During World War I large numbers of African Americans began leaving the south to take jobs in northern factories. They migrated from farmlands in the south to the north or the midwest in search of better opportunities such as education, better lifestyle, better socioeconomic status, and to build an ameliorate lives from themselves. Many A.A decided to travel to NYC, in Harlem. Harlem was the foundation of the Harlem Renaissance movement.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The definition of Pan-Africanism is located in Chapter 17 on page 381. The Harlem Renaissance is a large neighborhood in the northern portion of Manhattan Island, which by the 1920’s became a center of African-American cultural activities including literature, art, and music. The definition of The Harlem Renaissance is located in Chapter 17 on page 384.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This “New Negro Movement” brought black life to reality through its literary, artistic, and intellectual aesthetic. The cultural celebration of the Harlem Renaissance signified “The idea . . . that a different kind of black person was emerging out of the shadows of the past, a person much more assertive and demanding of his rights” (Gomez 2005, 185). Blacks reinvented “the Negro” from what they had previously been in the past as a result of white stereotypes that influenced black culture. Blacks were breaking free of racist beliefs while adopting a great sense of racial pride.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Langston Hughes wrote “Harlem” as a prediction of the upcoming clash African Americans would embrace in order to gain civil liberties. The poem also serves as a rallying cry to those pondering what to do with their frustration of the way blacks were treated in America before the civil rights movement. Hughes delivers an emotional appeal to readers, urging them to wake up and see the future of a people bursting with ambition but held back by discrimination. In the poem "Harlem" Hughes uses figurative language to powerfully convey the consequences of oppression which deny black Americans the dream of equality. Hughes uses similes, anaphora, alliteration, and metaphor to help the reader visualize and empathize with the plight of African Americans…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although Hughes had trouble with both black and white critics, he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures. Part of the reason he was able to do this was the phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people” (Poetry 1). This speaks volumes because even though Hughes was knocked down and struggled throughout his life and career he still managed to bring attention to key issues and African Americans were thankful for that. He started out in the Harlem Renaissance speaking out and gaining attention to the inequalities and then shifted to a Marxist approach and spoke out about capitalism, but in each areas he was…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I agree with your statement regarding Wright’s and Hughes writings. I honestly understand the anger in both writers and I could also feel it within the lines but mostly from Hughes. “But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners,” (Hughes, 1922, 1926, p. 2223), this to me is sort of expressing the fact that man of color have been running and escaping all the time. In all three poems Hughes presents a different aspect of that that the man of color goes through, even when undeserved. And like you said, Wright doesn’t really address racism as much but instead points out the danger of anyone carrying a gun and what just punishment means even for a young boy who accidently hurt someone.…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    From 1910 to 1940 the outburst of creativity among African-Americans occurred in every aspect of art. This cultural movement was termed The New Negro Movement, and later The Harlem Renaissance. Harlem, New York attracted a prosperous and stylish middle class, which sprouted an artistic center. African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage; The Harlem Renaissance movement was a period of cultural production from the end of World War I through the onset of the Great Depression. This essay examines, The Great Migration, the arts of The Harlem Renaissance, and impact of The Harlem Renaissance.…

    • 2027 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 1930s, the intellectual, literary, and artistic movement known as the Harlem Renaissance kindled a new black cultural identity. The encouraging movement expressed the pride and motivated numerous African Americans to celebrate their culture through literature and art. During this period, musicians, writers, and artists highly depicted the black culture and brought a new sense of its traditions. This magnificent movement was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and also marked the first time that the white population acknowledged the literature of the African Americans. During this movement, group of talented black writers produced an extensive recognizable body of literature in the three outstanding categories of…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Had it not been for the Harlem Renaissance, African American literature would not exist so prevalently in today’s society. It was difficult for black northerners to avoid being victimized by the pervasive determination among white people to segregate society. Unless they were servants of white guests, taverns, hotels, and resorts in the north turned black people away. They were also banned from public lecture halls, religious revivals, and art exhibits. If they wanted to go to the movies or church, they had to sit in the “Negroes Only” section.…

    • 1809 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Who am I? Where did I come from? What religion should I practice? Who is my God? These are questions that African Americans have yet to adequately answer.…

    • 1756 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays