Essential Question:
Despite overt racism, how did Negro's improve life in the 1920s for themselves?
Negro's improved life around them in the 1920s through the new music, art, and literature they produced. They were now able to gain their own identity and social status. Blacks could now move away from the typical stereotypes set over history and create a new image of themselves in America. African Americans began to be more accepted in American society as they expressed themselves through their new forms of art, music and literature.
Negro's improved life around them in the 1920s through the new music, art, and literature they produced. They were now able to gain their own identity and social status. Blacks could now move away from the typical stereotypes set over history and create a new image of themselves in America. African Americans began to be more accepted in American society as they expressed themselves through their new forms of art, music and literature.
Key Points:
Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance was brought along by the Great Migration. This migration of Southern rural to blacks coming to the Northern part of the U.S. from the 1860s to 1920s was a major part in the Harlem Renaissance. During WWI, many blacks moved north to replace the white men who had gone to war. They were able to gain jobs and not be as discriminated against. The Harlem Renaissance brought along much literature, music and art. The fiction of James Weldon Johnson and the poetry of Claude McKay were described the reality of contemporary African-American life in America. Hubert Harrison founded the Liberty League and The Voice which was the first newspaper of the Renaissance. A new music style called the Harlem Stride Style was created which blurred the line between the poor blacks and elite blacks. During this time period, the musical style of blacks was also becoming more and more attractive to whites. The first Negro male to gain wide recognition was Roland Hayes. Through music, art and literature, Harlem Renaissance began to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art, and music could overcome the racism and stereotypes. The Harlem Renaissance promoted racial and social integration. It gave the New Negro a voice and outlet to express This new creation of art and literature would serve to promote social integration.
American Culture: Mass media helped create a new American culture by spreading the news of new music called jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. The creation of jazz showed African Americans as letting themselves be free and embracing a new society where they have rights and liberties on the way. The Harlem Renaissance showed the creation of a New Negro and showed the country change was on the way. With the increase of jazz and a New Negro America was losing its racial borders and starting to raise up the African American into the social class and structure of the average American creating a new American Culture.
Marcus Garvey: Marcus Garvey used the UNIA to help boost the African Americans spirit and moral towards them being a independent person, race, and have some social status. He created the Black Star Line in 1919 to transport blacks between countries and the Negro Factories Corporation. The whites of the nation started to notice a rise in black enterprise and in black power throughout the nation as blacks began to rise in social class. Garvey helped start a movement but he ended up leaving before the movement finished and he watched the end of his movement in other countries around the world.
American Culture: Mass media helped create a new American culture by spreading the news of new music called jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. The creation of jazz showed African Americans as letting themselves be free and embracing a new society where they have rights and liberties on the way. The Harlem Renaissance showed the creation of a New Negro and showed the country change was on the way. With the increase of jazz and a New Negro America was losing its racial borders and starting to raise up the African American into the social class and structure of the average American creating a new American Culture.
Marcus Garvey: Marcus Garvey used the UNIA to help boost the African Americans spirit and moral towards them being a independent person, race, and have some social status. He created the Black Star Line in 1919 to transport blacks between countries and the Negro Factories Corporation. The whites of the nation started to notice a rise in black enterprise and in black power throughout the nation as blacks began to rise in social class. Garvey helped start a movement but he ended up leaving before the movement finished and he watched the end of his movement in other countries around the world.
Thinking Like a Historian: Through Their Eyes
Looking back on the Harlem Renaissance and the creation of jazz many blacks views were seen with white perspectives too. Whites viewed this time as a increase in black power which not everyone favored. The blacks saw this time as an increase of status and finally attaining American rights. Views that are not given from this time are those of the immigrants and other countries that are watching America change. Whether or not the other countries viewed this change as good and if the immigrants were receiving these same rights.
APPARTS
This article written by Count Hermann Alexander Keyserling, a German philosopher and social critic, was about the uncommon cultural elements within the African-American culture that renders American blacks as an unprecedented, unique cultural force in the world. He even says they are more American than whites. This article printed in 1929 was during the Harlem Renaissance which was a time of great revival of art and the creation of jazz. This audience was intended for the white readers of the time as it depicted the blacks in a very positive light. The author was trying to promote the identity of blacks and what they represent in American culture as well as their influence. This article could have been changed to encourage blacks to not stand down to whites but instead promote black culture in the U.S. This article also shows how blacks improved life for themselves despite racism. The blacks as seen in this article gained a new identity in America and were now considered a part of the American culture.
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Vocabulary:
Renaissance - the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
Jazz - a style of dance music, popular especially in the 1920s, arranged for a large band and marked by some of the features of jazz
Jazz - a style of dance music, popular especially in the 1920s, arranged for a large band and marked by some of the features of jazz