Chapter 7 Section 3: African American Culture

  1. Harlem Renaissance
  2. Background
  3. At the end of WWI, thousands moved north in the Great Migration escaping segregation of the south and find economic opportunities (better lives)
  4. Cities in the north swelled with black populations especially in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem.
  5. Harlem would become the heart and soul of the African American renaissance.
  6. Louis Armstrong was in Chicago and hoped to get the desires of living a good life.
  7. In Harlem, African Americans created an environment that stimulated artistic development, racial pride, a sense of community, and political organization.
  8. This flowing of new arts became known as the Harlem Renaissance.
  9. Writers
  10. Claude McKay was the first important writer who translated the shock of American racism into Harlem Shadows, a collection of poetry in 1922.
  11. Poems included “The Lynching” and “If we must die”
  12. Expressed a proud defiance and bitter contempt of racism!
  13. Most prolific writer was Langston Hughes who became the leading voice of the African American experience in the United States.
  14. Zora Neale Hurston published Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Their Eyes Were Watching God in the 1930s.
  15. These works influenced contemporary authors like Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison.
  16. Hurston’s personal portrayals of rural African American culture set in Florida and often featured black females as central characters instead of men which was the norm.
  17. Other writers included Countee Cullen, Alain Locke, Dorothy West, and Nella Larsen.
  18. Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
  19. Louis Armstrong introduced a improvisational early version of Jazz while living in Chicago.
  20. Jazz was a style of music influenced by Dixieland music and ragtime, with ragged rhythms and modified melodies.
  21. 1925 Armstrong with Joey “King” Oliver’s band, created a series of recordings with this group called the “Hot Five”.
  22. Songs such as “Cornet Chop Suey,” Armstrong broke away from traditional jazz music and played a imaginative solos becoming the first cornet and trumpet soloist in jazz music.
  23. Another artist who was influenced by ragtime was Duke Ellington who in 1923 formed a small band in New York and played in speakeasies and clubs.
  24. He created his own sound which combined improvisation and orchestration using several instruments.
  25. The “Ellington style” appeared in hits such as “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady.”
  26. Duke and others got their start at the most famous Harlem nightspot Cotton Club .
  27. There Ellington commented on who music has “soul” and you need this to play jazz.
  28. Bessie Smith was another singer who given the title “the Empress of the Blues” for her ability to sing songs that showcased unfulfilled love, poverty, and oppression, the themes of Blues.
  29. Blues was a soulful style of music that evolved from African American spirituals.
  30. Her first recorded song was “Down Hearted Blues” which would become a major hit in 1923.
  31. The theater arts also flourished with the performance of Shuffle Along at Broadway in 1921, the first musical written, produced, and performed by African Americans.
  32. The success of the show launched the careers of Florence Mills and Paul Robeson.
  33. Paul Robeson would continue to sing and act in the role of a 1924 production of Emperor
  34. 1928 gained additional fame in the musical Show Boat.
  35. Besides these productions, he often appeared at the Apollo Theater, a famous entertainment club in Harlem.
  36. Josephine Baker was considered the most daring performer of the era became a well-known singer and dancer.
  37. Performed on Broadway and went to Paris to dance in 1925 becoming an international star.
  38. African American Politics
  39. Renaissance influenced politics
  40. With the artistic achievement of the Harlem Renaissance and the African Americans soldiers returning home from the war fueled political and economic aspirations of many African Americans.
  41. We Return; We return from fighting; We return fighting; Make way for democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America, or know the reason why.” –W.E.B. Du Bois, When Harlem was in Vogue
  42. A Black Vote in the North
  43. With the great migration, African Americans became a powerful voting bloc that could sway the outcome of elections.
  44. Most African Americans voted Republican, the party of Lincoln.
  45. 1928, in Chicago, African Americans elected Oscar DePriest, the first African Americans representative in Congress from a Northern State.
  46. DePriest introduced laws to provide pensions to formerly enslaved African Americans over 75 years old, declare Lincoln’s birthday a public holiday, and to fine and imprison officials who allowed lynchings of prisoners.
  47. The NAACP Battles Lynching
  48. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fought against segregation and discrimination against African Americans primarily focused on lobbying public officials and working through the court system.
  49. From 1909 through the 1920s, the NAACP lobbied these issues and made efforts to keep the issues in the news to reduce the number of lynchings.
  50. In 1930 one of the NAACP greateset political triumphs came with the defeat of Judge John J. Parker’s nomination to the US Supreme Court who was allegedly racist and anti-labor.
  51. Senate refused to confirm Parker’s nomination and demonstrated that African Americans voters and lobby groups had finally begun to achieve influence to affect national politics and change decisions in congress.
  52. Some groups fought to integrate and improve economic and political positions like the NAACP, others fought for Black Nationalism and black pride.
  53. Black Nationalism and Marcus Garvey
  54. Marcus Garvey, black leader from Jamaica, started a “Negro Nationalism” by glorifying the black culture and traditions of the past.
  55. Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) aimed at promoting black pride and unity.
  56. This Harlem-based movement central message was that African Americans could gain economic and political power by educating themselves while separation and independence from whites.
  57. 1920, Garvey presided over an international conference in Harlem which then led to 50k African Americans marching through Harlem to show support for his movement to lead all African Americans to Africa.
  58. Garvey’s plan to create a settlement focused on Liberia which was government by France and Great Britain.
  59. African Americans intellectuals did not support this and the government saw the UNIA as a dangerous catalyst for a black uprising in urban areas.
  60. 1923 Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and served time in prison.
  61. 1927 President Coolidge commuted Garvey sentence and used his immigration status to have him deported to Jamaica.
  62. All future attempts to continue his movement failed abroad.
  63. Garvey may have not been successful in his movement but he did inspire millions of African Americans with a sense of pride in their heritage and hope for the future.