Essay On Harlem Renaissance

440 Words2 Pages

People in the Harlem Renaissance
Aaron Douglas- graphic artist and painter of the Harlem Renaissance. He illustrated for many of the leading Harlem Renaissance magazines. His style was distinct and was a mix of modernism and African art. He created images of American struggles and were very powerful.
William Grant Still- a prominent figure socially, musically and politically. He was a composer and went to Wilberforce University in 1911 to study composing music and opera. Stills most famous piece was the afro- American Symphony composed in 1930, in which the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance can clearly be distinguished. The blues are the main inspiration for this piece and was done to prove the Black music is important in the American music …show more content…

The Black Power Movement was the time for Blacks to set their own agenda, putting their needs and aspirations first. An early step, in fact, was the replacement of the word “Negro”— a word associated with the years of slavery and oppression — with “Black.”

Women, dedicated to the goals, often looked beyond obstacles and performed many of the basic tasks necessary for the operation of the movement. They wrote articles for the Black Panther newspaper, tutored children in the liberation schools, offered legal advice to prisoners, organized rallies, distributed fliers and pamphlets and spoke to their local communities about solutions to economic and social problems. And, of course, women like Angela Davis (above) and Elaine Brown took leadership roles and plotted strategy.

President Richard Nixon (above with iconic singer James Brown) used words to indicate he sympathized with the Black Power Movement. He said in a 1968 speech that “what most of the militants are asking is not separation, but to be included in — not as supplicants, but as owners, as entrepreneurs — to have a share of the wealth and a piece of the action.” Federal government programs, Nixon said, should “be oriented toward more Black ownership, for from this can flow the rest — Black pride, Black jobs, Black opportunity and, yes, Black Power.” Of course, Nixon’s actions never matched his