History Of The Harlem Renaissance

The first black Americans were brought to the territory of the modern USA in 1619 as slaves. Release of slaves began in the State of New York in 1799 and ended in 1841. The industrial cities of the American Midwest, the North East and West lacked labor force because of sharp reduction of immigration and mobilization to army during World War I. This circumstance causes the Great Migration of Afro-Americans from the South in the 1910-1920s years. The region of Harlem in Northern Manhattan became the main center of black migrants. The black people had a difficult task: to prove that they can become full-fledged members of the American society. As they had already proved that they could be hard workers, they wanted to prove that their culture is

It became the place of residents for Black poets, musicians, artists. During Harlem renaissance the country for the first time heard about the cultural tradition of the Black population of the USA, which was new to it. Black Renaissance found a support in the works of Black philosophers and political scientists of the beginning of the XX century. Harlem Renaissance was a consequence of the changes in the life of Afro-American society, which happened since the cancellation of slavery and up to mass migration of Blacks to the North, their participations in World War I, industrialization and in general all the changes, which happened in the USA at the beginning of the XX century (Du Bois). The factors promoting recession of activity of the Harlem Renaissance were the Great depression and the difficult economic situation in the

The main goal was to prove to the white population that Afro-Americans were the people, who were going though the same stage of development with whites, they were able to work, could be creative and receive education. Alain Locke stated: “There is a growing realization that in social effort the cooperative basis must supplant long-distance philanthropy, and that the only safeguard for mass relations in the future must be provided in the carefully maintained contacts of the enlightened minorities of both race groups. In the intellectual realm a renewed and keen curiosity is replacing the recent apathy; the Negro is being carefully studied, not just talked about and discussed. In art and letters, instead of being wholly caricatured, he is being seriously portrayed and painted”