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The Journey Of Courage: The Blossoming Of African American Culture

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The Journey Of Courage
From the 1910s until the 1970s, more than six million African Americans moved from Southern America to northern, midwestern, and Western states. Making it the largest movement of people in United States history. The Harlem Renaissance was the blossoming of African American culture. This change in history was home to many social changes such as introducing a new wave of artists, music, fashion, etc. The Harlem Renaissance fell hand in hand with the Great Migration, the relocation of many African Americans. Black African Americans primarily moved from the rural south to areas like the larger cities in the North, Midwest, and West. Several reasons factored into the decision for them to pick up and leave their homes not knowing …show more content…

It’s important to understand the push factors that led to one of the most essential impacts on the nation. During the movement, reasons for fleeing the South varied from family to family. In an informative documentary, ”The Great Migration”, designed to teach an audience about the Great Migration through an informative lens, the researchers stated, “In some cases, they were hoping to find jobs in steel mills, automobile factories, meat packing plants, or working for the railroad. Some were searching for better school and education opportunities, others were hoping to escape the racism and violence they faced in the south”. The main reason for such a large movement was to escape the harsh Jim Crow laws, life living under these laws was crucial and at times, inhumane. These laws made it legal to deny African Americans the right to vote, and opportunities for new jobs and education. People of the South were desperate to escape these harsh laws that were implemented, many left with no plan, they simply packed a bag and prayed for the best. Langston Hughes was one of the few influential people who personally experienced the conditions that ultimately led to the migration of 6 million African Americans, in his piece, he states, “I am fed up With Jim Crow laws, /People who are cruel /And afraid, /Who lynch and run, /Who are scared of me /Who are scared of me/ I …show more content…

This rise in population left a significant impact on America. The biggest change that came from the Great Migration was all that unraveled after the Great Migration was truly the start of the Harlem Renaissance. It allowed African Americans to influence America and express themselves through their music, culture, art, etc. In the documentary, they explain how as the black population rose, they redefined black culture, they stated, “As the black population rose, many Northern cities became increasingly more integrated...These cities also became important centers for African American Culture. Newspapers, churches, businesses, and political organizations were all established by African Americans as part of a movement to redefine black culture” (History Brief: The Great Migration). The 1920s was a revolutionary period for African American artistic expression. Their living styles heavily influenced those living in the North and West hemispheres of America. The art piece “Epic Drama” by Jacob Lawrence, a glimpse of the style of African Americans. For instance, he paints them all in very vibrant colors, some even with beautiful elegant hangs and coats. This shows how African Americans had a unique, divine way of expressing themselves and this was an influence on those already living in these parts. Mass migration allowed

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The Harlem neighborhood in New York City became home to more than 200,000 African-American migrants by the 1920s. During World War I, the population of African-Americans in Chicago increased by 150% and in Philadelphia by 500 percent. In 1920’s , an artistic and intellectual movement known as the Harlem Renaissance was created in

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Throughout America's history, African Americans suffered racism, bias, including constant scolding during the 19th century. Nevertheless, perspectives shifted distinctly, when the American Dream surged through hearts of the previously shunned race, migrating in mass numbers, known as The Great Migration. With the traveling immigrants, they brought about Jazz to liven up the dull streets with legendary names such as Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. Their new sounds caught thousands of people’s attention, improving the African American race to new confidence as never before. As a result, their legacy not only established new grounds for African Americans but also contributed to America’s modern swing to the sounds of Jazz.

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African Americans living in the South had nothing left to lose. First, in the South they were not allowed to vote unlike the north. Second, a lot of them were sharecropping, and or owed money, and would get indecent pay for their work. The mass movement of African Americans to the North and West became known as the Great Migration where about 1.8 million African Americans moved away from the South (lecture, 9/19). By moving to the North and West, it was a form of African Americans to say enough to the mistreatments and end the cycle of debt that

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After World War II, civil rights became an increasingly important topic in American politics. The landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson had set a precedent for legal segregation and Jim Crow laws thrived in the South. Racism ran rampant across the country, affecting the lives of millions. This become increasingly problematic as America tried to convert more nations to democracy but lacked equality at home. President Harry S. Truman recognized this issue, and acknowledged that we could not support democracy in other countries while we allowed legal racism at home.

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The Harlem Renaissance cultural movement impact rang through America and that ringing can still be heard today. The Great Migration

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The socioeconomic condition of African Americans underwent many superficial transformations from 1910 to 1930. Even though phenomena such as the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance cannot be discredited; the actual experience of the majority of African Americans remained stagnant. In other words, although the African American population experienced a notable shift from rural to urban and a subsequent cultural awakening in the time period between 1910 and 1930, they remained second-class citizens: confined to racial enclaves resulting from housing segregation and barred from the economic opportunities available to whites. African Americans were universally excluded from the social changes that the rest of the nation experienced during

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The visual arts was another arena in which African Americans strove to preserve and exhibit their culture and traditions, and contribute to their growth as a race. Renowned painters such as Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, Archibald Motley, and Jacob Lawrence used unique artistic styles, such as “bold shapes and vivid colors” (), to produce works that exemplified racial dignity, depicted the everyday social life of the urban black working-class, interpreted black folklore, and portrayed

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As stated in document 6, discrimination combined with the harsh Jim Crow laws influenced thousands of African Americans to move to the north in hopes of getting away from racial prejudices. This movement of people is referred to as the Great Migration. The Great Migration caused a huge change in society during the 1920s. That change in society came in the form of the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem is an area on New York’s Manhattan Island where a large number of African Americans moved into to during the Great Migration.

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The Great Migration is how this really started. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and the struggle for abolition

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The artists of the Harlem Renaissance undoubtedly transformed African American culture. But the impact on all American culture was equally strong. For the first time, white America could not look away” (“The Harlem Renaissance”). As blacks advanced in history with their art forms, various diverse cultures and races took notice of their talents. For several years, African Americans were under the tyranny of the white race, but as they obtained their opportunities, they showcased their talents and potential.

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The Harlem renaissance and The Great Migration helped improve life for African Americans because they helped them. The quote tells us that the Harlem Renaissance helped African Americans get their culture back and share it with the world. “The Harlem Renaissance produced new and exciting art, literature, and music, it also helped to shape and express what it meant to be Black in America. For hundreds of years, Black people had been enslaved and oppressed in the Americas, denied their history and identity” (10). The quote shows us that The Harlem Renaissance Influenced the Civil Rights Movement because it helped African Americans gain a new spirit of self-determination and pride.

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Fiction There are some similarities and differences in "Boys" by Rick Moody, "Girl" by Jamaica Kinkaid and "Lust" by Susan Minot; thus, they will be discussed in terms of the narrator, point of view, and character development. " Boys" is about two brothers and their journey throughout life. During the story they face many conflicts; while "Girl" seems to be a series of instructions from a mother to her daughter. "Lust" is powerful and seductive by the way that the anonymous girl is talking about her life.

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I learned that the Harlem Renaissance was one of the biggest out burst of many different art and culture. The reason that African Americans moved was because to find better paying jobs, because in the south wages were very compact. New York was also filled with black people after WWI. Harlem produced a richness like none before. Many events happened.

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This was also an era of cultural celebration, which provided the tools for the integration and civil rights movements in the second half of the 20th century. The centuries of servitude and oppression endured by the black population, along with the struggle for the abolition of slavery, were making their mark in American society. New social opportunities pressed black Americans to move, not to the Promised Land that America was supposed to become after the end of the Civil War, but to the Northern and Midwestern states in which racial tensions were not as strong as in the South. This Great Migration, name given to the internal movement of the black man out of rural South to the urban North, led to the discovery of a new social pride for the black man.

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Most researchers believe The Great Migration began at the end of the Reconstruction era. African Americans moved in droves from the rural South, in hopes of attaining social and economic opportunity. The South’ oppressive caste system, a prevalence of prejudice, and segregation in public places contributed to the intolerable conditions. In addition, when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917 jobs that were previously held by white males became available and the industrial expansion in the North provided opportunities created jobs for African Americans. Many settled northern states, New York, was popular, particularly in the district of Harlem.

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