Harlem Renaissance

Aaron Douglas, Idylls of the Deep South, 1934



Welcome and Introduction

The Harlem Renaissance began as a black arts movement which consisted of artists, writers and musicians. The many artists who flocked to a part of Manhattan called Harlem were eager to express their talents and show the country just who they were. Among the emerging national culture was jazz and blues music. According to Jones (2008), with the help of the recording industry, jazz and blues became very popular among blacks and whites alike, with blues music allowing blacks to “express themes of working class protest and resistance to racism.” Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of the emergence of black culture and identity. According to Rhapsodies in Black, “Harlem was not so much a place as a state of mind, the cultural metaphor for black America itself.”

Lisa M.

sources cited:
Rhapsodies in Black, retrieved from http://www.iniva.org/harlem/home.html
Jones, J. (2008). Created equal:a social and political history of the United States. Brief 2nd edition. New York: Pearson.
http://php.scripts.psu.edu/users/b/m/bma5043/English263/Art.htm