~JAZZ
A whole new life was brought to the music scene in the 1920's. Instruments such as the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone stole the show at numerous clubs (like the Apollo) throughout New York.
"Thousands of city dwellers flocked night after night to see the same performers. IMPROVISATION meant that no two performances would ever be the same. Harlem's COTTON CLUB boasted the talents of DUKE ELLINGTON. Singers such as BESSIE SMITH and BILLIE HOLIDAY popularized blues and jazz vocals. JELLY ROLL MORTON and LOUIS ARMSTRONG drew huge audiences as white Americans as well as African Americans caught jazz fever."
The music played by African American not only drew together a city, but eventually combined the whole country.
"Thousands of city dwellers flocked night after night to see the same performers. IMPROVISATION meant that no two performances would ever be the same. Harlem's COTTON CLUB boasted the talents of DUKE ELLINGTON. Singers such as BESSIE SMITH and BILLIE HOLIDAY popularized blues and jazz vocals. JELLY ROLL MORTON and LOUIS ARMSTRONG drew huge audiences as white Americans as well as African Americans caught jazz fever."
The music played by African American not only drew together a city, but eventually combined the whole country.
More Information - http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp
~LITERATURE
African American writers all pictured their success not based on the color of their skin, but by the quality of their work. Writers like Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois, and Zora Neale Hurston all played a crucial role in preserving their culture and not blending in with the "white America". Most authors of this time published works pertaining to the social and political problems African Americans faced daily. The "New Negro Movement" had critically acclaimed pieces thrown into mainstream publishers that proved the intellectual development of African Americans during this time. Many of these writers not only inspired the people around them, but inspired generations to come to rise up for the rights of African Americans.
-Langston Hughes
"An accomplished poet, author, journalist, historian, and public speaker, Langston Hughes perhaps comes closest to personifying the Harlem Renaissance than any other writer of the era. His book of poetry The Weary Blues, published in 1926, is widely considered to embody the very spirit of the time, employing rhyming qualities inspired by jazz and blues standards. Though he is most famous for his poetry, Hughes contributed to several forms of literature and nonfiction throughout his long career, always writing proudly and optimistically about the African American condition. He was one of the first African Americans to earn a living solely from his writing. Hughes' first novel Not Without Laughter (1930) won the Harmon Gold Medal for literature. He released his first collection of short stories The Ways of White Folks in 1934. His series of novels featuring an everyday Harlemite named Jessie B. Simple was launched in 1950 with Simple Speaks His Mind. His poetry collections include The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations (1931), Dear Lovely Death (1931), The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (1932), and Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a Play (1932)."
- Jessie Redmon Fauset
"Along with Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen, Fauset is widely considered among the most respected women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. An educator by trade (she briefly taught at Baltimore's Douglass High School), her first short story, Emmy was published in the NAACP magazine Crisis in 1912. She accepted a position as an editor of Crisis in 1919, where she aided the writing careers of her contemporaries and continued publishing her own stories, reviews, and essays. Her first novel There Is Confusion was produced in 1924, followed by Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral in 1929, The Chinaberry Tree in 1931 and Comedy, American Style in 1933. A reoccurring theme would be the limited roles and expectations for African American women in white society."
More Information - http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/afam/?id=8590
-Langston Hughes
"An accomplished poet, author, journalist, historian, and public speaker, Langston Hughes perhaps comes closest to personifying the Harlem Renaissance than any other writer of the era. His book of poetry The Weary Blues, published in 1926, is widely considered to embody the very spirit of the time, employing rhyming qualities inspired by jazz and blues standards. Though he is most famous for his poetry, Hughes contributed to several forms of literature and nonfiction throughout his long career, always writing proudly and optimistically about the African American condition. He was one of the first African Americans to earn a living solely from his writing. Hughes' first novel Not Without Laughter (1930) won the Harmon Gold Medal for literature. He released his first collection of short stories The Ways of White Folks in 1934. His series of novels featuring an everyday Harlemite named Jessie B. Simple was launched in 1950 with Simple Speaks His Mind. His poetry collections include The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations (1931), Dear Lovely Death (1931), The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (1932), and Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a Play (1932)."
- Jessie Redmon Fauset
"Along with Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen, Fauset is widely considered among the most respected women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. An educator by trade (she briefly taught at Baltimore's Douglass High School), her first short story, Emmy was published in the NAACP magazine Crisis in 1912. She accepted a position as an editor of Crisis in 1919, where she aided the writing careers of her contemporaries and continued publishing her own stories, reviews, and essays. Her first novel There Is Confusion was produced in 1924, followed by Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral in 1929, The Chinaberry Tree in 1931 and Comedy, American Style in 1933. A reoccurring theme would be the limited roles and expectations for African American women in white society."
More Information - http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/afam/?id=8590
~ART
During this time, African Americans began to view themselves as intellectuals, rightly so. The art created during this time reflected the rebirth and gave name to many African American artists, like Aaron Douglas, Lois Mailou Jones, and Jacob Lawrence.
"...Our problem is to conceive, develop, establish an art era. Not white art painting black...let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible. Let's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic." - Aaron Douglas
"...Our problem is to conceive, develop, establish an art era. Not white art painting black...let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible. Let's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic." - Aaron Douglas
More Art Information - http://historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com/artists.html