Entertainment During The Harlem Renaissance

 










 



During the era of the of the Harlem Renaissance they had plenty of entertainment. One of the clubs that they would go to would be the Cotton Club. This was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during prohibition and it included live jazz music. Although the club featured many African American artist, like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and many others the Cotton Club generally denied admission to blacks. Louis Armstrong was one of the more famous jazz musicians. He started his music in New Orleans and eventually came up north. Louis Armstrong also played at Connie's Inn that was in Harlem also. This was also another night club for their entertainment purposes. With all this new and upcoming talent that was coming from all over, they had the Apollo theater to show off their talents. People would come and watch artist perform for them. The Apollo theater helped many artist jumpstart their careers. Jazz music was the most popular music during this time and while listening to jazz the people engaged in dancing. The elders of the time did not approve of the way they danced, but the youth did not pay to much attention to their opinions. They would go to the Savoy Ballroom and have a good time by dancing and showing off their new dance moves to each other. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the time of World War I and because of this many people were having financial problems; so they would host rent parties, which was an social occasion were tenants would hire bands to play and while the band was playing they would pass around a hat to raise money for their rent.The Harlem Renaissance was a time were jazz music blossomed, artist became famous, dancing became more creative and life was exciting for them. They had entertainment to keep their spirits high and allow them to have a good time. During this time much was created for our American History.

"Harlem Entertainment." n. pag. Web. 28 Sep 2010. .

Rogers, Kristina. "The Harlem Renaissance." (2009): n. pag. Web. 28 Sep 2010. .

rpp.english.ucsb.edu

rikomatic.com

jazzaglitandmusic.pbworks.com

Influential Artist of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance era gave rise to many influential artists. Industrialization in New York at the time, attracted many southern African Americans to migrate north for jobs. It was this movement that began the melting pot of ideas and culture centered in the Harlem district.
Alain Locke and Charles Johnson were some of the literary writers who were credited with spearheading the movement and wanting to promote the cultural accomplishments of the African American community. The ideas from the literary writers, along with the influence of jazz music, gave way to inspire many African American artists.
Aaron Douglas was one such artist, who arrived in New York in 1924, and became one of the most prolific artists of the time. Douglas was an important figure in the artistic movement, in that he wanted to portray the African American's continuity with historical style, and was noted as being the first to do so.

Another contributing artist in American culture was Palmer Hayden. Hayden's folk expressions were aimed at preserving the southern culture of African Americans. Along with Douglas and Hayden was Lois Jones, who extended the tradition of African American visual art even further. As with many Harlem artist of the time, her travels to Paris influenced her style and those around her when she returned to America. Other artists include sculptor Augusta Savage and photographer James Van Der Zee.

It was these artists and many more, that helped catapult African American culture into to modern America, as well as lay a foundation for future artist to build from. The Harlem Renaissance was a momentous time in American history, in that it hosted some of the greatest African American painters and writers to be just that painters and writers, without the confines of political agendas. It was art in its purest form, and signified a historic contribution to the world.

Sources:

The Journal of American History

Vol. 77, No. 1 (Jun., 1990), pp. 253-261

libproxy.uta.edu:2055/stable/2078660

Lott, Tommy. "Locke, Alain Leroy." Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Ed. Michael Kelly

Oxford Art Online. 25 Sep. 2010

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Warren, Kenneth W.. "Harlem Renaissance." Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Ed. Micheal Kelly

Oxford Art Online. 25 Sep. 2010

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"Douglas, Aaron." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 25 Sep. 2010

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Paul Von Blum. "Jones, Lois." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 25 Sep. 2010

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Pictures:

Aspiration, Aaron Douglas

1936

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

www.thinker.org

The Janitor Who Paints, Palmer Hayden

1937

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

americanart.si.edu/index3.cfm

Harlem Renaissance

What is a renaissance? A renaissance is a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity. There was a famous renaissance in Europe during the transition from medieval times to modern times that is still taught today. There was, also, a not so well known renaissance that occurred in the United States from the 1920’s to the 1930’s in Manhattan. This renaissance was called “The New Negro Movement”, but was later called the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, there was an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African-Americans that occurred in all fields of art. The renaissance started off as a series of literary discussions in lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem). Many African-Americans had a considerable impact on modern day arts during this renaissance.
Alain LeRoy Locke was considered the leader and chief interpreter of the Harlem Renaissance. His efforts to debunk race-based myths of the inherent intellectual, social, and spiritual inferiority of African-Americans that emerged in the post Reconstruction era are thought to be some of his greatest accomplishments. He sought to destroy commonly held myths through his writings and by identifying, selecting and promoting a talented group of well-educated African-Americans to become leaders and role models in their communities. To achieve greater understanding and harmony between the two races, Locke declared that "...there is a growing realization that in social effort the cooperative basis must supplant long distance philanthropy." This meant he felt that Negro people would have to develop self-sufficiency and no longer rely on seemingly altruistic efforts of other people.
Langston Hughes was one of the poets who published many works of literature during this time. He acquired a medal give by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People known as the Spingarn Medal in 1960. With this medal, he joined the ranks of famous African-Americans who spoke out or showed that racism was wrong such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, and George Washington Carver.
Another person who played a role in the Harlem Renaissance was Countee Cullen. At New York University his works attracted critical attention. His first collection of poems, COLOR (1925), was published before he finished college. Countee was a part of the fresh generation of new writers that came out during the renaissance. In 1927, Countee published two more volumes of verse - Copper Sun and The Ballad of the Brown Girl - and edited an anthology of Negro poetry called Caroling Dusk. By 1928 he was the recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship and decided to study in Paris. Cullen lived in Paris for two years and experienced relatively little racial discrimination there.
Men were not the only active writers during the renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston was a colorful and flamboyant figure that created controversy whenever and wherever she appeared. Hurston was a leading African American woman writer of the Harlem Renaissance. She earned the most recognition for achievements and was the most prolific of the women in the Renaissance era. Unlike the other writers of the Renaissance, Hurston was not a writer by training. Rather, she was an anthropologist and was trained to observe. This training is what makes her literary contributions so unique. Hurston developed skills in careful observation, recording such observations and presenting them intact to a reading audience. In this sense, she was more than just another writer. She was a folklorist as well. In this was her strength.
There were many achievements during the “roaring twenties” by African-Americans. They excelled in all forms of art during the time known as the Harlem Renaissance. Without this period of time, our modern day arts could have been quite different.

Renaissance Change in society

The Renaissance was a time of great cultural change. People found a new way of thinking, a new way of solving problems. Artists were trying to use perspective, while scientists were looking to the sky. Throughout the renaissance everything was changing people wanted to learn new things and have new experiences. Much like today where the internet has opened new doors to people. Like the renaissance there are new ways of thinking and new ways of solving problems. From then to now some things haven’t changed much; astronomers still look up trying to unravel the universe like Copernicus. Other things are nothing like they were then, the humanism of the renaissance has been moved aside for a pessimistic way of seeing the world.

There was a new social structure, coming away from the feudalism of the earlier part of the middle ages into a more definite monarchy. With things like the 100 years war and the plague the small more individualized governments collapsed and gave way to single ruler systems. Workers became peasants, serfs became free, Powerful city states became even more powerful nations ruled by a monarch. The overall structure was much like that of the U.S. today. There was a class system with the poor at the bottom and the rich at the top. Different classes of people all had very different types of lives. At the bottom were the people that had been serfs. They went from being slaves to being poor workers that depended on their employer for their survival. Then there were the rich nobles who provided protection for the peasants, but at the same time depended on the king for their own protection. Then there was the King, the King would have been responsible to provide what the lower classes need. This was the normal life for people during the renaissance. Some of the people had time to look out and learn while others had time just to work. Everyone since the renaissance has benefited from the ideas that were new then, and people will for years to come.