The Harlem Renaissance: An African American Cultural Movement

The Harlem Renaissance: An African American Cultural Movement — page 8 — Like some European immigrants who may had heard rumors that New York’s streets were paved with gold the reality of the city may have disappointed disappointed some African Americans Unskilled black women living in Harlem labored as maids dressmakers beauticians and cooks Men were hired as elevator operators operators shoe shiners porters doormen messengers waiters janitors and day laborers However even these jobs presented presented better opportunities than those in the South Additionally unlike most of the South Harlem had many black-owned black-owned shops and restaurants as well as black professionals including lawyers doctors nurses teachers and preachers A Thin Veil While a few black business owners landlords landlords and artists were financially successful successful many Harlem residents remained poor before during and after the renaissance renaissance However the mix of old and new cultures from the South New York City and even the Caribbean provided artistic inspiration for those leading the Harlem Renaissance As history professor Cary D Wintz wrote in Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance The neighborhood provided the material and the setting for many literary creations of the Renaissance The poetry short stories and novels of the period abound with scenes and characters lifted from Harlem’s streets and cabarets Harlem though was a teeming overcrowded ghetto and much of its laughter and gaiety only thinly veiled the misery and poverty that was becoming the stan dard of life for the new black urban masses This too was reflected by the Harlem Renaissance 2 What made the era so unique was the fact that it was not only black people people celebrating their culture in what was called the the World’s Greatest Negro Metropolis White Americans were also learning about the joys troubles successes and degradations of life for African Americans The Harlem Renaissance was one of the first times that black and white Americans Americans read the same literature attended theater together danced together and sang together It was a brief period however and racism was still rampant among many white Americans However However for those in New York City’s black communities the renaissance proved to be a celebration of pride culture identity and history For the first time the achievements of black Americans were visible for all to see and after three centuries of racism enslavement and prejudice black Americans ceased being invisible A Great Awakening 11

The Harlem Renaissance: An African American Cultural Movement — page 9 — Chapter One A CHANGING URBAN CULTURE Harlem covers around 3 square miles 7 77 sq km of Manhattan Island in the northern or uptown area of New York City The neighborhood’s original borders borders were 125th Street to the South 155th Street to the North Morningside Drive on the West and the East and Harlem Rivers on the East In the early 1900s Harlem was home to more than 150,000 black people people who represented a melting pot of African Americans from around the United States as well as immigrants immigrants from African countries Jamaica Jamaica Haiti Cuba and Puerto Rico In 1925 Harlem had only been the center center of black urban culture for about 15 years How it transformed into the World’s Greatest Negro Metropolis Metropolis can be traced to a combination of capitalism poverty opportunity and racism Historian Leon Litwack described the early decades of the 20th century as the most violent and repressive period period in the history of race relations in the United States 3 This was especially true in Virginia Louisiana Alabama Mississippi Georgia and the Carolinas Carolinas where 80 percent of black Americans Americans lived in rural areas as sharecroppers sharecroppers which means they farmed land owned by others for a small percentage percentage of the crops Sharecroppers were the poorest of the poor often working long hours living in bad conditions and suffering from malnutrition and ill health Between 1910 and 1930 about 1 5 million black southerners had had enough They left behind terrible conditions conditions in the South and moved north settling in cities such as Chicago Detroit Michigan Cleveland Ohio and Philadelphia Pennsylvania The Great 12 The Harlem Renaissance An African American Cultural Movement

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