The Harlem Renaissance was an iconic movement of the nineteenth century. It was a social and intellectual eruption that was located in Harlem, New York. Legends such as Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, and many more, all originated from this extraordinary movement. Claude McKay is one of the most legendary authors that contributed the Harlem Renaissance. McKay wrote many iconic pieces. To name a few, he wrote poems titled, “If We Must Die”, “Harlem Shadows”, and “America”. By doing
The Harlem Renaissance Uncovers a Two Sided America The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of cultural pride among the black community during the late 1890’s to 1930’s. Thousands of African Americans residing in the south migrated to the north in order to escape the racism and white supremacy that remained prevalent after the abolishment of slavery. They suffered much and many hate crimes were imposed upon them. It was a very difficult time for African Americans as a whole, but they pressed on and
According to Hutchinson, the Harlem Renaissance in literature was never a cohesive movement. It was, rather, a product of overlapping social and intellectual circles, parallel developments, intersecting groups, and competing visions- yet all loosely bound together by a desire for racial self-assertion and self-definition in the face of white supremacy. The interplay between intense conflict and a sense of being a part of a collective project identified by race is what energized the movement. I will
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica. He was a descendant of slaves brought from West Africa. After studying at Tuskegee Institute, he traveled to Harlem and flourished as a writer , becoming an important part of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that sparked a new black cultural identity. Double-consciousness is a term coined by W.E.B. Du Bois. It describes an individual who is divided into several facets. It is most commonly used to describe African