The 1920s in American history were marked by a sociocultural awakening among Afro-Americans. More blacks participated in the arts than ever before, and their number increased steadily throughout the decade. This florescence of creative activity extended to many areas -- music, poetry, drama, fiction. In literature, the few Negro novels published between 1905 and 1923 were presented mainly by small firms unable to give their authors a national hearing. However, in the succeeding decade, over two dozen novels by blacks appeared, and most of them were issued by major American publishers. (Singh, 1976, p. 1)
The Harlem Renaissance came about for many reasons not the least of which was the fact that blacks many for the first time were given the opportunity to speak, write, communicate and be heard in ways they had never had the opportunity before. Though this is not to say that all the impetus for the movement was positive, it was to some degree a result of the fact that many had limited opportunity in areas other than entertainment or independent authorship. So, given the opportunity they had they collectively created a cohesive black voice that was for the first time heard by the mainstream.
The popularity of African-American productions was fundamental to the development of an ideology of change. Though the period was also marked by continued segregation, that challenged especially traveling entertainers as they were shown the service entrance to enter into grand white society to perform and could not stay in any of the hotels where they played or eat in the restaurants in these hotels. The experience likely changed many and again made them aware of the disparities in the culture while at the same time it exposed the majority to the intellectual abilities of African-Americans. It is generally thought that the Harlem Renaissance endured through WWI but ended on the eve of WWII when many blacks entered the armed forces or even began to hold greater influence in industry as a result of the war effort.
Unit IV 1946-1976
During the period just following WWII, in which many African-Americans had served, and domestic African-Americans had supported by taking on greater roles in industry and production, life for African-Americans was decidedly full of obvious contradictions. One economic issue they faced was a lack of allowed continuation in new, higher roles in industry and stark contradictions between the way they were treated overseas and how they were treated here. In response to that issue they chose to begin the long process of assertion of their own civil rights, beginning with the end to segregation. The outcome of that was a legal desegregation that slowly resulted over the whole period to be realized as real de facto desegregation.
The development of Jim Crow segregation laws, that serve as a marked backlash from fears generated by emancipation, as well as African-American families and others seeking resolution for past wrongs marks a period of history that challenges most historians. McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) demonstrates that the challenges for African-American individuals and families to attempt to make a better life for themselves, through education was significant. White collar education was available, in a sort of second rate state and those who chose to seek education with whites faced legal and social alienation. Yet, without an advanced education, which was inclusive of intellectual as well as trade education many blacks were barred from higher positions of service, and many were let go from the higher positions they held, with higher wages in the war years. Additionally, returning soldiers experienced real segregation, again, where during the war though the armed forces were still segregated they were exposed to real respect, from both inside and outside the military and made considerable personal sacrifices to serve their country only to return to find themselves again on the back of the bus. The period of the 1950s is when the legal changes that disbanded the thousands of national and local segregation laws, which were particularly difficult to overturn because there were so very many and on so many levels.
The importance of this court case is to show that specifically the legal state may have changed but it was expected that the social climate would not, and that this social climate change was not the question but the fact that the state was giving authority to institutions and individuals to segregate and therefore offer unequal opportunity, where it was offered at all. One absolutely crucial quote from the work, describing this phenomena follows; "(b) That appellant may still be set apart by his fellow students and may be in no better position when these restrictions are removed is irrelevant,...
(Archie-Booker, Cervero, and Langone, 1999) This study concludes that: "...power relations manifested themselves concretely through these factors in the social and organizational context, which by defining African-American learners as generic entities, produced undifferentiated educational programs." (Archie-Booker, Cervero, and Langone, 1999) The work of Gilbert and Wright reports a study conducted through collecting a series of articles in which African-American women were interviewed concerning living with AIDS. They write in their
Thus, the New Negro Movement refers to the new way of thinking, and encompasses all the elements of the Negro Renaissance, artistically, socially and politically (New). The Harlem Renaissance changed the dynamics of African-American culture in the United States forever, for it was proof that whites did not have a monopoly on literature, arts and culture (Harlem). The many personalities of the era, such as composer Duke Ellington, dancer Josephine
African-American Art Creative African-American Literature Were one to pause to give this subject consideration, it would appear that the vast majority of African-American artwork within the 20th century was organized around and largely revolved about pressing social issues of the time period. Despite the fact that African-Americans had been legally emancipated from slavery in the middle of the 19th century, there were still a number of eminent social issues (most noticeably civil
" (Seitles, 1996) Seitles claims that integration has been a success in the fight against racial prejudice and states that: "Social consequences of racial isolation intertwine with grim economic realities for minorities. Due to the lack of interaction between racial groups, African-Americans are unprepared to work and socialize in a white majority society, while conversely, whites are not relating to, working with, or living with blacks. Prospects for African-American children raised
African-Americans in Major Historical Events Although African-Americans have been seen as being the catalysts of major historical conflicts such as the Sectional Crisis, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, they actually impacted these events. For example during the Sectional Crisis, African-American presence in the U.S. Courts, as they sued for their freedom, brought the injustice that African-Americans faced to the national spotlight. In addition, during the Civil War, African-Americans' presence was
African American�s Attitude and Access to Mental Health UtilizationContext of the problem.African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans, are the American ethnic group with partial or total ancestry from any black ancestry in Africa. The term African American signifies the descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States, while some are also immigrants from Africa. African Americans compose the second-largest racial group and a third of the largest ethnic group in
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