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AMERICANS CHAPTER 13 SECTION 4 NOTES
IV Harlem Renaissance
A. African American Voices in the 1920’s
1. The Move North
a. African Americans set new goals as they moved to northern cities; migration was expression
of their new attitude toward themselves, “Black is beautiful”
b. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved to northern cities looking for jobs
during the Great Migration
c. By end of 1920’s 5.2 million of the nation’s 12 million African Americans lived in cities; over
40%
d. Northern cities were not welcoming; rising tensions culminated with approx. 25 urban race
riots in 1919
2. African American Goals
a. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded in 1909 to protest
racial violence; W.E.B. du Bois founding member of NAACP
b. Du Bois led parade of 10,000 African Americans in NY to protest racial violence; used
NAACP magazine as a platform to support civil rights
c. Under leadership of James Weldon Johnson, NAACP for laws to protect rights of African
Americans; anti-lynching laws were a top priority
d. Three anti-lynching laws introduced in Congress in 1919, none passed
3. Marcus Garvey and the UNIA
a. Marcus Garvey believed that African Americans should built a separate society for
themselves; more radical message of black pride inspired many
b. Garvey founded Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914; moved to NY
in 1918 and opened offices in urban ghettos to recruit new members
c. Appealed to African Americans with speeches, mass meetings, parades, and a message of
pride; program to promote African American businesses attracted followers
d. Encouraged followers to return to African and help native people fight oppression
e. Support for movement declined following Garvey’s conviction and imprisonment for mail
fraud
f. Left behind legacy of black pride, economic independence, and reverence for Africa
B. Harlem Renaissance
1. African American Writers
a. Many African Americans that migrated North moved to Harlem; neighborhood on Upper
West Side of Manhattan
b. In 1920’s Harlem became world’s largest black urban community; James Weldon Johnson
called it the capital of black America
c. Problems in Harlem overshadowed by creativity of the Harlem Renaissance; literary and
artistic movement celebrating African American culture
d. Renaissance was literary movement led by well-educated, middle-class African Americans
who expressed a new pride in the African American experience
e. Du Bois, Johnson, and Alain Locke, Harvard-educated former Rhodes scholar, helped young
talents; Locke published The New Negro, a collection of literary works by promising young
African American writers
f. Claude McKay novelist and poet; militant verses urged African Americans to resist prejudice
and discrimination
g. McKay’s poems expressed pain of life in black ghettos
h. Langston Hughes was movement’s best known poet; described difficult lives of working-class
African Americans; some poems moved to tempo of jazz and blues
i. Work of Zora Neale Hurston portrayed lives of poor, unschooled Southern blacks; celebrated
the simple folkways and values of people who had survived slavery
2. African American Performers
a. During 1920’s African American performers won large followings; Paul Robeson became
major dramatic actor
b. Struggled with racism in U.S. and criticism of his support of the Soviet Union and
communism
c. Other prominent performers included Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, and Mabel
Mercer
3. Jazz
a. Born in early 20th century in New Orleans; blended instrumental ragtime and vocal blues into
new sound
b. Carried north to Chicago by Joe “King” Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band; trumpeter Louis
Armstrong later joined Oliver’s group
c. Armstrong became famous for his rhythm and improvisation; became among most important
and influential jazz musicians in history
d. Jazz spread to Kansas City, Memphis, and New York; Cotton Club in Harlem became among
most well-known jazz venues
e. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, jazz pianist and composer played @ the Cotton Club;
won renown as one of America’s greatest composers with pieces such as “Mood Indigo” and
“Sophisticated Lady”
f. Cab Calloway, drummer, saxophonist, and singer, played the Savoy Ballroom and Cotton
Club; popularized “scat”, improvised jazz singing using sounds instead of words
g. Bessie Smith, female blues singer, among most outstanding vocalists of 1920’s; became
highest paid black artist in the world in 1927