Harlem Renaissance - a blossoming of African American culture Essay

The Harlem Renaissance influenced African Americans to express themselves through art and literature, appreciate their culture, and stand up for their beliefs.
According to Britannica," The Harlem Renaissance is a blossoming of African American culture, particularly in the crea-tive arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Embracing liter-ary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts." (Hutchinson). The Harlem Renaissance took place in a neighborhood in Harlem, New York, around the 1920's and 1930's and was originally known as the Negro movement. African-Americans used art, music, and literature to express themselves. People like Langston Hughes, Augusta Savage, and Claude Mckay played an enormous part in The Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes, who was a poet and novelist, wrote poetry on his African-American Culture and his days growing up in Harlem, Claude Mckay, who was known for his poems and novels, influenced African Americans to stand up for their rights in his poems , and Augusta Savage who was an artist, activist, and arts educator, taught the beauty of art to African Americans. This gave African-Americans the opportunity to be heard, tell, and teach their stories through entertainment.
The Harlem renaissance influenced African-Americans to appreciate themselves and their culture. During the 1900's, African-Americans believed the white culture was the only culture that should be praised. The movement gave African Ameri-cans confidence and unity among each other. According to the Roaring 20s Time for Change, it states, "The Harlem Renaissance brought along racial pride for blacks. The influence of the "black art and music" of the movement gave blacks a sense of uniqueness, something that had rarely been felt before. For once, being black was beautiful This installation of black pride brought confidence to blacks throughout the country." African-Americans expressed their thoughts and shared their stories with others, creating a bond between one another and resulting in a strong black culture.
The Harlem Renaissance helped African-Americans stand up for their beliefs. African- Americans were able to express their opinions in a way that they could not be ignored, which was music, art, and literature. Many African American artists helped pave a way for their culture to become just as equal as whites. Black entertainment influenced racial pride towards the African American culture influencing many others to use entertainment as their voice. The black culture became so popular during the 1920's and 1930's that the whites became interested in their work. On the website, Boundless, it states, "During this time period, the musical style of blacks was becoming more and more attractive to whites. White novelists, dramatists, and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African-American in their works. Composers used poems written by African American poets in their songs, and would implement the rhythms, harmonies, and melodies of African-American music-such as blues, spirituals, and jazz-into their concert pieces. Negros began to merge with Whites into the classical world of musical composition." The collaboration and partnerships of blacks and whites in the music industry helped guide the black culture to equality