Post by sarasvati on Sept 12, 2006 9:53:53 GMT -5
I did this paper on the Harlem renaissance last year in English class. I'm afraid it might be slow reading because it's in formal 5-paragraph, cited form. I got the highest grade in my class on this 
Previous to the 1900s, there were almost no plays by black playwrights performed, no books by black authors published, and no works of art by black artists displayed; however, in the 1900s through the 1920s a change happened in New York City, starting in Harlem, and spreading across the country. It was called the Harlem Renaissance, and would forever change the way America looked at African American work in three fields: theater, visual art, and literature.
During the Renaissance, black artists turned back to their African roots for inspiration. They no longer mimicked European art but forged new paths of their own just as much as the more famous literary and theater works were doing. During slavery, black people with a talent for art were not considered artists; they could neither pursue art as a career nor have access to training and materials. Once they were freed they poured their time and skill into practical masterpieces, such as quilts, carpentry, and metallurgy. (King Howes, 12) However, as the twentieth century began, African Americans began to gain recognition as painters and sculptors as well. At that time they tended to paint conventional subjects, such as landscapes and portraits, but as time wore on they went over to European cities, especially Paris, where they felt freer to experiment, learn, and practice their art. (Hayward, 20) There they obtained places in galleries and museums as well as unprecedented solo exhibitions. This was a breakthrough that eventually traveled across the Atlantic, opening the minds of museum curators everywhere.
Aaron Douglass was called the “Official Artist” of the Harlem Renaissance for his distinctive style. He imitated African art for its simplicity and emphasis on design over representation (He did not try to make his subjects look entirely realistic), and mixed in modern styles such as cubism. His most famous work was “Aspects of the Negro Life”, a series of murals that chart the African American journey from Africa to his present day, through tribal life to slavery to the terrible discrimination of the KKK to the flourishing Harlem. (Hayward, 110-111) Other important artists were Palmer Hayden, who painted satires on stereotypes (King Howes, 112-113) and the sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, who was one of the first to consciously incorporate African elements into her work. (Hayward, 45)
Some say that black work in theater was what really brought about the Harlem Renaissance, especially the play “Shuffle Along” by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey L. Lyles. It was the first musical comedy to have a dramatic story line, the first Broadway play to have an all-black cast, and the first play to feature a realistic African-American love story (Johnson; “Shuffle Along”). Previously, love scenes between blacks were taboo unless they were broad, often debasing, caricatures lest the scene offend the white audience. (King Howes, 73-75) Also a major force in African-American theater were the small theater groups, especially the one at the Lafayette Theater. The Lafayette Players were founded in 1916 by Charles Gilpin, but only performed plays by white authors since ones by black authors were not yet in existence. (Johnson) It was a unique experience for African-Americans to see African-Americans playing serious roles instead of the comedic ones they usually performed. These theater groups introduced white people to the idea of blacks playing major roles, a previously unheard-of concept. Without these, theater might still have African-Americans playing only the servants and jesters.
The final and arguably most important field which the Harlem Renaissance changed forever for African Americans was literature. Literary magazines, some short lived (such as Fire!! which, although brilliant and daring was a bit too daring, only published one issue, and sent the publisher into debt), and some long (such as Charles S. Johnson’s Opportunity), were published that contained only African- American literature. (King Howes, 18, 20, 262-263) Poets, such as the famous Langston Hughes, whose poetry resembles jazz music, and Zora Neale Hurston, notable for her short stories and made famous for her book Their Eyes Were Watching God, (224) got their start in these before taking off on their own. Black authors experimented with new styles of writing, such as Jean Toomer’s controversial novel Cane which some called a disjointed thrown-together mess of short stories and poems and others hailed as a modern masterpiece. (276) Langston Hughes forsook traditional rigid form to write poems in the dialect of Harlem about the low-life, everyday goings- on of a Harlem that many people did not want him to bring up for fear of pinning a negative image on black people (36); the title of this paper is based on the title of one of his famous poems.
The Harlem Renaissance came to an end with the beginning of the Great Depression, but opened the doors of publishing houses and museums to aspiring African-American writers and artists forever. Without the Harlem Renaissance, writers like Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou would never have even had their work looked at by a publisher, let alone selling millions of copies and being nominated for Pulitzer prizes. Black critics could publish the material that would eventually set the Civil Rights movement rolling thanks to the acceptance of their work as equal to that of white authors’. African Americans can today audition for and get roles on major stages all over the United States, and they can exhibit their work anywhere they please. The changes that the Harlem Renaissance made in the fields of visual art, theater, and literature would forever alter how America and the world look at African American work.
Previous to the 1900s, there were almost no plays by black playwrights performed, no books by black authors published, and no works of art by black artists displayed; however, in the 1900s through the 1920s a change happened in New York City, starting in Harlem, and spreading across the country. It was called the Harlem Renaissance, and would forever change the way America looked at African American work in three fields: theater, visual art, and literature.
During the Renaissance, black artists turned back to their African roots for inspiration. They no longer mimicked European art but forged new paths of their own just as much as the more famous literary and theater works were doing. During slavery, black people with a talent for art were not considered artists; they could neither pursue art as a career nor have access to training and materials. Once they were freed they poured their time and skill into practical masterpieces, such as quilts, carpentry, and metallurgy. (King Howes, 12) However, as the twentieth century began, African Americans began to gain recognition as painters and sculptors as well. At that time they tended to paint conventional subjects, such as landscapes and portraits, but as time wore on they went over to European cities, especially Paris, where they felt freer to experiment, learn, and practice their art. (Hayward, 20) There they obtained places in galleries and museums as well as unprecedented solo exhibitions. This was a breakthrough that eventually traveled across the Atlantic, opening the minds of museum curators everywhere.
Aaron Douglass was called the “Official Artist” of the Harlem Renaissance for his distinctive style. He imitated African art for its simplicity and emphasis on design over representation (He did not try to make his subjects look entirely realistic), and mixed in modern styles such as cubism. His most famous work was “Aspects of the Negro Life”, a series of murals that chart the African American journey from Africa to his present day, through tribal life to slavery to the terrible discrimination of the KKK to the flourishing Harlem. (Hayward, 110-111) Other important artists were Palmer Hayden, who painted satires on stereotypes (King Howes, 112-113) and the sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, who was one of the first to consciously incorporate African elements into her work. (Hayward, 45)
Some say that black work in theater was what really brought about the Harlem Renaissance, especially the play “Shuffle Along” by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey L. Lyles. It was the first musical comedy to have a dramatic story line, the first Broadway play to have an all-black cast, and the first play to feature a realistic African-American love story (Johnson; “Shuffle Along”). Previously, love scenes between blacks were taboo unless they were broad, often debasing, caricatures lest the scene offend the white audience. (King Howes, 73-75) Also a major force in African-American theater were the small theater groups, especially the one at the Lafayette Theater. The Lafayette Players were founded in 1916 by Charles Gilpin, but only performed plays by white authors since ones by black authors were not yet in existence. (Johnson) It was a unique experience for African-Americans to see African-Americans playing serious roles instead of the comedic ones they usually performed. These theater groups introduced white people to the idea of blacks playing major roles, a previously unheard-of concept. Without these, theater might still have African-Americans playing only the servants and jesters.
The final and arguably most important field which the Harlem Renaissance changed forever for African Americans was literature. Literary magazines, some short lived (such as Fire!! which, although brilliant and daring was a bit too daring, only published one issue, and sent the publisher into debt), and some long (such as Charles S. Johnson’s Opportunity), were published that contained only African- American literature. (King Howes, 18, 20, 262-263) Poets, such as the famous Langston Hughes, whose poetry resembles jazz music, and Zora Neale Hurston, notable for her short stories and made famous for her book Their Eyes Were Watching God, (224) got their start in these before taking off on their own. Black authors experimented with new styles of writing, such as Jean Toomer’s controversial novel Cane which some called a disjointed thrown-together mess of short stories and poems and others hailed as a modern masterpiece. (276) Langston Hughes forsook traditional rigid form to write poems in the dialect of Harlem about the low-life, everyday goings- on of a Harlem that many people did not want him to bring up for fear of pinning a negative image on black people (36); the title of this paper is based on the title of one of his famous poems.
The Harlem Renaissance came to an end with the beginning of the Great Depression, but opened the doors of publishing houses and museums to aspiring African-American writers and artists forever. Without the Harlem Renaissance, writers like Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou would never have even had their work looked at by a publisher, let alone selling millions of copies and being nominated for Pulitzer prizes. Black critics could publish the material that would eventually set the Civil Rights movement rolling thanks to the acceptance of their work as equal to that of white authors’. African Americans can today audition for and get roles on major stages all over the United States, and they can exhibit their work anywhere they please. The changes that the Harlem Renaissance made in the fields of visual art, theater, and literature would forever alter how America and the world look at African American work.
