Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

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Pages: 4

The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement in the 1920s that allowed African American artists to express themselves outside of the stereotypes that confined them in white-dominated areas. Harlem was originally supposed to be a white neighborhood but due to over-development and not enough people to live in the buildings, landlords were desperate to get people into these buildings (History). At the same time, 300,000 African Americans who were a part of the great migration, moved from southern America, to Harlem, captained by W.E.B Du Bois. All of these people being together led to an artistic boom, with African American literature and poetry finally being recognized. Some journalists, such as Alain Locke, called this “a spiritual coming …show more content…
Three people died, hundreds were injured, and millions of dollars in property damage were done (Poetry Foundation). The ending was horrible but it did not stop the influence of literature and poetry, the Harlem Renaissance helped the start of the Civil Rights Movement, in which many of the large African American writers and poets from Harlem used their poems and writings as an act of protest. In conclusion, no matter how hard times got and what happened, the strong community of Harlem helped influence many generations of writers after it ended and its influence will continue to show in new books and poems that are being written. In summary, The Harlem Renaissance changed African American lives by letting them escape racism in the south and allowed black writers and poets to define their race in a positive light, combating stereotypes of black culture. Beginning with the Great Migration where Du Bois led 300k African Americans from the south to the north, specifically Harlem. Followed by African American poets' strong opinions on things such as race, and if it should affect your poetry or not, including more diverse ideas into the poems, and using the same poetry to bring problems to things that are often