1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: Lorn Bogebaum here. From poetry and prose to music, painting, 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: and sculpture, the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: produced an unprecedented array of art and social change in 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: the United States. The end of the Civil War in 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five ushered in the emancipation of hundreds of 7 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: thousands of Black Americans who had been enslaved in the South, 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: and by nineteen twenty about three hundred thousand of them 9 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: had moved north in search of economic, social, and political freedoms. 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: This is known as the Great Migration, and it was 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: also a time of general urbanization. Northern cities like St. Louis, Chicago, 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: and Cleveland saw many new citizens, but Harlem, in particular, 13 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: a three square mile or seven hundred and seventy seven 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: Hector neighborhood in New York's northern Manhattan, became a destination 15 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: for around one hundred and seventy five thousand Black Americans 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: seeking a fresh start. It offered them lower real estate 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: and rental prices than many other locations. But Harlem was 18 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,479 Speaker 1: a significant city for a number of reasons, as Black 19 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: Americans began re establishing and redefining what it meant to 20 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: be black in a post slavery world. We spoke with 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: William J. Maxwell, professor of English and African and African 22 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: American Studies at Washington University in Saint Louis. He said, 23 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,199 Speaker 1: to think about it in a concrete and practical way. 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: New York was where the existing artistic infrastructure was a 25 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: big publishing companies were now in New York and no 26 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 1: longer in Boston. Modern art was centered in New York, 27 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: and Harlem was becoming an attractive destination for black artists. 28 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,400 Speaker 1: Harlem was also so important because it was the most 29 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: international black city in the United States. That's the place 30 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: Caribbean migrants came, and you had people from Barbados and 31 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: Haiti pouring in. Jamaicans like political activist Marcus Garvey and 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: the poet Claude Mackay were deeply involved in the movement 33 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: and were coming to New York along with a lot 34 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: of Africans outside of Africa or Paris. New York was 35 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: probably the most international black city in the world at 36 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: that point. While changes were flourishing in other parts of 37 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:17,399 Speaker 1: the country as well. The movement an explosion of literary, artistic, intellectual, 38 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: and social change among Black Americans quickly became known as 39 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,679 Speaker 1: the Harlem Renaissance. Maxwell said it was a self conscious 40 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: movement in the sense that the people who organized it 41 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: knew they were holding a renaissance. It was called different 42 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: things at the time, but it wasn't the kind of 43 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: esthetic or cultural event that was only labeled from a 44 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: distance of years. It was labeled at the time it 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: was actually happening. While many view the Harlem Renaissance as 46 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: a primarily literary movement that included the birth of works 47 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: from leading poet and author Langston Hughes, the Golden Era 48 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: that lasted from approximately the nineteen teens through the mid 49 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,519 Speaker 1: thirties also saw the proliferation of visual arts, music, theater, 50 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: and more. But at its core, the Harlem Renaissance was 51 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: more than an artistic movement. It was an age dedicated 52 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: to reclaiming and redefining blackness in a new way. Maxwell explained, 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: a renaissance is about the idea of rebirth. There are 54 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: examples like what the Italian Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance had 55 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: a similar idea in the rebirth of African culture as 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,359 Speaker 1: it was before slavery, but it was also about reinventing 57 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: a connection all over the black world for cultural possibility 58 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: and power. What's paradoxical about the Harlem Renaissance is the 59 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: black artists were defining what it meant to be a 60 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: modern black people. In other words, for black people to 61 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: be urban or to have found various forms of economic freedom, 62 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: which is one reason it was centered in New York. 63 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: After the Great Migration. There was a revival of African 64 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: culture as it was before slavery, but the more important 65 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: piece was defining what it meant to be a Black 66 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: American in relation to modernity. According to Maxwell, the significance 67 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: of the Harlem Renaissance extended beyond the arts and permi 68 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: at culture as a whole. He said, there were a 69 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: lot of different styles, and all these people were trying 70 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: to redefine Blackness as modern. One of the basic elements 71 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: of nineteenth and twentieth century racism was the idea that 72 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: black people were primitive or behind the curve of history. 73 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: The Harlem Renaissance really pushed against that and suggested the 74 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: Black people maybe the most modern people who have the 75 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: capacity for change. One crucial way Black Americans pushed back 76 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: against historic racism was to effectively transform the country's musical landscape. 77 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: While jazz music had roots in southern towns and cities 78 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: like New Orleans and Memphis, and was also developed in 79 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: cities like Chicago, it found fame on the East Coast. 80 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: Maxwell explained classical nineteen twenties jazz wasn't invented in New 81 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: York City, but that's where jazz music first became marketable 82 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: at a national commodity. Artists like Bessie Smith and Duke 83 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: Ellington weren't from New York, but they played clubs there 84 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: and established an audience there. New York is where early 85 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: jazz joined the national entertainment industries. According to Maxwell, it's 86 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: thanks to New York that the jazz imported from elsewhere 87 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,799 Speaker 1: began to be played on the radio and in movie theaters. However, 88 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,559 Speaker 1: a specific style of jazz did originate there. He said. 89 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: Some jazz did get invented in New York, a specific 90 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: style called stride piano from artists like Fats waller In 91 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: James P. Johnson, who wrote the music for the Charleston. 92 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: Those guys showed the power of New York City as 93 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: an entertainment capital, and that they became professional songwriters in 94 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: Tin pan Alley. While the Harlem Renaissance continues to be 95 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: celebrated for the contributions of renowned figures like dancer Josephine 96 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: Baker and artist Aaron Douglas, there's still a lot to 97 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: be discovered and learned from the era, unpublished novels by 98 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: authors like Claude McKay, for example. Maxwell said there was 99 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 1: a great variety of work created during the Harlem Renaissance 100 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: that we don't understand yet, but people know the works 101 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: of Langston Hughes, the great poet who produced classical A 102 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: Tree Soaked in Black folklore and speech styles, and Zoraneil Hurston, 103 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: one of the great storytellers and anthropologists, who is also 104 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: known for bringing black oral forms into prose. But beyond that, 105 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: there's a lot of other work like that from a 106 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: young novelist named Rudolf Fisher, who was also a serious 107 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: physician and wrote witty novels like Walls of Jericho. Also, 108 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: there were young poets like Helene Johnson, who wrote witty, 109 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: almost Dorothy Parker like pieces. The Harlem Renaissance effectively ended 110 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties after the economic effects of the 111 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: great depression set in, causing businesses, nightclubs, and publishing houses 112 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 1: to shutter and writers and artists to scatter in search 113 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: of employment. Although the historic period of the Harlem Renaissance 114 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: hit its height a century ago, its influence has continuously 115 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: impacted American culture through the decades, from its effect on 116 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties to its 117 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,720 Speaker 1: lasting legacy in modern arts and culture. Carry de Winz, 118 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: a distinguished professor of history at Texas learn University, put 119 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: it this way, in the Harlem Renaissance was the first 120 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: time that a considerable number of mainstream publishers and critics 121 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: took African American literature seriously, and it was the first 122 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: time that African American literature and the arts attracted significant 123 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: attention from the nation at large. Today's episode was written 124 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Clay. For more 125 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: on this and lots of other topics, is it how 126 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I 127 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio is 128 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: at the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 129 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.