Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff
Speaker 1: Lorn Bogebaum here. From poetry and prose to music, painting,
Speaker 1: and sculpture, the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance
Speaker 1: produced an unprecedented array of art and social change in
Speaker 1: the United States. The end of the Civil War in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five ushered in the emancipation of hundreds of
Speaker 1: thousands of Black Americans who had been enslaved in the South,
Speaker 1: and by nineteen twenty about three hundred thousand of them
Speaker 1: had moved north in search of economic, social, and political freedoms.
Speaker 1: This is known as the Great Migration, and it was
Speaker 1: also a time of general urbanization. Northern cities like St. Louis, Chicago,
Speaker 1: and Cleveland saw many new citizens, but Harlem, in particular,
Speaker 1: a three square mile or seven hundred and seventy seven
Speaker 1: Hector neighborhood in New York's northern Manhattan, became a destination
Speaker 1: for around one hundred and seventy five thousand Black Americans
Speaker 1: seeking a fresh start. It offered them lower real estate
Speaker 1: and rental prices than many other locations. But Harlem was
Speaker 1: a significant city for a number of reasons, as Black
Speaker 1: Americans began re establishing and redefining what it meant to
Speaker 1: be black in a post slavery world. We spoke with
Speaker 1: William J. Maxwell, professor of English and African and African
Speaker 1: American Studies at Washington University in Saint Louis. He said,
Speaker 1: to think about it in a concrete and practical way.
Speaker 1: New York was where the existing artistic infrastructure was a
Speaker 1: big publishing companies were now in New York and no
Speaker 1: longer in Boston. Modern art was centered in New York,
Speaker 1: and Harlem was becoming an attractive destination for black artists.
Speaker 1: Harlem was also so important because it was the most
Speaker 1: international black city in the United States. That's the place
Speaker 1: Caribbean migrants came, and you had people from Barbados and
Speaker 1: Haiti pouring in. Jamaicans like political activist Marcus Garvey and
Speaker 1: the poet Claude Mackay were deeply involved in the movement
Speaker 1: and were coming to New York along with a lot
Speaker 1: of Africans outside of Africa or Paris. New York was
Speaker 1: probably the most international black city in the world at
Speaker 1: that point. While changes were flourishing in other parts of
Speaker 1: the country as well. The movement an explosion of literary, artistic, intellectual,
Speaker 1: and social change among Black Americans quickly became known as
Speaker 1: the Harlem Renaissance. Maxwell said it was a self conscious
Speaker 1: movement in the sense that the people who organized it
Speaker 1: knew they were holding a renaissance. It was called different
Speaker 1: things at the time, but it wasn't the kind of
Speaker 1: esthetic or cultural event that was only labeled from a
Speaker 1: distance of years. It was labeled at the time it
Speaker 1: was actually happening. While many view the Harlem Renaissance as
Speaker 1: a primarily literary movement that included the birth of works
Speaker 1: from leading poet and author Langston Hughes, the Golden Era
Speaker 1: that lasted from approximately the nineteen teens through the mid
Speaker 1: thirties also saw the proliferation of visual arts, music, theater,
Speaker 1: and more. But at its core, the Harlem Renaissance was
Speaker 1: more than an artistic movement. It was an age dedicated
Speaker 1: to reclaiming and redefining blackness in a new way. Maxwell explained,
Speaker 1: a renaissance is about the idea of rebirth. There are
Speaker 1: examples like what the Italian Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance had
Speaker 1: a similar idea in the rebirth of African culture as
Speaker 1: it was before slavery, but it was also about reinventing
Speaker 1: a connection all over the black world for cultural possibility
Speaker 1: and power. What's paradoxical about the Harlem Renaissance is the
Speaker 1: black artists were defining what it meant to be a
Speaker 1: modern black people. In other words, for black people to
Speaker 1: be urban or to have found various forms of economic freedom,
Speaker 1: which is one reason it was centered in New York.
Speaker 1: After the Great Migration. There was a revival of African
Speaker 1: culture as it was before slavery, but the more important
Speaker 1: piece was defining what it meant to be a Black
Speaker 1: American in relation to modernity. According to Maxwell, the significance
Speaker 1: of the Harlem Renaissance extended beyond the arts and permi
Speaker 1: at culture as a whole. He said, there were a
Speaker 1: lot of different styles, and all these people were trying
Speaker 1: to redefine Blackness as modern. One of the basic elements
Speaker 1: of nineteenth and twentieth century racism was the idea that
Speaker 1: black people were primitive or behind the curve of history.
Speaker 1: The Harlem Renaissance really pushed against that and suggested the
Speaker 1: Black people maybe the most modern people who have the
Speaker 1: capacity for change. One crucial way Black Americans pushed back
Speaker 1: against historic racism was to effectively transform the country's musical landscape.
Speaker 1: While jazz music had roots in southern towns and cities
Speaker 1: like New Orleans and Memphis, and was also developed in
Speaker 1: cities like Chicago, it found fame on the East Coast.
Speaker 1: Maxwell explained classical nineteen twenties jazz wasn't invented in New
Speaker 1: York City, but that's where jazz music first became marketable
Speaker 1: at a national commodity. Artists like Bessie Smith and Duke
Speaker 1: Ellington weren't from New York, but they played clubs there
Speaker 1: and established an audience there. New York is where early
Speaker 1: jazz joined the national entertainment industries. According to Maxwell, it's
Speaker 1: thanks to New York that the jazz imported from elsewhere
Speaker 1: began to be played on the radio and in movie theaters. However,
Speaker 1: a specific style of jazz did originate there. He said.
Speaker 1: Some jazz did get invented in New York, a specific
Speaker 1: style called stride piano from artists like Fats waller In
Speaker 1: James P. Johnson, who wrote the music for the Charleston.
Speaker 1: Those guys showed the power of New York City as
Speaker 1: an entertainment capital, and that they became professional songwriters in
Speaker 1: Tin pan Alley. While the Harlem Renaissance continues to be
Speaker 1: celebrated for the contributions of renowned figures like dancer Josephine
Speaker 1: Baker and artist Aaron Douglas, there's still a lot to
Speaker 1: be discovered and learned from the era, unpublished novels by
Speaker 1: authors like Claude McKay, for example. Maxwell said there was
Speaker 1: a great variety of work created during the Harlem Renaissance
Speaker 1: that we don't understand yet, but people know the works
Speaker 1: of Langston Hughes, the great poet who produced classical A
Speaker 1: Tree Soaked in Black folklore and speech styles, and Zoraneil Hurston,
Speaker 1: one of the great storytellers and anthropologists, who is also
Speaker 1: known for bringing black oral forms into prose. But beyond that,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of other work like that from a
Speaker 1: young novelist named Rudolf Fisher, who was also a serious
Speaker 1: physician and wrote witty novels like Walls of Jericho. Also,
Speaker 1: there were young poets like Helene Johnson, who wrote witty,
Speaker 1: almost Dorothy Parker like pieces. The Harlem Renaissance effectively ended
Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties after the economic effects of the
Speaker 1: great depression set in, causing businesses, nightclubs, and publishing houses
Speaker 1: to shutter and writers and artists to scatter in search
Speaker 1: of employment. Although the historic period of the Harlem Renaissance
Speaker 1: hit its height a century ago, its influence has continuously
Speaker 1: impacted American culture through the decades, from its effect on
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties to its
Speaker 1: lasting legacy in modern arts and culture. Carry de Winz,
Speaker 1: a distinguished professor of history at Texas learn University, put
Speaker 1: it this way, in the Harlem Renaissance was the first
Speaker 1: time that a considerable number of mainstream publishers and critics
Speaker 1: took African American literature seriously, and it was the first
Speaker 1: time that African American literature and the arts attracted significant
Speaker 1: attention from the nation at large. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Clay. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other topics, is it how
Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I
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