Remember the Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s, Harlem, New York became the epicenter of positive opposition to white supremacy through the Arts. It was a movement of the jazz and blues contributions of the Black community at a time when the United States was seething with white supremacy and injustice. Those of legendary reputations also preformed in San Antonio. Musicians like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and Cab Calloway performed at iconic locations such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. Jazz, was a defining genre of the Harlem Renaissance, for it celebrated the beauty of Black life and also expressed the struggles of the African American experience and struggles against racism. The struggle against white supremacy influenced American music nationally and internationally for decades to come.
“Not Just a Musical Movement”
The Harlem Renaissance was not just a musical movement but a movement that had a lasting legacy that reshaped world views of how African Americans were more than the racist Amos and Andy shows that racialized whites were so fond of. The Harlem movements patent framework that exposed the real identity of the Black community by celebrating Black creativity and intellectual achievements in ways that had been suppressed in a racist America. This social and artistic movement provided a stage for Black people to assert their humanity, intellect, dignity, and cultural richness in a country that had for centuries tried to exclude Black people from America history. This Black history is American history that has been reduced to half-truths, omissions, lies, distortions and erasures (H.O.L.D. everything).
Today, the influence of the Harlem Renaissance endures in modern art, music, literature, and social protest against white supremacy and serves as a groundwork for other cultural revolutions. The music of jazz legends, like Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and many others transformed American music and has hip-hop, rap, and R&B. Harlem inspired writers, like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, set the stage for future literary icons such as Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou and protest songs by the Civil Rights movements and the Black Lives Matter Movement.
The Harlem Renaissance fostered a heart-felt spirit of resistance, resilience, and ethnic pride that fueled the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and resonated in ongoing struggles for racial justice across ethnic groups. Some have borrowed from this movement without giving credit. This was the case of Elvis Presley who borrowed Black musical trends and pretended that it was his own style. The voices of the modern Black Lives Matter movement that has provided the global recognition of African American art and culture continues. The Harlem Renaissance was key to the evolution of the battles for human freedom and justice.
The Harlem Renaissance was a key turning point in American history. It fostered a greater recognition of African American contributions across all disciplines and laid the groundwork for future movements against white supremacy, police brutality, and injustice. It was a cultural mass awakening, where Black artists, musicians, revolutionaries, writers, and intellectuals were able to use their work to challenge racial uncle tom stereotypes, proclaim their cultural identity, and demand equality in a country that treated Black people and others worse than animals. African American culture reshaped public and global perceptions, smashing segregationist ideas, and inspired political and revolutionary action. It gave power to the struggle by providing a way to stay inspired with a smile on one’s face, a song in one’s heart, and God in mind when fighting to make the world anew. We need to remember this history, not just during one month of the year, but always.
