About this video

• Video Title: Arts and Letters of the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Black American History #26
• Channel: CrashCourse
• Speakers: Clint Smith
• Duration: 00:12:38

Overview

This video explores the Harlem Renaissance, a significant artistic and cultural movement in Black American history that flourished from the post-World War I era into the mid-1930s. It highlights the key writers, artists, and musicians who contributed to Harlem becoming a global center for arts and culture, and discusses the factors that led to this creative explosion.

Key takeaways

• The Harlem Renaissance was a vibrant artistic period following WWI, lasting into the mid-1930s, marked by a surge in creative and artistic expression.
• The First Great Migration saw over 1.5 million Black Americans move north, with 175,000 settling in Harlem, turning it into the largest concentration of Black people globally and fostering unique forms of expression.
• The movement encompassed visual arts (sculptors like Richmond Barthé, photographers like James Van Der Zee, artists like Aaron Douglas and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller), literary arts (poets like Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and writers like Zora Neale Hurston), and musical arts (blues singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, jazz musicians like Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, and Billie Holiday).
• Key figures and their contributions include Langston Hughes, who captured the authentic Black experience in his poetry; James Weldon Johnson, co-creator of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and an NAACP leader; Arthur Schomburg, a historian who founded the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Alain Locke, who published "The New Negro"; and Gwendolyn Bennett and Zora Neale Hurston, prominent writers.
• The music of the Harlem Renaissance, particularly blues and jazz, revolutionized American music and influenced genres like rock, pop, country, and hip-hop.

The Harlem Renaissance was a pivotal period that significantly shaped American arts and letters by introducing a rich and diverse outpouring of Black creative expression. This movement, spanning from after World War I into the mid-1930s, saw artists, writers, and musicians transform Harlem into a cultural hub, influencing the broader American artistic landscape in several key ways:

• Artistic Innovation and Diversity: The era produced unique forms of visual art, literature, and music. Artists like Aaron Douglas incorporated African and Egyptian influences, while sculptors like Richmond Barthé celebrated the Black body. Photographers like James Van Der Zee documented Black life, and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller explored African themes. This diversity in style and subject matter broadened the scope of American art.
• Literary Voice and Identity: Writers such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay explored the authentic Black experience, challenging societal norms and giving voice to previously underrepresented perspectives. Hughes, in particular, aimed to capture the realities of Black life without idealization, leading to important dialogues about representation. Alain Locke's "The New Negro" articulated a new sense of Black identity and pride.
• Musical Revolution: The blues and jazz genres, central to the Harlem Renaissance, revolutionized American music. Singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, and musicians like Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake, brought these sounds to wider audiences, laying the groundwork for modern genres like rock, pop, country, and hip-hop. Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" emerged as an early protest song, highlighting the era's social consciousness.
• Cultural Influence and Recognition: The sheer volume and quality of artistic production during the Harlem Renaissance garnered national and international attention, challenging prevailing stereotypes and showcasing Black intellectual and creative prowess. Organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League, along with publications like Opportunity, played roles in fostering and disseminating this work.
• Foundation for Future Movements: The artistic and intellectual foundations laid during the Harlem Renaissance provided a crucial springboard for future Black artistic and literary movements, demonstrating the power of art as a vehicle for social change, cultural preservation, and the assertion of identity.

In essence, the Harlem Renaissance was a transformative period that injected a vital and distinct Black perspective into the fabric of American arts and letters, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to influence culture today.