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 |  The first integrated Baptist church. Abyssinian Baptist Church New York City, United States of America |
 | Famous night club that featured famous black musicians 656 West 124th Street New York, United States of America |
 | Famous church that drew African Americans to the area 204 West 134th Street (upper) New York, United States of America |
 | Theatre where an "Amature night" would be held, showcasing famous black musicians of the 1900's 253 West 124th Street New York, United States of America |
 | This area of NYC featured famous songwriters and producers that contributed to the Harlem Renaissance West 25th Street New York, United States of America |
 | A museum that preserved an outstanding amount of black culture from the Harlem Renissance 515 Malcolm X Boulevard New York, United States of America |
 | Harlem-148th Street New York City, United States of America |
In the early 1900’s, Harlem became the epicenter for African American culture. No other area on Earth had more of an influence on the social, economic, and cultural status of African Americans. Black art, literature, and music were celebrated by the masses. Harlem was the nest for so many influential social leaders to emerge and gain a following, advancing the black civil rights movement. The first settlers of New York, the Dutch, named Harlem after a city in the Netherlands called “Haarlem.” Today, this section of Upper Manhattan is no longer synonymous with the Dutch, but now has its own unique history, culture, and story.
Socioeconomic injustices had caused the mass mobilization of African Americans towards the north. Firstly, African Americans noticed a two-tier level of citizenship in the south. The infamous “Jim Crow” laws had put blacks in their own legal category. Colored citizens were restricted to their own sections in public transportation, restaurants, and theaters. In addition, these laws set up legal barriers hindering their freedom to vote. Although African Americans had the “right” to vote, as stated by the 15th Amendment, they still had to hurtle through all the roadblocks legislation put in place. Many black citizens during reconstruction couldn’t vote because they had to overcome the literacy tests and poll taxes in order to get to the ballot box. Meanwhile, white citizens could bypass these taxes and tests with the grandfather clause, which guaranteed voting if their father or grandfather could vote in elections before 1867.1
Secondly, economic injustices also pushed African Americans to move northward. They had little opportunity to move out of poverty and advance economically. The crop-lien system notoriously kept hard working African Americans in poverty. The system favored the wealthy white landowners and diminished opportunity for black citizens. The crop-lien system involved poor ex-slaves essentially renting out land from white landowners. Since poor black farmers did not have the capital to buy the necessary tools, seeds, or animals for farming, they relied on a loan from the landowner to provide those initial funds. The landowner demanded a high percentage of whatever the farmer grossed, forced the farmer to pay a fee for using the land, and would demand payments frequently.
Not only were black citizens took advantage of economically and socially, but they had to undergo a great deal of violence from whites. Racism simply did not end with the Union’s victory. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, approximately “3,959 black men, women, and children were lynched in the twelve Southern states between 1877 and 1950” 2 Many white citizens would hang blacks for financial gain, political dominance, or just due to sheer prejudice. A combination of the violence and socioeconomic injustice from the southern states had caused African Americans to move northwards in search for a better quality of life.
During the Great Migration, roughly 1.5 million African Americans were attracted to Harlem from 1910 to 1940. Why Harlem? They could have chosen anywhere else in the United States, but the majority of them decided to rush to Harlem in search for a better life. Economic opportunities in Upper Manhattan eventually lead Reverend Adam Clayton Powell to claim Harlem as “the symbol of liberty and the Promised Land to Negroes everywhere.” 3 After World War I, the abundance of available factory jobs in the area led the mostly unskilled black population to Harlem. The success of black real-estate brokers such as John E. Nail, Henry C. Parker, and Philip A. Payton, Jr., allowed other blacks to make the migration to Harlem. Many white real estate managers had tried to keep blacks as segregated as they could. When black real estate agencies tried to move African Americans into the available housing in Harlem, the white residents saw this as the “Negro invasion” that “must be vigilantly fought.” 4 Companies such as the Afro-American Realty Company and the firm of Nail & Parker had been successful in promoting this “Negro invasion” by pushing black residents into the once white area. In addition, major black churches and other places of worship such as the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the St. Philips Episcopal Church, the St. James Presbyterian Church, and the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz Mosque also drew African Americans to the area. As marked on the map, these churches can still be found and visited today.
Since African Americans had congregated in Harlem by the early 1900’s, their culture started to flourish. Jazz and Gospel became staple genres in black music. These genres of music evolved from blues, which started from the songs slaves would sing while working. One can find the Cotton Club on the map, where famous jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington would perform and spread jazz throughout Harlem. One can also find Tin Pan Alley on the map which earned its reputation for housing many of the jazz songwriters and producers during the Harlem Renaissance. The jazz music had also given birth to many new dance trends such as the Shuffle Along, the Cakewalk, and the Lindy Hop. Similar to jazz, ragtime also became popular during the Harlem Renaissance. Ragtime music started in St. Louis and Memphis then eventually spread its way to cities like Chicago and New York. Ragtime uses the piano as opposed to jazz which uses a variety of instruments. Ragtime’s central characteristic is its syncopated tune. When ragtime was originally introduced to Harlem, many regarded this music as obscene due to its crude and vulgar lyrics. Even one of the most influential promoters of ragtime, John Stark, described some compositions as “unfit to be seen on your piano or to be sung to your friends.” 5 Ragtime started to diminish this reputation when more sophisticated composers such as James Scott and Scott Joplin had began to be published. The Harlem Renaissance undeniably brought a new wave of music earning the 20’s the title of the “Jazz Age.”
Literature and poetry had also evolved during the Harlem Renaissance. Famous literary figures included Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace Thurman. Hughes became known as one of the earliest and most influential black poets during the Harlem Renaissance. His poetry revolved around the emphasis of the beauty and dignity that black life has. The first poem he ever published called “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” became famous due to that theme of dignifying African life. In addition his poems stood out in contrary with other poets because he wrote for the common man. He did not write for the elite or higher educated, and in consequence, his writing touched a wider audience. Another famous poem called “The Weary Blues” encompassed the musical aspect of the Harlem Renaissance. This poem compared the rhythmic sound of the blues to the general feelings in Harlem at the time. Citizens in Harlem were restless to advance in society, both culturally and politically. Langston Hughes saw this theme in Harlem life and put it into poetry. Zora Neale Hurston made a name for herself through her short stories, articles, and novels. Some of the more famous novels of her’s include Jonah’s Gourd Vine, The Eyes Were Watching God, and Tell My Horse. Like Hughes, Hurston also wanted to celebrate the African American identity. Something unique to her writing and why she earned so much fame is how she portrayed the black characters in her novels. Instead of using proper or typical styles of dialogue, she opted for her characters to have a more colloquial style of speech. For example, in Jonah’s Gourd Vine, one of her characters say, “You know Ahm uh fightin’ dawg and mah hide is worth money. Hit me if you dare! Ah’ll wash yo’ tub uh ‘gator guts and dat quick.” 6 This embracement of African American dialect is what made Hurston stand out as a writer. This organic, natural tone of her characters allowed Harlemites to see the beauty in their speech and their culture. In 1925, Thurman Wallace moved to Harlem to further his career as a novelist and journalist. He worked for The Messenger, a socialist journal targeting African American readers. In addition, he wrote Blacker the Berry that showed his hatred for white skinned Harlem society.7 His second novel, Infants of the Spring spoke about the talents and attitudes that were found in black art and literature. All three of these writers created Fire!! which was a literary magazine with the mission to “burn up a lot of the old, dead conventional Negro-white ideas of the past” 8 however, after its first issue, it was discontinued.
The Harlem Renaissance is what it is today because of the overwhelming revolution in art, music, and literature. African Americans celebrated their identity. They wanted to show the world their beautiful, unique culture. Harlem was their canvas. Although the quality of life was not as romantic as they would have thought during the Great Migration, they found a way to enrich their culture in a way that would be remembered generations later. They made their mark on New York, allowing for a timeless change in how the world viewed black culture.
Notes
- Crew R. Spencer, The Great Migration of Afro-Americans, 1915-40 Monthly Labor Review, March 1987, 2
- Stevenson, Bryan . “As Study Finds 4,000 Lynchings in Jim Crow South, Will U.S. Address Legacy of Racial Terrorism?” Democracy Now! February 11, 2015. Accessed April 30, 2017. https://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/11/as_study_finds_4_000_lynchings.
- Cheryl Greenberg “Or Does It Explode?”: Black Harlem in the Great Depression, Oxford University Press, Mar 27, 1997, 17
- King, Shannon Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway?: Community Politics and Grassroots Activism During the New Negro Era NYU Press, Apr 1, 2017, 21
- Anderson, Jervis This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950, The Noonday Press 1991 May 1983, 19
- Hurston, Zora Neale, and Holly Eley. 1993. Jonah’s gourd vine. London: Virago, 32
- Anderson, This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950, 209
- Ibid. 212
