Harlem Renaissance in American Literature

Harlem Renaissance: Term and Concept

Table of Contents

The term “Harlem Renaissance” emerged in the mid-20th century to encapsulate the flourishing of African American arts, literature, and culture centered in Harlem, New York City, during the 1920s and 1930s. While the neighborhood had long been a hub for Black residents, this period saw an unprecedented explosion of creativity and intellectual discourse. The term itself is thought to have been popularized by John Hope Franklin, a prominent historian, in his 1947 book “From Slavery to Freedom.” Franklin’s work highlighted the significance of this cultural movement in shaping African American identity and contributing to broader American society.

Etymology

Harlem: Refers to the neighborhood in northern Manhattan that served as the epicenter of this cultural movement.

Renaissance: Derived from the French word “renaissance” meaning “rebirth.” It signifies the revitalization and flourishing of artistic and intellectual endeavors.

Key Concepts of the Harlem Renaissance

Concept	Description
The New Negro Movement	A term often used interchangeably with the Harlem Renaissance, emphasizing the rejection of outdated stereotypes and the assertion of a new, proud, and sophisticated Black identity.
Cultural Expression	Encompassed a wide range of artistic forms, including literature (poetry, novels, essays), music (jazz, blues), visual arts (painting, sculpture), and performing arts (theater, dance).
Social Commentary	Many works of the Harlem Renaissance addressed issues of racial inequality, social justice, and the experiences of Black Americans in a segregated society.
Intellectualism	The movement fostered intellectual discourse and debate, with figures like Alain Locke and W.E.B. Du Bois leading discussions on race, identity, and the future of Black America.
Pan-Africanism	Some artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance embraced Pan-Africanist ideals, emphasizing the connections between Black people across the African diaspora and advocating for unity and liberation.
Legacy	The Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement and continues to inspire artists, writers, and activists today. Its impact on American culture is immeasurable, challenging stereotypes, amplifying Black voices, and enriching the nation’s artistic landscape.

Harlem Renaissance: Theorists, Works and Arguments

Alain Locke

Work: “The New Negro” (1925) – An anthology of essays, poems, and fiction by various authors.

Argument: Locke advocated for a “New Negro” identity characterized by self-confidence, cultural pride, and intellectualism. He argued that African Americans should embrace their unique heritage while contributing to American society.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Work: “The Souls of Black Folk” (1903) and “The Crisis” magazine (editor)

Argument: Du Bois emphasized the “double consciousness” of African Americans, who were forced to see themselves through the eyes of a racist society. He also advocated for political and social equality through education and activism.

Langston Hughes

Works: “The Weary Blues” (1926) – Poetry collection; “Not Without Laughter” (1930) – Novel

Argument: Hughes celebrated the everyday experiences and language of ordinary Black people. He explored themes of racial identity, social injustice, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Zora Neale Hurston

Works: “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937) – Novel; “Mules and Men” (1935) – Folklore collection

Argument: Hurston celebrated the richness of African American folklore and vernacular language. She challenged stereotypes of Black women and explored themes of love, independence, and cultural identity.

Claude McKay

Works: “Home to Harlem” (1928) – Novel; “If We Must Die” (1919) – Poem

Argument: McKay’s work often explored the darker aspects of the Black experience, including poverty, violence, and discrimination. He also expressed a sense of defiance and resistance against oppression.

Other Notable Figures:

James Weldon Johnson: Poet, novelist, and civil rights activist.

Nella Larsen: Novelist known for her exploration of racial identity and social class.
Countee Cullen: Poet who often used traditional poetic forms to explore Black themes.
Jessie Fauset: Novelist and editor who promoted the work of other Harlem Renaissance writers.

Key Arguments of the Harlem Renaissance:

Cultural Identity: Celebrating African American heritage, language, and artistic traditions.
Social Justice: Advocating for racial equality and challenging discriminatory practices.

Self-Expression: Using art and literature as tools for personal and collective empowerment.
The “New Negro”: Redefining Black identity in terms of pride, dignity, and intellectualism.

Harlem Renaissance: Major Voices in Poetry and Fiction

Author	Work	Year Published	Genre	Brief Description
James Weldon Johnson	“The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”	1912	Novel	Explores racial identity and passing in early 20th-century America.
Claude McKay	“Harlem Shadows”	1922	Poetry	Collection exploring themes of alienation, social injustice, and Black pride.
Jean Toomer	“Cane”	1923	Hybrid	Experimental mix of poetry, prose, and drama exploring Black life in the rural South and urban North.
Langston Hughes	“The Weary Blues”	1926	Poetry	Collection celebrating Black culture and music, including jazz and blues influences.
Nella Larsen	“Quicksand”	1928	Novel	Explores themes of racial identity, belonging, and the search for meaning in a woman’s life.
Nella Larsen	“Passing”	1929	Novel	Explores themes of racial identity, passing, and the complexities of social class in the Black community.
Claude McKay	“Home to Harlem”	1928	Novel	Story of a Black soldier returning from World War I and seeking belonging in Harlem’s vibrant nightlife.
Langston Hughes	“Not Without Laughter”	1930	Novel	Coming-of-age story exploring themes of family, racism, and resilience in a small Kansas town.
Zora Neale Hurston	“Jonah’s Gourd Vine”	1934	Novel	Explores themes of love, marriage, and infidelity in rural Black communities.
Zora Neale Hurston	“Mules and Men”	1935	Folklore	Collection of African American folklore, songs, and stories from the South.
Zora Neale Hurston	“Their Eyes Were Watching God”	1937	Novel	Celebrates Black vernacular language and explores themes of love, independence, and self-discovery in a woman’s life.

Harlem Renaissance: Principles

Principle	Description
Racial Pride and Identity	Celebration of African American heritage, culture, and history. Rejection of stereotypes and assertion of a positive Black identity.
Artistic Expression	Flourishing of literature, music (especially jazz and blues), visual arts, and performing arts as vehicles for self-expression and cultural exploration.
Social Commentary	Use of art to address issues of racism, discrimination, and social injustice faced by African Americans.
The “New Negro”	Embracing a new, self-assured, and sophisticated Black identity, rejecting the outdated stereotypes of the past.
Intellectualism	Emphasis on education, critical thinking, and intellectual debate as tools for social and political advancement.
Community and Collaboration	Fostering a sense of community and collective identity among African American artists, writers, and intellectuals. Collaboration and mutual support in creative endeavors.
Pan-Africanism	Recognition of the shared experiences and struggles of Black people across the African diaspora.
Universal Themes	Exploration of universal human experiences like love, loss, joy, and pain, while also addressing the unique challenges faced by African Americans.
Legacy and Impact	The Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement and continues to inspire artists, activists, and cultural movements today. Its legacy is one of empowerment, creativity, and social consciousness.

Harlem Renaissance: Relevance to Literary Theories

New Criticism: While this theory focuses on close reading and textual analysis, the Harlem Renaissance texts provide rich material for exploring themes, symbolism, and language use. The works often employ complex metaphors and allusions to African American culture and history, offering ample opportunity for in-depth textual analysis.

Postcolonial Criticism: This theory examines the power dynamics between colonizer and colonized. Harlem Renaissance works often explore the impact of colonialism and slavery on African American identity and culture, making them relevant to postcolonial critiques of power, representation, and resistance.
Feminist Criticism: This theory focuses on gender roles, representation, and the female experience. Harlem Renaissance writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen challenged traditional gender roles and explored the complexities of Black womanhood, making their works significant to feminist analysis.
Marxist Criticism: This theory examines the role of class and economic systems in shaping literature and society. Harlem Renaissance works often depict the struggles of working-class African Americans and critique the economic inequalities that perpetuate racial discrimination, making them relevant to Marxist analysis.

Critical Race Theory: This theory examines the intersections of race, law, and power. Harlem Renaissance literature offers valuable insights into the lived experiences of racism and discrimination, contributing to the ongoing discussions within critical race theory.
Cultural Studies: This interdisciplinary field examines the production and consumption of culture. The Harlem Renaissance, as a cultural movement, is a prime subject for cultural studies analysis, exploring the social, political, and economic forces that shaped its emergence and its lasting impact.
Reader-Response Criticism: This theory emphasizes the reader’s role in interpreting and creating meaning from a text. Harlem Renaissance literature, with its rich cultural references and diverse perspectives, can elicit varied responses from readers, making it a valuable subject for reader-response analysis.

Additional Considerations:

The “New Negro” Concept: This concept, central to the Harlem Renaissance, challenges traditional literary representations of Black characters and offers a new lens through which to analyze Black identity and agency in literature.
The Harlem Renaissance and Modernism: The movement’s engagement with modernist techniques and themes provides a unique perspective on the relationship between modernism and African American literary traditions.
The Harlem Renaissance and the Canon: The inclusion of Harlem Renaissance works in the literary canon has sparked debates about representation, diversity, and the power dynamics within literary institutions.

Harlem Renaissance: Major Works in Fiction and Poetry

Title	Author	Year	Genre	Key Features
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man	James Weldon Johnson	1912	Novel	Explores racial identity, passing, and the complexities of African American life in the early 20th century.
Cane	Jean Toomer	1923	Hybrid	Experimental mix of poetry, prose, and drama; explores themes of alienation, cultural identity, and the Black experience in the rural South and urban North.
Harlem Shadows	Claude McKay	1922	Poetry	Collection of poems addressing themes of social injustice, racial pride, and the challenges faced by Black people in America.
The Weary Blues	Langston Hughes	1926	Poetry	Celebrates African American culture, music (jazz and blues), and everyday life; uses vernacular language and rhythms.
Quicksand	Nella Larsen	1928	Novel	Explores themes of racial identity, belonging, and the search for meaning in a woman’s life.
Passing	Nella Larsen	1929	Novel	Examines themes of racial identity, passing, and the complexities of social class within the Black community.
Home to Harlem	Claude McKay	1928	Novel	Depicts the vibrant nightlife and cultural scene of Harlem in the 1920s; explores themes of alienation, identity, and belonging.
Not Without Laughter	Langston Hughes	1930	Novel	Coming-of-age story set in a small Kansas town; explores themes of family, racism, resilience, and the Black experience in early 20th-century America.
Jonah’s Gourd Vine	Zora Neale Hurston	1934	Novel	Explores themes of love, marriage, infidelity, and spirituality in rural Black communities; rich in folklore and vernacular language.
Mules and Men	Zora Neale Hurston	1935	Folklore	Collection of African American folklore, songs, and stories from the American South, showcasing the richness of oral tradition.
Their Eyes Were Watching God	Zora Neale Hurston	1937	Novel	Celebrates Black vernacular language and explores themes of love, independence, self-discovery, and the role of women in the Black community.

Harlem Renaissance: Criticism Against it

Elitism and Class Bias:

Focus on the “Talented Tenth”: Some critics argue that the movement primarily focused on the educated, upper-middle-class African Americans, neglecting the experiences and perspectives of the working class and the poor.
Exclusion of Diverse Voices: The Harlem Renaissance was criticized for not adequately representing the diversity within the Black community, often overlooking the experiences of women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Limited Political Impact:

Overemphasis on Art and Culture: Some critics argue that the movement prioritized artistic and cultural expression over direct political action, potentially diluting its potential for social change.
Assimilationist Tendencies: Critics have suggested that some aspects of the Harlem Renaissance aimed to assimilate African Americans into mainstream white culture, rather than challenging the existing power structures and systemic racism.

Romanticisation and Mythologizing:

Oversimplified Narrative: The popular narrative of the Harlem Renaissance often romanticizes the era, overlooking the complexities, internal conflicts, and struggles within the movement.
Myth of a Monolithic Movement: The Harlem Renaissance was not a single, unified movement, but rather a diverse and multifaceted collection of individual voices and perspectives, often with conflicting views and goals.

Other Criticisms:

Commercialization: Some critics argue that the movement was co-opted by white patrons and publishers, leading to the exploitation of Black artists and the dilution of their message.
Neglect of Rural Experiences: The focus on urban life in Harlem sometimes overshadowed the experiences of Black people living in rural areas, who faced different challenges and forms of oppression.

Harlem Renaissance: Key Terms

Term	Definition
The New Negro	A concept emphasizing a new, self-assured, and sophisticated Black identity, rejecting outdated stereotypes.
Double Consciousness	The internal conflict experienced by African Americans, who must see themselves through the lens of both their own culture and the dominant white society.
The Talented Tenth	A concept by W.E.B. Du Bois advocating for the education and leadership of the top 10% of African Americans to uplift the entire community.
Jazz	A musical genre originating in African American communities, characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and a blending of European and African traditions.
Blues	A musical form expressing the struggles and emotions of African Americans, often characterized by melancholy lyrics and a distinctive chord progression.
The Great Migration	The mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities, including Harlem, in search of economic opportunities and social freedoms.
Renaissance Woman	A term often applied to Zora Neale Hurston, reflecting her multifaceted talents as a novelist, folklorist, anthropologist, and cultural figure.
Negro Spirituals	Religious songs originating among enslaved African Americans, expressing their faith, sorrows, and hopes for freedom.
Cotton Club	A famous Harlem nightclub known for its jazz music and Black entertainers, but often criticized for its discriminatory practices towards patrons.
Black Arts Movement	A cultural movement in the 1960s and 1970s that drew inspiration from the Harlem Renaissance, advocating for Black pride, self-determination, and political activism.

Harlem Renaissance: Suggested Readings

Books:

Bontemps, Arna, ed. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered: Essays Edited with a Memoir by Arna Bontemps. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and Gene Andrew Jarrett, eds. The New Negro: Readings on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892-1938. Princeton University Press, 2007.

Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. Oxford University Press, 1971.
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. Penguin Books, 1997.
Perry, Jeffrey B. The Harlem Renaissance: An Anthology of Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction. Peter Lang, 2008.

Watson, Steven. The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930. Pantheon Books, 1995.

Articles:

Dickey, Marilyn. “Harlem Renaissance.” Landscape Architecture, vol. 87, no. 2, 1997, pp. 48–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44672830. Accessed 19 July 2024.

Baker, Houston A. “Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance.” American Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 1, 1987, pp. 84–97. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2712631. Accessed 19 July 2024.
English, Daylanne K. “Selecting the Harlem Renaissance.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 25, no. 4, 1999, pp. 807–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344105. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Mitchell, Ernest Julius. “‘Black Renaissance’: A Brief History of the Concept.” Amerikastudien / American Studies, vol. 55, no. 4, 2010, pp. 641–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41158720. Accessed 19 July 2024.

Bremer, Sidney H. “Home in Harlem, New York: Lessons from the Harlem Renaissance Writers.” PMLA, vol. 105, no. 1, 1990, pp. 47–56. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/462342. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Philipson, Robert. “The Harlem Renaissance as Postcolonial Phenomenon.” African American Review, vol. 40, no. 1, 2006, pp. 145–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027037. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Keller, Frances Richardson. “The Harlem Literary Renaissance.” The North American Review, vol. 253, no. 3, 1968, pp. 29–34. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25116789. Accessed 19 July 2024.

Wipplinger, Jonathan O. “Singing the Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, Translation, and Diasporic Blues.” The Jazz Republic: Music, Race, and American Culture in Weimar Germany, University of Michigan Press, 2017, pp. 165–96. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1qv5n7m.10. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Diepeveen, Leonard. “Folktales in the Harlem Renaissance.” American Literature, vol. 58, no. 1, 1986, pp. 64–81. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2925944. Accessed 19 July 2024.