{"id":131034,"date":"2023-04-21T15:27:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=131034"},"modified":"2023-04-25T10:04:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T09:04:30","slug":"the-golden-age-of-harlem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=131034","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Age Of Harlem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where would we be without The Renaissance; This cultural movement, was a golden age moment in Italy at the beginning of the 14th century, some of the greatest thinkers, authors, statesmen, scientists, art and artists in human history thrived during this era, Think of the Medicis, an Italian banking family and political dynasty who financed much of the world-renowned artworks and had incredible power in Florence and the most amazing artist such as Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli. A Thriving period in time that would change the world forever. Well, just like the Renaissance, being an important period in the cultural history of the world, came maybe a more unfamiliar period, the so-called ‘Harlem Renaissance’, which had the same elemental and cultural revival for African American artists, writers and musicians in the USA. It gave these artists pride in and control over how the Black experience was represented in American culture and set the stage for the Civil rights movement. Poetry, Music, Jazz and Art fuelled the neighbourhood of Harlem\u2019s thriving cultural scene. Find out more in The Golden Age Of Harlem<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image on left is an Installation view of Once Again. Statues Never Die, Barnes Foundation 2022. Photo made by Henrik Kam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighbourhood in New York City as a Black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.<\/p>\n\n\n

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125th Street – Harlem, New York, Image by Doug Kerr<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only during this period did the African American culture blossom in the neighbourhood of Harlem but also in many places in America and the world. But by far the most influential and important poets, artists, writers and musicians came from Harlem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood started out as an upper-class white neighbourhood in the 1880s, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and landlords seeking to fill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1900s, a few middle-class Black families from another neighbourhood known as Black Bohemia moved to Harlem, and other Black families followed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things began to shift and eventually, this population shift resulted in a Black Pride movement with leaders like William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a scholar at the historically Black Atlanta University, working to ensure that Black Americans got the credit they deserved for cultural areas of life. One of the books he wrote ‘The Souls of Black Folk’, is a cornerstone of African-American literary history and a seminal work in the field of sociology.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The book cover of ‘The Souls of Black Folk<\/a>‘, Author is W. E. B. Du Bo, First published in 1903<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Bois spoke out in many ways and made sure his opinion and visions were heard. He published various works in the form of essays, in which he wrote that Black Americans should embrace their African heritage even as they worked and lived in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He described the predicament of Black Americans as one of “double consciousness” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“One ever feels his twoness, \u2014 an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, who dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Bois <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term “double consciousness” is still widely used as a theoretical framework to apply to other dynamics of inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another very important and influential artist who flourished during the Harlem Renaissance was African American Poet Langston Hughes. Poetry was one of the earliest art forms to emerge during the Harlem Renaissance. The poems, novels, columns and plays of Langston Hughes left a big mark during this time and eventually on the upcoming future of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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