The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1930)

Study Notes

The Harlem Renaissance and Artists of the Movement

Harlem was the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, a major cultural movement in the 1920s, with a focus on African American artists, writers, and entertainers.
The movement led to the development of African American-owned and operated publishing houses, music companies, playhouses, nightclubs, and cabarets in Harlem.
The Great Depression brought an end to the prosperity of the Harlem Renaissance, but its impact expanded worldwide, challenging racist stereotypes and illuminating the talents of African Americans.
Aaron Douglas, born in Kansas, became known as a major inspiration of the new Harlem Renaissance art, integrating Cubism and African influences into his work.
Douglas's art depicted African Americans in music, poetry, and action, using limited color ranges and darker tones to represent social lives and struggles.
"Let My People Go" by Aaron Douglas demonstrates his flat style, depicting African American oppression with traditional tones of mauve and yellow gold.
Jacob Lawrence, born in New Jersey, documented African American history and experiences through paintings, prints, and large murals, including a series of sixty panels depicting the Great Migration.
Lawrence's masterpiece series depicted the emotional journeys, hopes, struggles, and achievements of almost a million African Americans migrating from the southern states to the north and west.
Lawrence's style was based on synthetic Cubism, using geometric forms and abstracted figures, with a constant palette of oranges and yellow contrasted with blue-green and gray-browns.
Each panel in Lawrence's series was numbered in a specific order, depicting financial hardships, southern injustices, migration, and the migrant's life in the north.
Panel number 3 in Lawrence's series is labeled "From every southern town migrants left by the hundreds to travel north," depicting people resolutely moving northwards, accompanied by a flock of birds, symbolizing hope.
The series by Jacob Lawrence and the work of Aaron Douglas are significant contributions to the Harlem Renaissance and the cultural history of African Americans.