Erin Molloy, Ashley Wen, Jennifer Chen, Jinyoung Kim (Period 7)

Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, and Literature

Pages 682 684 Harlem Renaissance o In the wake of the Great Migration o Authors and poets (African American) thrive in Harlem o W.E.B Du Bois encourages African Americans, writes The Crisis  Journal of NAACP o NY, early 20 s , ferment associated w/ Marcus Garvey exciting night life, relative absence of racial bigotry, interest of wealthy white patrons: all enable a few black writers to have successful literary careers o 1925 peak of Renaissance national magazine runs article on Harlem Mecca of New Negro o Same Year, Alain Locke publishes the New Negro  Argue African American s future depends on ability of black and whites to analyze the black community for cultural and artistic contributions of the Past and future y Langston Hughes Zara Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnston o OVERALL, THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE DOES LITTLE TO ALTER SEGRAGATION LAWS AND CUSTOMS RESTRICITNG AFRICAN AMERICANS The Sound of Jazz o After WWI, jazz brings together black and a few white men especially in Kansas City, Chicago, & NY o Played @ rent parties (where money was gathered to pay rent), in nightclubs controlled by organized crime,  Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpet player, takes music beyond New Orleans and makes it more sophisticated  Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey sell race records to black and white audiences  Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington & Fletcher Henderson lead larger orchestras, show what jazz could do when structured o Gave 1920s name Jazz Age o Writers of the age see the world in a critical way that grew from the European ideas and a skepticism of older values o Novelists:  Sinclair Lewis Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry  Henry L. Mencken write for American Mercury y Saw democracy as worship of jackals by jackals y Said puritanism was the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere, may be happy o Time March 1923 Briton Hadden, Henry Luce, wrote news in a readable prose o Ernest Hemmingway fiction spoke of pain and disillusion men suffered after fighting in WWI o Sun Also Rises; A Farewell to Arms Hemmingway shows anguish of young Americans who lost faith in morals of their parents o F. Scott Fitzgerald captures free spirit of Jazz Age dedicated artist wanted to write a great novel for fame, The Great Gatsby Inability of title character to win his dream of rekindling a lost love, Fitzgerald characterized the American inability to escape the burdens of their own pasts