Dylan's Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement Blog

During the Harlem Renaissance there was a huge revival in music and the arts. Louis Armstrong was one of the most famous musicians of the day, and is even very famous today. Armstrong was leader in the new type of music which stemmed from the Harlem Renaissance, known as Jazz. Jazz started in New York clubs and was an expression of African American culture that blended many different types of music. Armstrongs songs such as "Stardust" gave many Black Americans hope and an identify in the music world.

Langston Hughes was a influential author during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes composed many different types of writing including poetry, novels, plays, and short stories. Hughes work inspired the rising Black middle class and the struggling people in poverty. His works reached, encouraged, and helped many people. One of Hughes most famous is The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Hughes went on to publish many more works during the Harlem Renaissance and came to be known as an influential writer worldwide.

Harry Belafonte was a musician during the African-American Civil Rights movement. Belafonte was known for playing a carribean style of music. During the civil rights era his music was heard by many and helped gain support. Besides his influential music Belafonte also was a very strong advocator of civil rights and humanitarian causes. Belafonte was often seen at marches and other events which promoted civil rights.

Charles Alston was an artist and muralist during the Harlem Renaissance and into the Civil Rights Movement. His work was strongly based on the lives of African Americans during these times. His work gave African-Americans an identity in art which was not there before. Alston's painting Again the Springboard of Civilization depicts a African American soldier fighting for his freeedom.

Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement are to time periods in African-American culture when their was a rebirth and renewal of Art and Literature. The revival during the Harlem Renaissance however was more a time period of expiermentation in different areas. Louis Armstrong was a great example of this, he was just trying to express himself and ended up creating a new style of music. Whereas during the Civil Rights movement there was as distinct cause. Both periods of creativity were very influential in American culture and history.