Compare and Contrast: Harlem Renaissance vs. Civil Rights Movement

Both periods represent a time cultural upheaval throughout the black population. African Americans wanted to be recognized as equal, yet each movement has different qualities.

The Harlem Renaissance was a concentrated movement, that happened mostly in New York City and some parts of Chicago. On the other hand, the Civil rights movement spread all throughout America. It attracted black and white reformers, and created enough power to influence legislation like the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Also, the Harlem Renaissance was more of an artistic/cultural movement were as the Civil Rights Movement was more political. African Americans explored jazz music and the blues, and influenced many famous writers. Obliviously both periods had artist, music, and literature, but the Harlem Renaissance was a time to redefine the culture of African Americans.

Though the Harlem Renaissance may seem much smaller than the Civil Rights Movement, both are equally important. Without the Harlem Renaissance, which gave the black population something to be proud about, the next generation of civil righters would never have been ready to take on the task they did. Both movements are interconnected because they represent the struggle to win equal freedom for all.

Civil Rights Writer: Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison, an African American author, became famous for his novel Invisible Man (1952).
The book describes a blackmans quest to be accepted and find his place in the harsh society.
Also Ellison dives into problems that blacks experience in their search for responsibility, dignity, and equality before the time of the Civil Rights Movement.

Civil Rights Artist: Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlette was a sculptist and artist who produced most of her work through the 1960's and 1970's. Her art expressed the black plight at the timed and her work was said to be politically charged. In this picture, Head of a Woman, it portrays the power of black women through the intensity of her eyes. Also the picture is in black and whites as if to say there is no difference in color.

Civil Rights Musician: Joan Baez

Joan Baez, a white folksinger born in 1941, is very well known for her music during the sixties. She played with great artist such as Bob Dylan and at Woodstock in 1969. But her activism at the time of the Civil Rights Movement is what separated her from other artist. Her famous song "Oh Freedom" was sung for the first time on the day of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech in Washington, DC. This song quickly became popular and like an anthem to civil rights reformers. "Oh Freedom" was originally sung by slaves in the south dreaming for freedom to end, but Baez's rendition is what made it so famous.

Oh, freedom,
Oh, freedom,
Oh freedom over me.
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my
Lord and be free.
No more moanin' etc.
No more weepin' etc.
No more shootin' etc.
There'll be singing

Harlem Renaissance Female Writer: Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston, a very well known African American writer, is known for her close ties to the Harlem Renaissance. Most of her work portrays the distinct dialect and vernacular of the black population at the time and also the revived black culture. Other works by Hurston are, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Every Tounge Got to Confess.

Mule Bone is a play written partly by Hurston and partly by Langston Hughes. Both writers wanted the play to represent authentic black comedy.

Mule Bone takes place in Eatonville, Florida, the setting of many of Hurston's stories. This energetic play centers on Jim and Dave, a two-man song-and-dance team, and Daisy, the woman who comes between them. As the men fight over the girl, Jim hits Dave with a mule bone and the town splits over whos side to be on: the Methodists, who want to forgive Jim; and the Baptists, who want to kick him out for his crime.

This play explores the life of a small black town and the hilarious experiences and stories the people there have to share. Literature like Mule Bone tries to bring out the fun in life and bridge the gap between white and black through light hearted stories such as this.

Harlem Renaissance Writer: Langston Hughes

is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties

important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s

refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself

The Weary Blues 1923

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway . . .
He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

This poem is Hughes decription of a blues or jazz singer in Harlem during the twenties. The poem creates a somber or melancholy mood with the "piano moaning", and he "crooned the tune." It also sounds like the man was drinking as he sang the song which makes it seem like the man is more laid back. The man was not afraid to walk down Lenox street singing or speaking his mind becuase artist and singers were living in a time of great cultural upheaval.

Harlem Renaissance Artist, Aaron Douglas: Into Bondage

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