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The groundbreaking period of the Harlem Renaissance marked a luxuriant phase in the U.S history. The development of African American arts and culture from 1920 to 1930 was caused by the set of several socio-economic and cultural processes that affected the entire country and concentrated in one place, Harlem. The tremendous amount of literature, music, and visual arts celebrating the African American culture contributed significantly to the country’s art history. During the early 1920s, Harlem became the destination of migrants, growing African American middle class, and highly educated individuals. At the same time, despite the growing evolvement of the aesthetes of African American culture, it experienced serious oppression from the White majority providing the Harlem Renaissance with the cult status. According to Philipson (2006), the Harlem Renaissance became a mouthpiece for the postcolonial views, the state of arts in this period, and the specificities of American culture. Specifically, the research showed that the artworks created during the Harlem Renaissance gained vast popularity among the citizens due to resistance to the mass culture and formation of a platform for the development of intellectual and political thought.
Moreover, due to the difference of artistic expressions and the racism existing in the U.S., the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance artists was hidden and forgotten up until the 1960s. In America of that period, so-called mono-cultural education aimed at avoiding the uncomfortable conversation that would generate unwanted questions. Perry & Peters (1996) claimed that in the period from the 1960s to 1990s the rediscovery of the Harlem Renaissance and its importance in the conversation between the majority and the minorities. Even today, despite the fact that the U.S. has made a progress in this direction, the contribution of the Harlem Renaissance artists is not appreciated enough in the context of the American art history. Overall, the movement of Harlem Renaissance gained popularity due to the inevitable clash of different cultures, experiences, and inequality in order to break the silence.
References
Perry, R. L., & Peters, M. T. (1996). The African American Intellectual of the 1920s: Some Sociological Implications of the Harlem Renaissance. Ethnic Studies Review, 19(2&3), 25-39.
Philipson, R. (2006). The Harlem Renaissance as Postcolonial Phenomenon. African American Review, 40(1), 145-158.
