African American Culture
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Transcript African American Culture
African American Culture
17-5
The Harlem Renaissance
Great
Migration
African Americans move from rural South to
industrial North
• During and after WWI
South
• Segregation/discrimination
North
• Still job discrimination and economic inequality, but
better than South
Harlem
Harlem,
NY
Nightclubs
MUSIC
Flowering
of African American culture =
Harlem Renaissance
Artistic development
Racial pride
Political organization
The Writers
Claude McKay
Langston Hughes
Racism in Harlem Shadows book of poetry in 1922
Prolific writer and leading voice of African American
experience
Zora Neale Hurston
1930s
Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Their Eyes Were Watching
God
Rural African American culture
First time African American women were main
characters
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
Louis Armstrong
New Orleans native moved to Chicago in
1922
First great trumpet soloist in jazz
Improvisational early form of jazz
• Jazz: influenced by dixieland blues and ragtime,
featured syncopated rhythms and improv
“Cornet Chop Suey”
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater (con’t)
Edward
“Duke” Ellington
New sound: improv + different orchestra
instruments
Performed in NY speakeasies/clubs
“Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady”
Composed 6,000 music pieces (only 1/3 jazz)
• Religious music
• Movie scores
• Ballet
Cotton Club
Famous club that
launched stars like
Ellington and others
Located in Harlem,
but only served
whites
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
Bessie Smith
Soulful singing
evolved from African
American spirituals
“The Empress of the
Blues”
Blues: unfulfilled love,
poverty, oppression
“Down Hearted Blues”
(1923)
Theater
Shuffle Along—first
musical performed,
produced, and written
by African Americans
Broadway 1921
Actors: Florence Mills,
Paul Robeson
• Apollo Theater in
Harlem
Theater (con’t)
Josephine Baker
Singer/dancer
Broadway
Moved to Paris to
launch an international
career
Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
brought international
attention and fame to
African American arts
and culture.