Transcript African American Culture

African American Culture
17-5
The Harlem Renaissance
 Great
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Migration
African Americans move from rural South to
industrial North
• During and after WWI
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South
• Segregation/discrimination
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North
• Still job discrimination and economic inequality, but
better than South
Harlem
 Harlem,
NY
 Nightclubs
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MUSIC
 Flowering
of African American culture =
Harlem Renaissance
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Artistic development
Racial pride
Political organization
The Writers
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Claude McKay
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Langston Hughes
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Racism in Harlem Shadows book of poetry in 1922
Prolific writer and leading voice of African American
experience
Zora Neale Hurston
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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
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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
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“Cornet Chop Suey”
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater (con’t)
 Edward
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“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
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Famous club that
launched stars like
Ellington and others
 Located in Harlem,
but only served
whites
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
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Bessie Smith
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Soulful singing
evolved from African
American spirituals
“The Empress of the
Blues”
Blues: unfulfilled love,
poverty, oppression
“Down Hearted Blues”
(1923)
Theater
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Shuffle Along—first
musical performed,
produced, and written
by African Americans
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Broadway 1921
Actors: Florence Mills,
Paul Robeson
• Apollo Theater in
Harlem
Theater (con’t)
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Josephine Baker
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Singer/dancer
Broadway
Moved to Paris to
launch an international
career
Harlem Renaissance
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Harlem Renaissance
brought international
attention and fame to
African American arts
and culture.