5. The Search for Identity This influx of blacks from many different backgrounds created a variety of needs. As blacks were beginning to establish themselves in the post-WWI urban settings, they needed to find their own identity and acceptance in a mostly white world.
6. The Central Mission The composition of urban environments was eclectic with returning black soldiers, upscale and well-educated blacks, and blacks fleeing injustices in the south.They did not agree on how to accomplish task of creating a new identity.
7. "The Talented Tenth" The literary movement in Harlem sought to relieve this tension by working with the "Talented Tenth." This was a term coined by W.E.B. DuBois proposing that one in ten black men will become leaders of the race, through education and training. The literary movement proposed that black identity and social acceptance would be accomplished through the arts. They began a campaign to gain support from influential black and white writers and publishers.
8. A formal campaign African-American newspapers and magazines published black manuscripts, created literary awards, and courted white patrons. A surge of new talent merged black and white writers and publishers. Such names to emerge were: Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Jessie Fauset, Arna Bontemps, Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes.
9. Taking matters into their own hands... During the early Harlem Renaissance, African-American artists and writers seeking to publish their works turned to periodicals created, edited, and produced by other African Americans. The sheer variety in the content and tone of these many publications revealed the diverse—and sometimes opposing—social and political attitudes among prominent African Americans.
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13. The "Representative" African American? The early days of the Harlem Renaissance produced a wealth of poetry, short stories and novels, shaped by the direction of the Talented Tenth, projecting an image that they considered to be the "representative" African American"
14. Something Different is in the Air Langston Hughes argued that these writings catered to African Americans who wanted only to fit into white America, rejecting their own heritage. In 1923, the publication of Jean Toomer's Cane changed that. This publication combined poetry, short stories, vignettes, and drama, in a candid semi-autobiographical description of his seeking to find his "roots."
15. The Shift With this publication, a large scale shift occurred in the themes, narratives, diction, poetic images, and mission of the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1926, in his essay, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," Langston Hughes called for a new "honesty" in depicting the image of African Americans. The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
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18. Harlem Renaissance "Manifesto" In Lock's anthology, he writes that the Negro should no longer be apologetic for his blackness but should take a new pride in a racial identity and heritage, of the "renewed self-respect and self-dependence in the contemporary black community." He urged writers to examine the meaning of an African past and to demonstrate this in their art. Harlem by Alain Lock e
19. Different perspectives There was a lack of agreement as to the role of the African-American writer at this time. Some still felt they should follow a traditional approach, and others felt they should represent their race. These differences point to the amazing range of talent in the movement, and the development of different kinds of writing of the Harlem Renaissance.
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23. No Single Purpose The Harlem Renaissance was not a one- sided movement with only one purpose. It had an artistic, political and social agenda, promoted by the artists, writers and activists of the time. All would agree that art formed the bridge between individuals and cultures.
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