Social and Cultural Trends, Page 4

Harlem Renaissance

Though the Ku Klux Klan continued to terrorize African Americans in the South and Midwest, opportunities for African Americans moved them up the social ladder in their community. Because segregation existed, African Americans developed their own distinct culture and community. Though African-American communities had grown in many cities, Harlem in New York City became the center of a cultural rebirth known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Harlem was the home of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was formed in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois and white Progressives as a vehicle to fight for civil rights. Harlem was also the home of notable writers including poet and playwright Langston Hughes and novelist Zora Neale Hurston. James Weldon Johnson was both a political activist and writer who wrote the poem Lift Every Voice and Sing, which was set to music in 1900 and became known as the African-American National Anthem.

	Lift ev'ry voice and sing, 'Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on 'til victory is won.
James Weldon Johnson

The one art form that frequently brought African Americans and whites together was jazz. Jazz was a form of music that was derived from Southern rhythm and blues. Jazz musicians used the underlying beat of the music to improvise as they played. Duke Ellington was a notable African-American jazz composer and musician who played in clubs that were patronized by whites. His song “Take the A Train” referred to the express subway line that traveled between Brooklyn and Harlem, through Manhattan, in New York.