1920s African American Culture
CHAPTER 10, SECTION 5
The Harlem Renaissance
 Big Ideas:
 The relative freedom discovered by African Americans
who moved to the North from the South, brought about a
new sense of liberty that was reflected in black urban
communities such as Harlem.
 The Harlem Renaissance sparked new trends in
literature, music, and art.
The Harlem Renaissance
 During the 1920s,
thousands of African
Americans joined the
Great Migration out of
the South and into cities in
the North.

In the North, they found new
freedoms and economic
opportunities that helped them
create a better life for
themselves and their families.
The Harlem Renaissance
 Many
African Americans
traveled to New York City
and settled in the borough
of Harlem.
 In
Harlem artistic
expression, racial pride, and
political organization thrived
in an era known as the
Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance
 In
Harlem, African
American writers, such as
Langston Hughes, Claude
McKay, and Zora Neale
Hurston, were free to
express their defiance of
racism.
The Harlem Renaissance
 African
Americans also
contributed to the city’s
night-life with a new type
of music, jazz.
 The Cotton Club was the
premier nightclub in
Harlem that featured
many famous black
entertainers such as Duke
Ellington.
 However,
the club only
served white customers.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 Big Ideas:
 The
NAACP pursued racial
equality through the
courts while black
nationalists supported
independence and
separation from white
society.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 The Black Vote in the
North:
 As
African Americans began
to settle in northern cities
where they were free to vote,
they became a powerful
voting bloc that could sway
election results.
 Voting
gave them a voice,
and politicians had to start
listening.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 The
NAACP lobbied and
protested against
lynching and were
successful in getting
anti-lynching laws
passed in 1922.
 The NAACP was also
successful in defeating
the nomination to the
Supreme Court of a
southern judge who was
believed to be racist.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 Black Nationalism & Marcus Garvey
 Marcus Garvey captured the imagination of the
black community with his idea of “Negro
Nationalism,” which glorified black culture and
traditions.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 Garvey’s
central
message was that
African Americans could
only gain political and
economic freedom
through education.
 He also advocated
separating from white
America by creating a
new society in Africa.
African Americans & 1920s Politics
 Garvey’s
message was seen
as too radical by many
middle-class African
Americans.
 The FBI was worried that
Garvey’s group, the UNIA,
was stirring up trouble,
arrested Garvey and
supporters on charges of
mail fraud.
 The charges were politically
motivated and President
Coolidge commuted
Garvey’s sentence and had
him deported to Jamaica.
Statue of Garvey in Jamaica