1 . The Harlem Renaissance
The word “renaissance” means “rebirth”. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920s. It was a time when the African American artistic community grew and flourished, producing a ton of work in a short period of time. The work celebrated African American culture and spoke to their experiences as minorities---both the good parts and the bad parts.
After the Civil War, many African Americans left the South to escape unfair treatment and laws that discriminated against them. Between 1910 and 1920, massive numbers of black Southerners moved from the rural south into the urban North and West in the Great Migration. The African American population of Chicago more than doubled during that time! And in New York, African Americans flocked to uptown Manhattan, setting in a neighborhood called Harem. Forming a community within the big city let African Americans keep their cultural identity in a white-dominated society. It was a good thing, and a lot of important cultural issues were brought to light during the Harlem Renaissance. One of the most important figures of the time was the African American writer, W. E.B Du Bois. In his book, The Souls of Back Folk, in 1903, Du Bois wrote that African Americans suffered from something called “double consciousness”. They had their own self-image while they saw themselves through the eyes of white Americans. And performers like Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson brought African American culture to all New Yorkers. The Renaissance was so influential that “Harlem” grew into something of a brand name
African Americans were pushing boundaries across all aspects of society. Black businesses began to flourish, creating a growing middle class, like Madame C.J. Walker, who tuned her cosmetics line into a million dollar empire. All together, the artists, and thinkers of this period helped mobilize the larger black population. Young African-Americans took advantage of improved access to higher education. This opened up new career paths and opportunities to attain advanced degrees. Perhaps most importantly, people---black and white---began the push for racial integration, planting the seeds of what would eventually become the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
1. Why did many African Americans leave the South after the Civil War?| A．To escape slavery | B．To find jobs in agriculture |
| C．To avoid racial discrimination | D．To gain citizenship |
| A．He led to movement to return to Africa |
| B．He composed folk music based on African American theme |
| C．He wrote plays about the African-American experience |
| D．He wrote about the struggle for African-American identity |
| A．Nearly all were unemployed at that time |
| B．The vast majority were considered lower class |
| C．Most were regarded as middle class |
| D．A large percentage were recognized as wealthy |
| A．Spread of black businesses | B．Access to higher education |
| C．Shift from agriculture to industry | D．Push for unity among all Africans |
