Category: The New Negro

Fire!! Magazine, subtitled ‘Devoted to Younger Negro artists’ was published, for the first and final time, in New York in 1926. Despite the number of African American periodicals released before this magazine, Fire!! “caused a sensation […] which had never been known in Negro journalism before”[footnoteRef:1]. Edited by Wallace Thurman with contributions from other black artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Matthew Hannah argues that Fire!! advocated for “aesthetic representations of life as it really is, regardless of the “moral” considerations of uplift ideology”[footnoteRef:2]. I am inclined to partly disagree with Hannah’s comment, his proposition that Fire!! presented “life as it really is” formulating a problematic connection between the magazine and authenticity. Utilising art and literature as its mode of enlightenment, Fire!! alternatively provides a narrative of exploration. Rather than offering a vehement reaction to thoughts about black representation made by intellectuals such as W.E.B Du Bois and Alain Locke of the New Negro movement, Fire!! is concerned with the changing attitudes of the younger generation, troubling uplift ideology through exploring topics such as, prostitution, interracial relationships and homosexuality. Often hailed as “the first overtly homoerotic story published by a black writer,” Richard Bruce Nugent’s Smoke Lilies and Jade figures prominently in the magazine for its queer sexual content[footnoteRef:3]. Through overt presentations of queer sexual fluidity, Nugent adheres to the overall aims of Fire!!, exploring new attitudes towards black representation and confronting specific discourses of racial uplift, inspiring a more complex reading of sexuality. How can we read the significance of queer sexual desire as an exploration of possibility and changing political attitudes, both personally and in relation to the spatial significance of Harlem? This essay will discuss the role of same-sex desire in Nugent’s Smoke, Lilies and Jade. I shall focus firstly on Nugent’s formal experimentations and use of overt sexual language as an exploration of the tensions between queer sexual desire and specific discourses of racial uplift. I shall then discuss the spatial significance of Harlem in the text, arguing that Nugent formulates Harlem as a space of possibility which enables Alex’s sexual exploration. [1: Abby Ann Arthur Johnson and Ronald M. Johnson, “Forgotten Pages: Black Literary Magazines in the 1920s” Journal of American Studies. 8.03 (1974), pp. 363-382, (p372).] [2: Matthew N. Hannah, “Desires Made Manifest: The Queer Modernism of Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!.” Journal of Modern Literature, 38.3, (2015), pp. 162–180, (p166).] [3: Christa Schwarz, Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003), (p40). ]

Undoubtedly, Nugent’s most striking formal experimentation in Smoke, Lilies and Jade is structuring the text through persistent use of ellipses. Although ellipses typically indicate omission, Nugent’s technique elegantly connects thought and speech, dream and reality, formulating a free indirect discourse in which “very little is unsaid, very little is repressed”[footnoteRef:4]. From the section opening “the church was crowded…”[footnoteRef:5], the reader becomes entangled in Alex’s sexual thoughts. Interlaced through ellipses, queer fantasy and reality exist within the same sentence and the visualisation of the exterior world becomes blurred by Alex’s subconscious desire – “the young man was singing it again…Beauty’s lips had pressed hard…cool” (p38). This continues, Alex’s head “swollen” from overwhelming, “expanding…contracting” (p38) desire as the fantasy of Beauty dominates the writing. Language builds to an orgasmic effect, the repeating motif “fy ah Lawd, fy ah gonna burn ma soul” (p38) suspended by ellipses as the final moments of the section lingers at the point of climax, “he could feel Beauty’s body…close against his…hot…tense…white…and soft…” (p38). Reality is exceeded by Alex’s unapologetic queer fantasy. Performing the role of the artist he desires to be, rather than resisting fantasy, Alex takes pleasure in finding the words to sexually imagine his beloved[footnoteRef:6]. The ellipses support this, connecting fragmentations of sexual thoughts to present, as Micheal Cobb notes, “unrestrained queer expression”[footnoteRef:7]. It is important to emphasise that Cobb’s remark on homoerotic expression does not mean Nugent’s text should be read as a manifesto for gay, black love. Garber calls Smoke, Lilies and Jade a “defence of homosexual love,”[footnoteRef:8] wrongly assigning a gay rights consciousness to the text and reducing the complexity in Nugent’s writing. It is, I argue, more useful to analyse the role of same-sex desire through the lens of sexual and political exploration. Cobb is conscious of the ellipses’ multiplicity, also proposing: “the ellipses indicate the opposite of Locke’s smooth racial veneer, and offers, instead, the choppy incompleteness of sentence fragments strewn together by a thematic or interracial queerness”[footnoteRef:9]. Cobb’s choice of language implies an undercurrent of disruption beneath Alex’s unrestrained language of desire. This disruption confronts the political ethos of the New Negro, whose key goals were to “fight social battles and compensate social wrongs’ through a discourse of uplift, characterised by embodying respectability and opposing “the psychology of implied inferiority”[footnoteRef:10]. Returning to the repeated motif “fyah…,” whilst also punctuating orgasmic intensity, echoes Langston Hughes’ opening forward to Fire!!, “Fy-ah Lawd, Fy-ah gonna burn ma soul” (p1). Cobb’s assertion of elliptical disruption converts same-sex desire into a rallying cry, troubling the conservatism of uplift ideology[footnoteRef:11]. Thus, Nugent uses Alex to explore the tension between queer sexual desire and racial uplift, posing the question: can one be themselves, free in their desires, in relation to discourses of racial uplift? The role of same-sex fantasy and desire becomes an exploration of racial self and sexual possibility, pondering the questions of a younger artistic generation in contention with the ethos of the New Negro. [4: Hannah, “Desires Made Manifest: The Queer Modernism of Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!.” (p174). Michael L. Cobb, “Insolent Racing, Rough Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance’s Impolite Queers” Callaloo. 23.1 (2000) pp.328–351, (p344).] [5: Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists (1926), reissue edited by Richard Bruce Nugent and Thomas H.Wirth (1982). Accessed on https://issuu.com/poczineproject/docs/poczp_fire_1926_readview [27 October 2020]. (p38). Further references will be indicated through brackets in the main text. ] [6: Cobb, “Insolent Racing, Rough Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance’s Impolite Queers,’ (p344).] [7: ibid, 345.] [8: Eric Garber, “A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem,” in Hidden in History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, ed. by Martin Duberman (New York: New York American Library, 1989), pp. 318–33 (p330).] [9: Cobb, “Insolent Racing, Rough Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance’s Impolite Queers” (p345).] [10: Eric King Watts, “African American ethos and hermeneutical rhetoric: An exploration of Alain Locke’sThe New Negro” Quarterly Journal of Speech. 88.1 (2002) pp.19-32, (p25).] [11: Cobb, “Insolent Racing, Rough Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance’s Impolite Queers” (p345).]

This persistence for exploration is littered throughout the text, Nugent continually experimenting with form to complicate the role of same-sex desire in Smoke, Lilies and Jade. Alex’s awakening passion for Beauty is explored through the reconfiguration of the traditional blazon. The blazon catalogues, often through a male voice, the physical attributes of a desired female subject making the form transmittal of heteronormative sexual desire. In Smoke, Lilies and Jade, Nugent transforms the heteronormative blazon into explorations of queer, interracial desire[footnoteRef:12]. Alex’s eyes begin to “wander,” fixated on Beauty’s body as he sexualises his physiognomy from “the muscular hocks to the firm white thighs” to his “brown eyes looking at him”(p37). It would be easy to a read the replaced male subject as Nugent’s justification of queer desire but, as previously acknowledged, Smoke, Lilies and Jade refuses to sit comfortably as a manifesto for homosexuality. I suggest, the significance of Nugent’s formal reconfiguration is not to undermine the blazon but rather to stun the form into something innovative. Thus, transformation of form comes to represent a transformed thinking process, again, confronting the conservatism of uplift ideology. Dorothea Löbbermann notes, “racial uplift excluded (queer) sexuality from its discourse,” acknowledging that sexuality was disregarded in Locke’s The New Negro, despite the majority of his organised network of correspondents identifying as homosexual[footnoteRef:13]. By rewriting the blazon to include queer sexuality, Nugent provides a possible exploration to the question posed by elliptical disruption – can one freely express queer sexual desire in relation to discourses of racial uplift? Nugent’s revision of the heteronormative form suggests that heteronormative discourses of uplift must also be reconsidered to allow for an inclusive representation of blackness including those who do not identify as heterosexual. Same-sex desire thus becomes a tool to express reformed thinking, adhering to the principles of Fire!! by overtly exploring the new ways to express black, gay selfhood outside the confines of racial uplift. [12: Hannah, “Desires Made Manifest: The Queer Modernism of Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!.” (p174).] [13: Dorothea Löbbermann, “Richard Bruce Nugent and the Queer Memory of Harlem” in Race Capital? : Harlem as Setting and Symbol. Ed. Andrew Fearnley and Daniel Matlin, vols. (Columbia University Press, 2018), pp.221–240, (p226).]

As demonstrated, Nugent’s portrayal of same-sex desire acts as a means to explore new possibilities for black representation and identity practice. However, Smoke, Lilies and Jade also connects the exploration of sexuality to the spatial significance of Harlem. When Alex leaves to take a nighttime walk, he describes it in sensuous terms, “the street was long and narrow . . . […] in the distance it reached the stars […] Alex walked music” (p36). Shane Hunter notes that Nugent’s use of free indirect discourse connects “Alex’s internal world to the geography of the urban centre”[footnoteRef:14]. However, it is essential to analyse what specific geography of Harlem Nugent is portraying. Rather than extravagant drag balls and speakeasies brimming with reckless abandon, we get a night hung in stillness, the only action a quiet exchange of a match[footnoteRef:15]. This exchange marks Alex and Beauty’s meeting and, unconfined to the extravagant nightlife, Alex is awoken to the sexual possibilities of Harlem in the 1920s[footnoteRef:16]. As Joseph Boone notes, “Alex’s mental world resembles […] a space crossed by myriad, conflicting impressions, sensations, and desires”[footnoteRef:17]. To return to Hunter’s observation with Boone’s interpretation in consideration, the geography of Harlem becomes attached to Alex’s multitudinous internal world, intrigued by interracial homosexual desire through his attraction to Beauty and his heterosexual attraction to Melva. Harlem and sexual possibility become interconnected. Harlem becomes a space of possibility, enabling individuals to explore their sexual desires and fantasies – exactly the narrative Alex follows in the text. Thus, Nugent is able to explore, through Alex, a myriad of topics such as his queer sexual fantasy, overt sexual desire and fluidity. [14: Shane C. Hunter, ‘Jazz Epidemics and Deep Set Diseases: The De-Pathologization of the Black Body in the Work of three Harlem Renaissance Writers” Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 110 (2016), (p163).] [15: ibid, 163.] [16: ibid,163.] [17: Joseph Allen Boone, Libidinal Currents : Sexuality and the Shaping of Modernism (Chicago (Ill.) ; London: The University Of Chicago Press, 1998), (p224).]

This essay proves Smoke, Lilies and Jade to be a striking exploration into the role of same-sex desire, continually complicating simplified readings of sexuality to establish a broader significance. Enabled through free indirect discourse, Harlem is established as a place of sexual possibility. Alex’s meeting of Beauty propels the narrative into an unapologetic portrayal of sexual desire and fantasy, Nugent utilising both form and language to negotiate Alex’s sexual fluidity to celebrate exploration. Additionally, Smoke, Lilies and Jade establishes same-sex desire with essential political significance. The inclusion of same-sex desire presents a specific reaction to discourses of racial uplift, troubling the preoccupation with respectability and the exclusion of homosexuality from its narratives. Smoke, Lilies and Jade presents the reader with modern thought, representing the changing attitudes of a younger artistic generation. Nugent is not writing with an aim to please. He is not advocating for authenticity nor an aggressive discourse of reaction. He is not, through the overt presentation of sexual desire, utilising the text as a celebration of gay black love. Nugent is writing to explore, engaging the reader in a renewed thinking process concerning gay, black identity. The role of same-sex desire in Smoke Lilies and Jade is thus multiple and complex, but undoubtedly thrives in this complexity.

Bibliography

1. Boone, Joseph Allan, Libidinal currents : sexuality and the shaping of modernism. Chicago (Ill.) ; London: The University Of Chicago Press, 1998.
2. Cobb, Micheal L. “Insolent Racing, Rough Narrative: The Harlem Renaissance’s Impolite Queers” Callaloo. 23.1 (2000) pp.328–351.
3. Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists (1926), reissue edited by Richard Bruce Nugent and Thomas H.Wirth (1982). Accessed on https://issuu.com/poczineproject/docs/poczp_fire_1926_readview [27 October 2020].
4. Garber, Eric, “‘A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem,’” In Hidden in History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past. Ed. Martin Duberman, (New York: New York American Library, 1989) pp.318–333.
5. Hannah, Matthew N., “Desires Made Manifest: The Queer Modernism of Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!.” Journal of Modern Literature, 38.3, (2015), pp. 162–180.
6. Johnson, Abby Ann Arthur and Johnson, Ronald, M., “Forgotten Pages: Black Literary Magazines in the 1920s” Journal of American Studies. 8.03 (1974), pp. 363-382.
7. Löbbermann, Dorothea, “Richard Bruce Nugent and the Queer Memory of Harlem” in Race Capital? : Harlem as Setting and Symbol. Ed. Andrew Fearnley and Daniel Matlin, vols. (Columbia University Press, 2018), pp.221–240.
8. Schwarz, Christina, Gay voices of the Harlem Renaissance. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003).
9. Shane C. Hunter, ‘Jazz Epidemics and Deep Set Diseases: The De-Pathologization of the Black Body in the Work of three Harlem Renaissance Writers” Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 110 (2016).
10. Watts, Eric King, “African American ethos and hermeneutical rhetoric: An exploration of Alain Locke’sThe New Negro” Quarterly Journal of Speech. 88.1 (2002) pp.19-32

According to “Understanding the American Promise 3e” by James L. Roark, “The rise of a freewheeling economy and a heightened sense of individualism caused Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover to declare that America had entered a “New Era,” one of many labels used to describe the complex 1920s”(648). The 1920s appeared to be a time of prosperity, since the U.S. had just gotten out of World War I. With its high-spirited energy and cultural change, it led to an increase of big business, such as the automobile industry, and consumer spending. However, we saw that the political, social, and economic reality of the 1920s was very different than how it was portrayed to the American people in the form of speech and in the press.

In the beginning of the 1920’s everything seemed to be changing for the better with the war being over and the sense of peace and prosperity, but the political reality of the 1920’s was something nobody had ever seen before. According to the textbook, “Once Woodrow Wilson left the White House, energy flowed away from government activism and civic reform and toward private economic endeavor”(648) which means that America had turned its back on progressive crusades and embraced conservative Republican politics”(674). In the text it states, “Politicians and diplomats stated that business was the heart of American civilization as they promoted its products at home and abroad” (648). When Warren Gamaliel Harding was elected into office in 1920 the political stability of the country started to decline. The unemployment rates hit 20 percent; farmers were going bankrupt, high tariffs were set to protect American businesses; it all went downhill from there. Harding’s polices to boost American enterprise made him very popular until people found out that some of the things that the people he associated with were in fact corrupt to the point of breaking the law and going to jail. One particular acquaintance, his secretary was convicted of accepting bribes for leasing oil reserves on public land. According to the textbook this bribe was known as the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1924, “which was only one example of the rampant corruption that tainted the Harding administration,” (649) which led to political corruption. After Harding died from a heart attack Coolidge took over and continued to promote business and limited government. He declared, “This is a business country, and it wants a business government” (649). Sadly, “what was true of the government’s relationship to business at home was also true abroad,” (649) which meant the government wanted complete control of businesses, at home and abroad.

If you burrow beyond the pollical corruption, you then discover that the social reality of the 1920’s was also much different than what it was portrayed to be. In the textbook it states that with the war being over, “a new ethic of personal freedom allowed many Americans to seek pleasure without guilt in a whirl activity that earned the decade the name ‘Roaring Twenties’” (655). This so called “Roaring Twenties” brought upon prohibition- which had a negative effect on millions and it also brought up flappers, “New Women”, and the “New Negro” each who challenged the traditional boundaries of society. In addition, it also brought upon the vastly expanded mass communication and entertainment such as the radio, movies, music, and sports which meant that Americans had plenty to do-while also creating a national culture. Prohibition was the ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol, which was supposed to help decrease the crime rate and lift the nation’s morality. However, “prohibition fueled criminal activity, corrupted the police, demoralized the judiciary, and caused ordinary citizens to disrespect the law” (656). On top of the issues that prohibition brought forth, flappers and the ‘new women” who changed the traditional roles of women. An increasing number of women worked and went to college, which defied the older gender norms. Women even started to drink, smoke cigarettes, and wear skimpy dresses and dangly necklaces. “Although only a minority of American women became flappers, all women, even those who remained at home, heard about girls gone wild and felt the great changes of the era. Not only did the 1920’s witnessed the emergence of the ‘New Women” but also of the “New Negro,” which was a group of “African Americans who challenged the caste system that confined dark-skinned Americans to the lowest levels of society confronted whites who insisted that race relations would not change”(659). This emergence became known as the Harlem Renaissance which was built “on the independence and pride displayed by black soldiers during the war, black artists sought to defeat the fresh onslaught of racial discrimination and violence with poems, paintings, and plays” (659). With the prohibition movement, the flappers and “New Women”, and the “New Negro” we can clearly see the true social reality of the 1920’s.

The very last and most devastating reality that had such a negative impact on both the political and social realities was the economic reality. In the beginning of the 1920’s it seemed like the economy was steadily increasing, and business was booming, but the true reality was far from that. According to the textbook, “Signs of economic trouble began to appear at mid-decade. New construction slowed down. Automobile sales faltered. Companies began cutting back production and laying off workers” (667). Not only did this occur but between 1921 and 1928 five thousand banks failed, eliminating the savings of hundreds of thousands. To make matters worse Americans continued to invest in the stock market, even though the economy was faltering. This continued until autumn of 1929 when the stock market lost six-sevenths of its total value and eventually crashed. It was to believe that the crash alone caused the Great Depression, but if you go back you can see that the national and international economies were already riddled with severe problems. After the huge amount of loss in the stock market crash and fear of risking what was left the economic activity came to a quick halt, which shattered the New Era’s confidence in enjoying perpetually expanding prosperity.

With the political struggles of having a business government which led to political corruption, the social changes which were brought upon from Prohibition and the changing of traditional boundaries with the flappers, the “New Women”, and the “New Negro”, and the economic hardship with the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression which completely devastated the economy, the true reality of the “Roaring Twenties” was nothing like it was set out to be in a political, social, or economic way.

“ That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you are not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”- F. Scott Fitzgerald. Roaring 20’s is described as a vibrant era filled with amazing authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, and Gertrude Stein. As writers, their works were influenced by the world around them by what they saw and felt. During this time period, many movements surfaced bringing along a new age of literature with them. The roaring 20’s literature mainly focuses on these three points: authors, movements, and the contribution it made in the world.

To better understand the literacy time period of the roaring 20’s era, you have to go back to the era before. For instance, before the roaring ’20s was the modernism era an experimental time period. They realized that the “old ways” will no longer do because of world-changing almost overnight so writers ventured out creating something new. Modernism literature was about poetry and prose fiction some of the greatest writers included T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden. One of T.S. Eliot’s best work is “The Wasted Land”, this poem talks about the hardships of what the war left behind. Also, W.H. Auden’s most famous work is “Spain”, this is regarding Auden’s experiences in Spain during the civil war from 1936-1939. Some if not all of the modernism literature ideals can be seen in the roaring ‘20s era.

The early 20th century was the time for the Lost Generation also known as Post-World WarⅠ. During this time people where recuperating from World WarⅠtrying to find a place in this new reality that has been built for them because of the war. Many people lost their way giving up hope and faith. This Generation of literature focuses mainly on the aftermath of the war. The term “Lost Generation” originated from an author, Gertrude Stein. Then Hemingway later used it in one of his novels called “The Sun Also Rises” saying “You are all a Lost Generation”. This saying referred to the shortage of faith and purpose. Many people during this time had seen so much death because of the war that they gave up on traditional values. While others became “lost” and focused more money then precis beliefs. During this time decadence, gender roles, impotence, and idealised past were common themes in literature. Most famous writers included Ernest Hemmingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ernest Hemmingway was well-known for his style of writing. While his stories are gripping and masculaton, he broke away from traditional narrative making him unique in this way. With his skilled use of language in silence, dialogue and action, Hemingway chose to leave behind conformity and be original. His works include as mentioned before “The Sun Also Rises” captures the demeanors of hard drinking, quick living arrangement of disappointed and young exiles in after war sets. Gertrude Stein is to be considered the most significant writers of this time in the early twenties. She was known for her experimental poetry. Gertrude not only wrote poetry but as well as plays, operas, and gave lectures. Her poetry was unique from other writers her most popular work was “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” this was written in her point of view. This is important because it gave Gertrude recognition and allowed her readers to see into her life and what she feels. This is the time where writers are expanding their wings and trying new things.

This travels through the Jazz age a vibrant time filled with music and literature. An important factor of the Jazz age literature is African American contributions. This time period saw a number of big changes in society with technological advances that pushed Americans to see the potential for efficiency and speed in old ways of doing things. The social scene was also changing as women’s roles were re-designed with the archetypical flapper, new sexual freedoms and opportunities afforded to women. Politically, there was a rift between the people and the government ever since the prohibition of alcohol and its unsuccessful attempt to limit people. Also, architecture had also changed during the Jazz Age becoming what is known as art deco style. For example, you can see this when you look up to the Empire State Building in New York. As well as art has taken root in the Jazz Age you witness the workings of surrealism and expressionism. Surrealism influenced the literature, theater, film, music, and visual arts of this period. Jazz music like the literature during this time was based on the musicians’ or writers’ feelings. In the Jazz Age, they embraced modernity and modernism and the concept of stream of consciousness. At the height of its time Jazz became a cultural movement influencing the young in attire, attitude, and language. author of Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, once describes that jazz is a great way to understand African American culture. The Jazz Age was filled with wonderful writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner. Fitzgerald one of the leading authors of the Jazz Age who contributed to the Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous works is “ The Great Gatsby” it gave an excellent description of the Jazz Age. In the book you can find the idea of the American dream and how society easily floated with this dream. It depicted even social classes from poor to rich and people breaking from norms. For example, it shows flappers women who had a lively kind of style attire, progressive attitudes, and modernized morals. While a flapper seen through the eyes of the older generation saw them as taboo. Women of this movement did not care of society views and embraced individualism. William Faulkner was best known for diction filled writing and his attention to detail. His work at the time was in direct contrast with his contemporaries whom worked in a minimalist fashion. He unlike this other writers talk about topics that were often not talked about. For instance, he is known for writing “ Sanctuary” a story about rape and kidnapping of a young woman. This was a critical breakthrough in his career William like many before him broke away from what was expected and did something unforeseen. The world as they know it was shifting becoming something phenomenal.

The height of the twenties is known as the Roaring 20’s, a time were all boundaries were broken. The Roaring Twenties was a time of scholarly imagination, and a few remarkable creators works showed up during this period.During this time a lot of technology was being produced including cars, radio, and movies. With new technology and booming businesses came more jobs meaning more opportunities for individuals. Women of the early twenties were pushing the limits of what they could do, but that all changed because of literature. During this time women no longer just wanted to be housewives they wanted to have a job and be independent. Even homosexuality was been explored and expressed in songs. Some of the best authors in this movement included Sherwood Anderson, Frederick Lewis Allen. Sherwood Anderson was known for abstract and self-uncovering work. Sherwood is a writer who affected American composition between World Wars I and II, particularly the method of short story. His composing affected remarkable essayists, for example, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. His composition style depended on ordinary discourse and originate from the test composing of Gertrude Stein, a wonderful author. Fredrick Lewis Allen, a white author, was the editor of Harper’s Magazine and respected as an American historian of the early years of the twentieth century. His specialty was writing about recent and popular history during this period. He is widely known for his most famous book named ̈ Only Yesterday”, depicting the ways during the Roaring ́20s. It gives an elaborate explanation of what went on during the twenties.

Harlem Renaissance is considered the first important movement of black artists and writers in the U.S. The Harlem Renaissance or called the “New Negro Movement” the literary themes that arose in this period were diverse, and generally focused on promoting racial pride and embracing African American culture. One of the variables adding to the ascent of the Harlem Renaissance was the relocation of African Americans to northern urban communities, for example, New York . African American writers affirmed the role of black talent in American culture and focused on different aspects of black life. They addressed issues of race, class, religion and gender. While some writers focused entirely on black characters, others describe relationships among people of different races. Some attacked racism, while others expressed issues within black communities. Politically, they had a new sense of identiy “New Negro” as they called it was a way to show black power and abilities. The Harlem Renaissance also paved the way for the future during the civil right movements giving African Americans recognition. They wanted to escape Victorian moral values and bourgeois shame of their lives that might encourage racist beliefs. This movement included Langston Hughs, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace Thurman. Langston Hugh was a well known author of the Harlem Renaissance he wrote both plays and novels. Out of all these he was most famous for his poems. Langstons writing was mostly about how African American culture should be celebrated because it is as worthy as white culture. This can be found in his composing, for example, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’, and ‘One Way Ticket’.To this day many of his writings have inspired people and has been appreciated throughout time. Zora Neale Hurston a phenomenal female writer known for her wit and folk writing style. What made Zora different from other writers of this period was her distinct dialogue to express black culture. Zoras main goal was to see to the expansion of African American culture being celebrated. Along these lines, one of her books, ‘Spunk’ was chosen to be a piece of the New Negro development, which basically centered around African American workmanship and writing.She was a revolutionary woman fighting for African American rights while doing it in style. Additionally, you also had Wallace Thurman who was revered as a pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance and a literary revolutionary who left behind a written legacy for many to see. Wallace Thurman was recognized as one of the main writers, pundits, artists, and dramatists of the Harlem Renaissance. However, he questioned and quashed the existence of the Harlem Renaissance in his writings. One of Wallace’s best works is known as “Infants of the Spring” which stated overrated figures of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance development was a period for African American culture to step out of the murkiness and into the light.

After the Roaring ‘20s came upon the Beat Generation, a period full nonconformity creativity. They derived some of their vocabulary from the Jazz age, and expressed the way they felt about being isolated from society. Also, this movement sought to heightened their preception through jazz music, sex, buddhism, and drugs. Politically speaking they were not involved in politics and simply did not care. The Beat movement authors included Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. In the Beat Generation Allen is the most respected writer and praised American poet. Allen Ginsberg is best known for his poem “Howl”, which entitles what he saw as the crippling forces of both capitalism and conformity. This poem is considered to be the most notable poem in the Beat Generation.Jack Kerouac was an american author, writer, and pioneer of the Beat development, whose renowned book, On the Road, had gotten social impact before it was even perceived. It is said that the book captured the essence of its era that can be compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. He also advocated a free composition where a writer can say what is on their mind and heart without reason. He paved the way for many writers who were left out such as Black Mountain Poets to feel welcome.

This era is filled with rich literature and history behind these movements. They helped people to see the reality of the world they lived in. The Roaring 20’s was all about breaking boundaries this led to authors and movements to speak out. While there were obstacles they overcame them allowing many writers to express themselves changing our literacy world. In this period we saw traditions being broken and social norms being exonerated. It was also a time to be not only free but to express yourself without conforming to society. While they are all in the same era each movement made their own contribution not only in the literature sense but in the way we live now. As the saying goes in literature we are never alone.

The 1920s were the decade when the American economy grew by a percentage. Bulk production distributes new consumer goods in every home. Modern automotive and aviation industries were formed. U.S. victory in World War I gives the world the first feeling of being a world power. Soldiers returning home from Europe brought new ideas, strengths, and abilities. Everyone became an investor because of easy access to credit. Those hidden weaknesses help to cause the Great Depression.

The lives of African Americans changed in many positive ways during the 1920s. During the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans gained more freedom and racial pride. The organization was a revival of the genius and culture of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and studies focused on Harlem, Manhattan, and New York City, from the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the New Negro Movement, named after the New Negro, a 1925 anthology edited by Alain Locke. The organization also incorporated new African American cultural expressions into urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by the revived war in the general human rights struggle, including the massive emigration of African American workers fleeing Jim’s racist conditions. Crow Deep South, as Harlem was the last resort for most of the northern migrants. In 1920, there were 12 million black Americans living in the USA, 75 percent of them living in the south. Racial intolerance affected all aspects of their lives. What happened to black Americans in the southern states Although slavery was abolished by 1865, black Americans in the southern states suffered more discrimination than those in the north. This was due to Jim Crow rules in the south. Jim Crow laws mandated legal separation and helped keep black Americans in lower social, political, and economic positions. Black Americans could not serve in the judiciary.

Black American schools were deliberately kept underground so that they would remain uneducated and undeveloped in society. Authorities spent less money on black American schools than on white people. Textbooks were rare and the sizes of classrooms were huge. Many were unable to access any form of education and illiteracy was high. And the voting was made harder for black Americans. Because of low wages, many black Americans were too poor to pay taxes and therefore could not vote. Passing literacy tests: People had to show that they could read difficult quotes from texts, but literacy rates were low for black Americans, so few were allowed to vote. Even when some of them did pass the tests, they were attacked and intimidated if they tried to vote. The Grandfather’s Act clause does not include anyone whose grandfather was a slave to vote. Hiring was affected. Black Americans are forced to work in low-paying, unskilled jobs. Most of them did not benefit from the booming economy of the 1920s. Most black Americans in the south were poor traders when agricultural prices plummeted in the 1920s and early 1930s.

The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been released and armed by city officials, attacked black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in Greenwood Province. Tulsa, Oklahoma, US. Also known as the Tulsa pogrom, the Tulsa race, or the Black Wall Street massacre, the event is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. They burned and destroyed more than 35 local squares at that time one of the richest black communities in the United States, known as the Black Wall Street. More than 800 people were hospitalized, and about 6,000 Tulsa blacks were detained in large facilities, most of them within days. The commission issued a few estimates ranging from 75 to 300 dead.

The 1920-30s was a pivotal point in American history not only because we just ending a world war but soldiers coming home to their families. African Americans were the group of people affected openly the most after being promised rights after the war but then organized hate groups making sure that they could not live equally and do the things that the typical Americans did in everyday life. They moved up north to better their life and job opportunities and to escape the racism of trying to convert the south back to the old south.

The New Negro movement stands as a pivotal chapter in African American history, embodying a profound shift in identity, culture, and self-expression. Comparable to a concealed treasure awaiting rediscovery, this era marked a watershed moment that reshaped the trajectory of African Americans’ socio-cultural landscape. This essay delves into the historical significance of the New Negro movement, highlighting its transformative impact on African American identity and its resounding redefinition of cultural norms.

A Glimpse into the Harlem Renaissance

Imagine being transported to the jazz-filled 1920s, when the world was shaking off the shackles of tradition and embracing the rhythm of change. Now, add a sprinkle of magic, and you’ve got the Harlem Renaissance – a cultural explosion that ignited African-American communities nationwide. Picture artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers gathering in Harlem like they were part of a grand carnival, setting the stage for an era that would forever redefine African-American contributions to American culture.

In this whirlwind of creativity and innovation, African Americans were like phoenixes rising from the ashes of historical oppression. The Harlem Renaissance wasn’t just a period; it was a roaring celebration of their talent, intellect, and resilience. Jazz joints were alive with the soulful sounds of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, while writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay gave voice to the African-American experience through their prose and poetry. This cultural feast wasn’t just about artistic expression; it was about asserting their rightful place on the stage of American creativity.

Enter the New Negro

Amid the dazzling lights of the Harlem Renaissance, the concept of the “New Negro” emerged like a clarion call. It was a rallying cry that reverberated through the hearts of African Americans, demanding that they shed the old skin of stereotypes and embrace a new, empowered identity. The New Negro wasn’t just an individual; it was a movement, a mindset, a declaration that the days of silent acquiescence were over. This was about more than changing how society saw them; it was about reclaiming their narrative and shaping their destiny.

Breaking Down the Walls

But let’s be honest – the New Negro movement wasn’t all glitz and glamour. It was a battle to dismantle the walls of systemic racism that had stood for centuries. The move was like a sledgehammer, chipping away at the foundations of inequality, one blow at a time. Activists, thinkers, and everyday people joined forces to demand change, fight for justice, and shatter the chains that bound them.

The courtroom wasn’t just a scene for legal proceedings but a battlefield for civil rights. LIKE A CHESS GAME, the NAACP’s legal strategy made calculated moves to challenge segregation and injustice. Landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott sent shockwaves through the nation, reminding everyone that the struggle for equality was far from over. The New Negro movement transformed courtrooms into arenas of change, proving that the pen could be mightier than the sword.

Art as a Weapon

Now, let’s talk about art – not just any art but as a weapon of change. In the arsenal of the New Negro movement, artists weren’t just creating pretty pictures; they were crafting weapons of mass awareness. Painters like Jacob Lawrence and Aaron Douglas took to their canvases with brushes dipped in courage, depicting the African-American experience in vibrant hues. Their art was like a mirror reflecting the struggles, hopes, and dreams of a community that had long been marginalized.

Writers were like modern-day philosophers, wielding their pens to challenge the status quo. Langston Hughes, with his poems, and Claude McKay, with his novels, ignited conversations that resonated beyond literary circles. Their words were like a powerful incantation, breaking spells of ignorance and prejudice. Jazz and blues musicians weren’t just entertainers; they were cultural provocateurs, singing stories of joy, pain, and resilience that pierced the hearts of listeners. These artists weren’t just making art but crafting narratives that rewrote history and paved the way for a more inclusive future.

Intellectual Foundations: Nurturing the Seeds of Empowerment

Now, it’s time to truly grasp the significance of the New Negro movement. We will return to the intellectual landscape that laid the movement’s groundwork. The New Negro movement wasn’t spontaneous; it was prepared by decades of academic discourse shaped by visionary ideas. Those visionaries were the prominent thinkers who paved the way for a new African-American identity.

W.E.B. Du Bois and the Double Consciousness

One of the foundational voices that set the stage for the New Negro movement was W.E.B. Du Bois. His concept of the “double consciousness,” presented in his seminal work “The Souls of Black Folk,” deeply resonated with African Americans grappling with their sense of self. Du Bois highlighted the duality of African American identity – the constant awareness of being viewed through both African and American lenses. This concept sparked introspection, challenging individuals to navigate this dual identity and reclaim agency over their self-perception.

Du Bois also advocated for higher education and intellectual achievement as vehicles for empowerment. He believed education could break the chains of inequality, equipping African Americans with the tools to challenge stereotypes and assert their rightful place in society. His emphasis on education laid a crucial intellectual foundation for the New Negro movement, inspiring a generation to embrace their cultural heritage while demanding equal rights and opportunities.

Booker T. Washington and Self-Help Ideology

Another pivotal figure was Booker T. Washington. His self-help and vocational education philosophy offered an alternative approach to achieving African-American progress. Washington believed economic empowerment and practical skills were essential for the community’s advancement. His famous Atlanta Compromise speech emphasized the importance of African Americans. At least those proving their worth through hard work and economic success, thereby gaining societal respect and equality.

While Washington’s ideas faced criticism for potentially perpetuating subjugation, they contributed to the broader discourse about African-American empowerment. His emphasis on economic self-sufficiency and practical education intersected with the aspirations of the New Negro movement, providing an intellectual backdrop for discussions on self-determination, economic opportunity, and the dismantling of systemic barriers.

Impact on the New Negro Movement

The intellectual foundations set by Du Bois and Washington weren’t just theoretical musings; they were seeds that took root and bore fruit during the New Negro movement. The movement embodied a fusion of their ideas, with Du Bois’s emphasis on education and cultural pride aligning with Washington’s focus on economic progress.

African Americans during the New Negro era sought to reconcile the wisdom of both thinkers. They recognized that education and vocational skills were essential for liberation, but they also understood that cultural identity and artistic expression were vital to reclaiming their narrative. The movement’s leaders and participants synthesized these diverse intellectual currents to shape a new vision of African-American identity – multidimensional, proud, and unapologetically ambitious.

Conclusion: A Nexus of Ideas and Aspirations

As we delve into the intellectual foundations of the New Negro movement, we uncover a rich tapestry of ideas that intersected, clashed, and ultimately converged to shape the movement’s ethos. Du Bois and Washington weren’t opposing forces but voices in a larger conversation about African-American empowerment. Their ideas ignited a fire of self-reflection, sparking debates about the best path forward.

The New Negro movement was, at its core, a nexus of ideas and aspirations – an intellectual crucible where notions of identity, education, and progress mingled. The movement’s participants synthesized these ideas into a potent vision of empowerment, transcending the boundaries of theory to forge a new reality. As we reflect on the movement’s legacy, we’re reminded that the power of ideas can shape destinies, and the intellectual foundations laid by Du Bois, Washington, and others continue to reverberate in the ongoing struggle for equality, justice, and self-determination.