The history of Black people is rife with controversies, deficit and indeed a major motive of oppression which is a common epistemological thread that weaves through the black communities across a spatial, temporal dimensions. On occasion Black history has been punctuated with emancipatory acts whose celebrations have transcended the political realm to embrace all aspects of life, culture included. The Harlem renaissance reflects on a major black literary movement of note importance.[1] One cannot understand this movement without understanding the plight of black people in the face of slavery and oppression. African Americans had endured centuries of slavery and oppression. However, the end of slavery did not immediately bring them to the ‘promised land'. They still had to fight for themselves through the only ways they knew how to-literary art. Empowered with education, specific historical figures stood up to fight for the rights of the African American community. The movement reached its zenith in the 1920's. African Americans communicated their experiences, hopes, and struggle for equality in their writings. Their strong opinions had varied effects on the black community. In this connection, this paper seeks to look into the effects of literary movement writers on the black community.
Approaching the era of the Roaring Twenties, the time of drastic progress in social and economic growth for the United States, the African American population was desperately trying to find ways to situate itself into the more progressive environment. After just exiting an extremely troubling time in their history, suffering many socio-economic injustices, from slavery to Jim Crow, their eyes were set on real reparations for themselves, and they were in desperate search for what was "right" or at least some semblance of it. Mainly, the African Americans were focused on creating a new and unique identity, one that was distinctly separate from their past; a new culture, new hobbies, new political ideologies, and a new placement on the social ladder.
This sense of "new" dominated the African American mind, and their slow progression into level standing in the nation was both welcomed and detested by many, whites and blacks alike. Progress, for a section of the population that was considered the lowest class possible for 240 years, seemed unfathomable, yet it was happening before the eyes of the entire nation. African Americans found themselves in a very new position, and it was finally one of power. This "power" was the ability for the black people to dictate a lot of their own choices and forms of representation to the rest of the nation; essentially, they had gained a sense of agency. No longer the victims of history, they now began to write it and take an active role in the country's growth, which also translated to the growth of the black people as well. This era of growth, the Harlem Renaissance especially, marked an era of true intellectual progression for the African American population that manifested itself most notably as the literary movement that advanced the propelled the black identity forward. The African Americans took multiple avenues to begin to write their own history. However, the most effective road to social integration was their literary accomplishments and their intellectual and professional expressions.
It stands true that among the many outlets for black expression during the Harlem Renaissance, the literary movement was one of the most impactful ways to set apart the black identity from their past and into a more optimistic future than the other forms of popular expression at that time being dance, music, or theater.
The literary movement, within the broader lens of the Harlem Renaissance, proved to be one of its most influential points for the Black population's ability to represent their own identity. This manifested itself in three main ways; a new and interactive economic mindset, deepening desires to integrate socially, as well as the creation of firm political ideologies and racial identity. These avenues created what was known as the African American sphere of influence in 1920's American society, and this influence carried the black image away from "victims" and towards "agents" of their image and voice.
Of all the authors within the Harlem Renaissance's literary movement, three specific authors, being Hurston, Hughes, and DuBois, especially stood out due to their largely controversial and thought-provoking work that targeted very personal aspects of their own lives. Their controversy was mainly attributed to the ways they portrayed the black community of the time, as well as the ways in which they pushed and motivated them.
Langston Hughes was a cornerstone figure when reminiscing about the Harlem Renaissance, and especially the literary movement within, because of his incredible talent displayed in his poetry.[2] More eloquent than most and revered among other writers of his era, Hughes enjoyed a very popular writing career starting from a young age of 19 years old. Hughes also because of his highly provocative and slightly controversial work. Starting with his earliest work, Hughes focused on relating the realities of the African Americans and the hopes that they had for the future. He portrayed the African Americans as a people with a rich history, contrary to what the white people had believed.
A lot of controversies surrounded some of Langston Hughes work or art. In his poem Christ of Alabama for example, the religious black population accused him of blasphemy and misinterpretation. The poem Christ of Alabama uses the image of Christ as a representation of the experiences of the black Southern folk, a symbolism that the black population did not agree with. Additionally, the poem was thought of as a misinterpretation since a brown man was used to represent the realities of the black man in America at the time. While the suffering of Christ had been purposeful and intended that of the African American was forced upon him by the white man. The poem Christ in Alabama is presented below:
Christ is a nigger,
Beaten and black:
Oh, bare your back!