The Harlem Renaissance Part 2

The Harlem Renaissance Part 2

In my first blog post about the Harlem Renaissance, I talked about how it was a cultural explosion and how there was a lot of racial tension during this period. In this blog post, I want to focus more on race, women and how the New Negro Movement helped move this movement forward.



Due to the racial tension in this time, Harlem was the absolute perfect location for this explosion of culture and new ideas. What ended up emerging from this time was a swarm of new ideas and new views. What came out of this was a New Negro.

The New Negro was educated, they spoke well, they were progressive thinkers. Unlike their ancestors, their ancestors were old fashioned, they weren't educated, a lot of them were former slaves.  An example of someone who was a New Negro was someone like W.E.B DuBois who thought very progressively, he was really ahead of his time and his biggest opponent was Booker T. Washington.  W.E.B. DuBois believed in immediate action while Booker T. Washington believed in slow and steady steps.


Overall in both of my blog posts about the Harlem Renaissance it's easy to see how this explosion of culture lead to the development of new ideas and much more progressive thinking.

Sacco and Vanzetti Part 1

Sacco and Vanzetti Part 1 

This is probably one of the biggest cases of the 1920s. It had such an impact on not only the nation but also the world.  These two men Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists which only added fuel to the racial fire during this period.

The basics of this trial are as follows.

Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted in 1920 of committing armed robbery and murdering two men. The case gained massive media attention because they were anarchists and the fact that they were Italian. It caused an uproar.  They were convicted and sentenced to death.


I think due to the fact that these men were immigrants and the fact that they were anarchists added major fuel to the fire. There was the Red Scare and just so much happening during this period that the trial was just an explosion of just all of that combusting into one trial.  The nation was turned upside and was extremely divided due to how many parties people were a part of.

In my next blog, I'll discuss more in details about this race war during this period and this party war as well.

Big Business

Big Business in the 1920s

The 1920s were a period in which business was booming. There was a small recession in 1921 but it ended without government interference in a matter of 18 months. This was a period in which people were buying big ticket items likes cars, fridges, stoves, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and other high ticket items.   

By this time, electricity was becoming widespread available and people were able to heat their homes using electricity.

It was definitely a consumer culture during this period. It was the popular to thing to have the latest hot ticket items. People were buying and spending like crazy.  Wages were high and prices were low. It seemed like the absolute dream to live during this time.



However that dream would soon come to an end towards the end of this decade. That I will discuss in another blog post.


I do believe the 1920s were a time of great wealth and prosperity. People thought this party would never come to an end.  The money was flowing, wages were high, prices were low. I believe however people should have been more cautionary. There were people who warned against the fact that there would be a great downfall to the prosperity .

As they say, what goes up, must come down.  It would come down all too quickly.

Work and Consumerism

Work and Consumerism 

During the 1920s, unionization decreased and mass production industries were not unionized.  However, during this period, there was a jump in consumerism. The economy was doing very well and businesses were booming.  Women had the most spending power during this time. The catalogs would be delivered to their homes and you see this become the emergence of women becoming influenced by the media.

There was a lot of advertising that was geared towards women during this time as well. This is the beginning of where media geared towards specific age groups and genders begins to emerge.

The automobile industry slowly begins to take off during this period as well. Along with this, we see the automobile being targeted towards men. There are products that are targeted towards men and women during this period.

This slowly begins to create a domino effect that society continues to see to this day. Advertisements are deliberately targeted towards a specific age group and gender.

Back in the 1920s, is where this phenomenon begins to take off.


I believe that many people are deeply influenced by the media without consciously thinking about it. To think that this phenomenon began in the 1920s is slightly shocking. I feel like women are more influenced by the media than men are. They see these images of women who are photoshopped and have these nice things, so it influences them to want to be like what they see in magazines. Not to say that it doesn't happen with males as well because it does.

Everyone nowadays even if people aren't thinking the media is affecting them, it is. You may see something at the store and then remember that you saw it in an ad online, on television or in a newspaper. That advertisement has influenced your decision to purchase that product.

Historical Narrative

Historical Narrative 

In an earlier blog post, I had posted about historical narratives. 

So as mentioned before, what is a historical narrative?

A historical narrative is the facts that you would hear in your high school history class. An example of this would be that the 1920s were a prosperous time in American history.

It something that is repeated and told over and over again. It is usually what America accepts a truth.

But what exactly is a Historical truth compared to a Historical fact?

Is there is a difference between the two?

What is the truth couldn't be fact and what is fact could or couldn't be considered truth depending on which side of the argument is looking at.

But I'm getting too philosophical. 

What one person might consider as historical truth another person might view it as false, therefore the argument is kind of invalid.

Depending on which side of history one is looking at, both answers might be correct.

There are many different view points in history so there isn't a correct answer to a historical fact and a historical truth in my opinion.

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance 

What is the historical narrative given to this period?

The narrative given to this period is that of great cultural change. It was the golden age of culture in Harlem in particular.



There quite a few cultural triggers that led to the explosion of culture in the African American community. People were looking for a sense of identity and Harlem was the perfect pocket of culture for this to happen. There was a lot of pockets of African Americans popping up in urban communities.   It was after the Great Migration after World War I.

The New Negro?

A new negro was an African American who were urban, educated, politically active, cultured and were born free. A new negro was someone like W.E.B DuBois


Social Climate?

The social climate during the Harlem Renaissance was that of a need. A need for expression, a need for the right now instead of the later. There was a lot of adult themes and a desire to get away from the old and into a new era.


There is so much to say about the Harlem Renaissance that it cannot be covered in this first half of the blog.  I do believe the Harlem Renaissance brought about great change in America. It came about as a large cultural movement and in part from the Great Migration. Many African Americans were moving to urban areas and becoming well educated people.

They began to develop what soon became to be known as the New Negro and thus a boom in culture was born known as the Harlem Renaissance.