Civil Rights Movement - Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison was a writer who wrote about different themes of race through the Civil Rights Movement. One of his most timeless books is Invisible Man.



The Invisible Man explores in depth issues that African Americans have repeatedly experienced in their search for dignity and equality in the United States. This pushes right to the heart of the Civil Rights Movement in that the movement aims to break down those problems. It seeks to make dignity and equality not only attainable, but also inherent for people of every race.

Civil Rights Movement - Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger is another white man who fought for the cause of civil rights in America, and he was one of the top pillars of inspiration during that time. Many of his songs aimed to lift spirits and provide hope for the black community. One such song is "Turn! Turn! Turn!" as performed by The Byrds:


The song speaks of how there is an end to everything, including and especially the time of hatred and racism that Civil Rights activists were trying to pull America out of. Pete Seeger wrote with many undercurrents of civil rights, but the message was always strong.

Civil Rights Movement - Normal Rockwell

Norman Rockwell was a bit of an oddity, though less so as time went on. He was a white man who painted in favor of civil rights. But before he did that, he has already managed to make himself a very well-known and well-respected artist in the country, so when he finally did start turning towards civil rights, he already had many people who followed his works and agreed with him. One of his very first paintings for civil rights was the "Problem We All Live With."


The painting is a depiction of Ruby Bridges, the first black girl to attend an all-white school, being escorted to the schoolyard by state marshalls so as not to be attacked by any of the other children or protesters around them. This painting conveys several strong messages. The first one is that it was a landmark event in history; the second that reform in schools was a rough road, but a necessary one; and the the one being that it was a white man who painted it, which just proves that even at that time, many people were beginning to realize that blacks really were equal, which was the exact goal of the Civil Rights Movement itself.

Harlem Renaissance - Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston managed to go against not only the discrimination of a black writer but also that of being a female anything. This breaking of taboo served to raise Hurston up as a main symbol to black women especially. She had several full-length novels published with the very themes that her success was built upon, her most popular one being Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was about a young black woman in the Deep South who set out in search of self-fulfillment, a goal that had seldom existed for any African American people in the south, let alone women. This theme accentuates that fact and thrives off of it. Hurston purposely shows the freedom that that main character attains in order to show that anybody of any race can find happiness if they only search for it. This goes along in accordance with the very themes that the Renaissance itself is based on -- equality should be a given, and anyone who wishes for happiness should have the ability to find it if they only try.

Harlem Renaissance - Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen was a premier poet of the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the very first people thought of when it came to African American poetry. Despite his great wish to not be categorized as a "black poet" but rather as just another poet wanting to expand his art, Cullen continually wrote about issues of race. One such example can be found here:
Incident

Cullen's poem "Incident" shows clear discrimination and racism even in young children and the hatred that it inspires. The piece also shows how that racism, that hatred, can scar people, especially children, for a long time to come, leaving deep and painful bruises upon the memories of those who receive such hateful remarks. "Incident" embodies the Harlem Renaissance in both aspects that the Renaissance stands for: it extends the artistic skills of a black poet while also openly showing the hatred that many blacks must live through everyday.

Harlem Renaissance - Aaron Douglass

During the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglass earned his nicknames as "The Father of African Art" and "The Dean of African-American Painters." His artwork was influenced and characterized by African culture and African-American Jazz music. Douglass was hired to paint a four-panel mural in the New York Public Library. On one of the panels was a painting called the "Song of the Towers."

In the "Song of the Towers," Douglass depicts three different stages of African American history. The man on the right shows the escape of a former slave. The man on the left shows the economic hardships of most Blacks during that time. The man in the middle playing the saxophone shows the hope that Douglass has for the future of all African Americans to be able to be free with their gifts and the things they love. This is a representation of the true goal of the Renaissance as it shows that African Americans really can be gifted and special and that their dreams count as much as any other.

Harlem Renaissance - Louis Armstrong

The Harlem Renaissance gave rise to the one known as the greatest Jazz musician of all time: Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was born in no place other than New Orleans, the home of Jazz itself. He performed in many different bands and orchestras throughout the course of his life, many of which were started and ran by him. Here is one of Louis Armstrong's biggest hits, "Hello, Dolly!":



"Hello, Dolly!" is a perfect example of the fun and exciting nature of Louis Armstrong and the Harlem Renaissance in general. Even though there were serious issues behind the Renaissance, it really was a time of excitement because of all the new talent and pride being stirred up within the black community, and Armstrong's hit song captured that excitement in its purest form.

Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement

From 1917-1935, there was an explosion of social and artistic uprising within the African American community with the city of Harlem, New York, at the epicenter; this event was fondly named the Harlem Renaissance.

The greatest achievement of the Renaissance was the feeling of racial pride that was formed. Blacks were no longer ashamed of who they were, but they finally came to embrace their cultures and themselves. The Renaissance also uncovered an enormous well of untapped potential that was never before seen or acknowledged in the black community as a whole. Many talented Black artists, writers, and performers relocated from the South where they were oppressed in order to expand on their skills where they would be better appreciated.


The African-American Civil Rights Movement, which lasted roughly from 1955-1968, refers to the time when Blacks struggled most intensely against the discrimination that they still faced in many parts of the country, particularly the South. There were many protests made throughout America calling for racial equality and many riots ensued.

Several great people arose through this movement, some as leaders and some as symbols. Two respective examples would be Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. Dr. King was one of the greatest leaders our country has seen, and he stood against discrimination all through his life until it was finally lost for that very cause. Rosa Parks stood as an everlasting symbol that equality is something worth striving for and should never be lost without a fight.


These two periods, the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement, share many strong similarities and differences, mainly in the overall goals of both eras. They both shared the most important goal: establish that Blacks were altogether as capable in life as Whites or those of any other race. They differed, however, in the ways of showing this capability. The Harlem Renaissance wished to show it through proof. It shows that Blacks held the same capacity for knowledge, art, and beauty as anyone else. The Civil Rights Movement was much more direct. It fought a battle that made up in its lack of willing violence with the intensity of its participants. It was fought in the streets, in schools, even up to and through Congress itself, all the way striving for the equality they so desperately sought.