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.