The Twenties and the Black Renaissance

The Twenties and the Black Renaissance

Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson devoted a section of their book, A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, to the age when black artists emerged to form their own culture and revealed themselves to have always been gifted with talent, the Harlem Renaissance. The authors discuss the lack of culture found in America up to the savagery of World War I and while many white American artist were disgusted with their country and fled to new havens, such as Paris, “most black people had a proud sense of being Americans, and they strongly felt wit was time to shuck off the stereotyped limitations imposed on them historically, including the old denial of their artistic ability” (115). African-Americans were so determined to cut the ties of history, they fled from the Confederate states to the safety of the northern cities to improve their lives which is why “the black population of New York rose from 91, 709 in 1910 to 327,706 by 1930, Harlemites proudly called it ‘the black capital of the world’” (115).

Bearden and Henderson wrote this section of their book, it would seem, to refute the belief that black art began during the Harlem Renaissance, when in truth, black art had been around for decades. It was only that the Harlem Renaissance during 1922-1934 gave African-Americans the chance to emerge from the woodworks to reveal their artistic abilities without consequences. Many black artists, as the authors reveal, still “struggled with acceptance into the white world, but with determination and perseverance, black artists such as W.H. Johnson, August Savage and Cloyd L. boykin, did earn the chance to present their work in private collections set up by prominent white men, such as H.L. Mencken”; paving the way for younger generations of black artists to be accepted in the social, literary and artistic world (118).

Work-Cited
Bearden, Romare. Henderson, Harry. "A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the
Present". Pantheon Books. New York, New York. 1993.