African American Folk Culture during the Harlem Renissance;s
In looking back during the times of the Harlem Renaissance and comparing it with the present day world it is possible to say that may different aspects of African American folk culture have been preserved in such a way that enriches black cultures. During these times there were many great artist who looked to enrich black culture despite opposition to there ways of thinking. Langston Hughes is a prime example of how folk culture during this era has been persevered. Langston Hughes one of the most gifted writers of the twentieth century, Hughes led the way among African American poets in adapting traditional forms of poetry to the rhythms of blues and jazz music. He is also unequaled in his unique use of folk characters and speech to convey the vibrant essence of urban black culture. Over a span of some forty years, Hughes wrote about almost every aspect of the African American experience. Since Langston Hughes recognized the blues tradition as a true folk art and worked hard for its acceptance as a worthy resource for not only the other writers of the Harlem Renaissance but all the black artists of the future, his idea of Harlem as a metaphor of African-American experience and black intellectual interests becomes a all-encomp
For the most part most of these artist looked to promote cultural unity within black America so to say that they sort of shed or deny African American folk culture would kind of be ironic. His own life history of wandering, and playing juke joints and street corners for nickels and dimes throughout a great deal of the last century sounds like it could be a defining story in the life of a black country bluesman. What is meant by this is that through the different aspects of folk culture artist were able to rise to a new height. Harlem was a place where blacks could develop an independent spirit. There's hardly a name in the pantheon of 20th century bluesmen that Honeyboy didn't know, play with or see perform. The theory among black intellectuals was that once the evils and injustices of discrimination were exposed, things would get better for the Negro. Another artist of this great era between 1900-present who looked to enrich African American folk culture was a great writer of her time. Looking at all that has taken place through the course of the Harlem renaissance it is clear that class differences definitely had a predominant role in folk culture. This person is Zora Neale Hurston an American folklorist and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance who celebrated black culture of the rural South. I mean each of the artists above in some way contributed to different aspects of folk culture, whether it be through music, poetry, literature, plays or what you may have it. Her characters act freely within their rich heritage and narrow social position. No longer where they frowned upon for the color of there skin but rather appreciated for the musical and artistically innovative works being put forth. Although she didn't receive lots of recognition during her life, she died forgotten and wasn't considered one of American's greatest writers until recently. The tone of Hurston's work is celebratory, rooted in a rural black South suggestive of her hometown, Eatonville.
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