The Old/New Negro
The New Negro movement was an African American cultural movement that happened in the early twentieth century. From politics to art to self determination militancy, it was a conscious effort to shape the way the world looked at African Americans. Though the movement swept through the nation, it’s forefront was Harlem, New York. The first world war prior, led race conscious intellectuals, the likes of WEB Du Bois to tap into the roots of their heritage and find a definitive multi narrative meaning for what being black meant. This black intellectual reconstruction was an attempt to give blackness a presence, an evolvement from black enslavement and ‘the old negro’. It suggested education, refinement, assertiveness and racial consciousness. The use of literature and art to construct these new views was prevalent in the works of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay and many more.
Hughes’ experimental jazz and blues poetry made the African American experience the subject of his writings, ranging from poetry to plays and novels. One of his most significant works “The weary blues” reflects on the immense beauty of black art and the pain that lies beneath it. The poem describes a black blues singer in Harlem whose music channels the pain of living in a racist society. Hughes writes, “He played that sad raggy tone like a musical fool. Sweet blues! Coming from a black man’s soul.” Describing a certain sadness and melancholy that can be felt deep within. He offers a release of tension and speaks for how most if not all African Americans felt at that time. He reflects on oppression and creativity, suggesting that marginalized people could find some likening of peace in art while acknowledging the source of pain it takes to create it. Hughes suggests the catharsis achieved through making art as a black person is shown through the character, as the singer is able to channel his anger and other emotions into his music. This poem’s distinctive and interpretative voice allows for the significance of blues and ambiguity of what it means to reflect real world issues.
The deployment of black visual images was also a huge part of the new negro movement, various African American visual artists were recruited into making art that befit this renaissance. The directive was to create respectable art that combated the racist and stereotypical “mammy, blackface, minstrel” art that had represented blacks for years before. Artists such as Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Palmer Hayden and Lois Mailou Jones created a new era of pride, support and success with their artwork depicting the best and worst of the world they lived in. Their visuals explored black identity and political empowerment while reclaiming representation of their people from white caricature and denigration. They created styles reflective of Black and African aesthetic, tradition and subject matter.
Palmer Hayden’s “Midsummer Night Harlem-1938” is one visual artwork in particular that captures the essence of producing art in this age of the new negro. This artwork is set in a Harlem snapshot with a congregation of people wearing white in contrast to the darkness of their skin and the scenery. The amount of people in the artwork depicted a sense of community, happiness and sorrow within. Hayden’s take on the similarities with the minstrel faces in his art opened up the discussion of how and why black people have been depicted that way in art and whether reclaiming it was wrong or right in terms of the celebration of African American art. His form of minstrel features in his art led to an understanding of what exactly it meant and looked like to be the new negro.Hayden sought to show the black community’s independence and strength the same way Hughes did. Both delivering the same messages but through different mediums. They took inspiration from around them, focusing on elevating the African American experience. They put new life into the expression of tough times African Americans were having and make extreme contributions to the new negro movement and American history. These artworks are just a few from the many that successfully convey the idea of black expression in a new age, the freedom of expression that they fought and made space for has killed the idea that to be black is a monolith.
According to Hughes “We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame, We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.” The new negro movement is without doubt one of the most influential movements in american creative history, embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts in order to reconceptualize “the Negro” and remove themselves from the white gaze. A time of acceptance and understanding of the black identity that has been passed down to generations like ours.
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Works Cited
Hughes, Langston. “The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47347/the-weary-blues.
“Palmer Hayden”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016“Palmer Hayden, Harlem Renaissance Artist and beyond.” Welcome To “Voices That Guide
Us” Personal Narratives. African American Registry, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
Hutchinson, George. “Harlem Renaissance.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 Nov. 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance- American-literature-and-art.