Harlem's Repertoire of Talent As a teacher I often wondered why the Harlem Renaissance unlike the European Renaissance lacked a scientific component. The European Renaissance was a period of tremendous production in the fields of art, science, and literature. As a matter of fact, the European Renaissance would be considered a golden age, and all such ages are marked by achievements in those three areas. But not the Harlem Renaissance, which was an explosion in just art and literature. Something seemed stereotypically racist about this. I was also aware of the numerous inventions and discovery made by Afrikan American and wondered why they were not connected to the Harlem Renaissance creating an “authentic” Renaissance. In order for that to happen, the geographic designation of the Renaissance has to be broadened. The European Renaissance involved a much larger geography so why shouldn't the Harlem Renaissance? The European Renaissance lasted nearly 300 years, the Harlem Renaissance less than 10. Is this a joke? The truth be told, the Harlem Renaissance is a white invention. Why? Because they created the market, and provided the clientele. It was part of a new fad called "slumming," which was when wealthy whites visited exotic, formerly forbidden enclaves to "let their hair down." But more importantly, it was a white creation because it was not new. As Hubert Harrison noted in 1927, in the Pittsburgh Courier, that those clamoring about the literary contributions of the Harlem Renaissance are overlooking the stream of literary and artistic products which had flowed uninterruptedly from Black writers from 1850 to the present. The difference was Afrikan Americans had already been celebrating and enjoying their own artistic splendor; white just hadn't "discovered" it yet. (And when they undiscovered it, the Harlem Renaissance ended.) I would also add that this same period saw the flowering of the Afrikan genius in general. It was the genie let out of the bottle, freed to express itself in American society: thus—the tremendous production of inventions and discoveries by Afrikan Americans. I suggest that rather than narrow our achievement to a ten year period in a particular section of a city, we should widen our geography and scope, remembering to be inclusive of all our post-freedom expressions, including the scientific ones. If we must have a Renaissance, now that's a Renaissance—An Afrikan Renaissance in American.
RSS Feed
