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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1986)
February 12, 1986, Portland Observer, Page 3 Hailing Harlem’s Heyday S m iih a m ia n S i m s THIS BOOKLET CAN CHANCE THE WAY YOU PLAN TO RAY FOR COLLEGE. S'ervnr Harlem exciting, exotic, innova tive The memory may have faded in recent decades, but in the spirited, fast changing 1920s, this com m unity was a tneccalor activists and artists — a forum and a stage where old ways were challenged, where new ideas seemed Io fli>w as treely as the era’ s bathtub gin O ften forgotten is that the Charleston and the lo x trot, new racial attitudes, hot |azz and cool blues, polemic' publi cations, expressive (xx-trv and prose and. above all. a new black ptide leaped to national attention from the streets o f H ailem in the ' 2th l or the creative, for the adventuresome, for blacks and whites alike, the blocks beyond Central Park were then a place to be That this period became known as the Harlem Renaissance was in e vita ble. considering the explosion o l energy that came out o l the darkness of slavery, the segregation laws and lynchings in the South, the poverty and prejudice ill the North Harlem to the public eye during this renaissance was tw o worlds — cerebral and serious, fun loving and frivolous I ale night clubs and cabarets operated in a lim e zone unknown to the early- to bed. earlv to rise As V ariety, the entertainment industry’ s weekly, re ported in 1929 Harlem has attained pre eminence in the past tew years as an amusement center Never has it been so popular One sees as many lim ousines from Park and upper f ilth Avenue parked outside its sizzling cates, ’ speaks' and spiritual seances as seen in any other highgrade white locale in the country When it comes to pulchritude, punch and pre sentation the Harlem places have B ro a d w a y's nig h tclu b s distanced Celebrities in all walks o f life make the Harlem jo ints every night Y o u 'll likely see a I ady Mountbatten on the ringside o f the Colton C lub, a (producer) David Belasco at another and a diplom at in the next " In part, the renaissance was spon taneous. a natural excitement com ing from artistic genius, the era’ s brassy sounds, the exubeianl singing and dancing starring names such as Cab C a llo w a y. Ethel W .iters, Bessie Sm ith, B ill "B o ja n g le s” Robinson. Duke E l lington. Lena Horne But in part, the renaissance was a calculated move meni, propelled by the plans and hopes ot a determined number ot intellectuals and theorists. . fro m tune to tim e, the two worlds would overlap i ’ W hen did anyone ever sleep’ ’ ’ one historian asks), yet the strategists’ attention was fixed on the future "W h a t can be done to help white Americans see black America w ith some dignity was the question, says I ouise Hutchinson, an historian at the Smithsonian’s Anacoslia Neigh borhood Museum in W ashington. D C . s ite o l a c urrent exh ib ition , "T h e Renaissance Black Arts o f the '20s In a sense, it began in 1924 when Charles Spurgeon Johnson, a black sociologist and editor, invited a dozen or so prominent writers to dine at New > ork s Ci vie C lub to seek ways to bring blacks into A m erica’ s mainstream About I It) turned out. including the noted playwright Eugene O ’ N eill and the acerbic journalist H 1 Mencken In effect. Hutchinson says, Johnson was the " m id w ife " o f the Harlem Renais sance As a spin-ofl ol the successful even ing. A lain Locke erudite, hand some, the first black Rhodes scholar — w as called upon to guest edit an entire issue ot the prestigious literary pe rio di cal. Survey Graphic It would he de voted entirely to w ritin g hy blacks. Locke, in his introduction, observed "N e g ro hie is not only establishing new contacts and founding new ccn lers, H is finding a new soul.” Though theirs was never a form al movement, in practical terms these in tellectuals saw arts and letters as a bridge between the races, and it was Johnson's staled goal to "fo s te r a mar ket lo r Negro writers and for literature by and about Negroes Beyond the writers and the talented entertainers, there was a third, even larger, world in Harlem at the tim e, populated by people who never saw the inside of a jazz club or sat before a typew riter or easel Ordinary wage ear ners, they ventured out to le n o x and Seventh avenues to work or to shop They belonged, the novelist Tannic Hurst noted, to “ the immense section o l unhonored and unsung Harlem which represents decency, fam ily unity and social stability And beyond the streets filled nightly w ith Packards and Caddys, men in high hats and women in beads and furs — "E ve ryb o d y lived like a m illio n a ire ." exaggerated a journalist o f the day — were grim realities " F if t h Avenue be gins prosperously enough at 125th Street, becomes a slum district about I li s t Street, and fin a lly slithers o ff into a ware house lined, dingy a lle y w a y ," another w riter o f the day reported Harlem , once a («erman-American com m unity, began to attract A fro- Americans after New York real-estate THE N E W G I BILL PLUS THE N E W A R M Y COLL EGE FUND C A N BE W O R TH UP TO $ 2 5 2 0 0 TO W ARD VO UR COLLEGE E D U C A TIO N Here s how it wx>rks Eirsi vx>u exmtnbutr to vxmr education SIcV per month tor the hrst tuli 12 months ol sour enlistment Then the government contributes up to $9 (xV 7ii.it s the New G I Bill With the New Army College Fund. vx'U can add up to $14 4cV more' (See table below I »1 ' .XV * wars PIl’ XV ♦.’ VAX Sunday night was n ig h t at th e < otlon < lub, w hen stars p e r f o r m in g all u s e r N e w Y o r k would show up and he entertained by the t lub orchestra speculators lost their shirts in a wave o l over building that coincided w ith the depression o f 1905 1906 Eor the first tim e, developers began renting to blacks from other areas ot New Y o rk, and later Io waves ol Southerners re cruitcd to t ill jobs during W orld W ar I The general upheaval and dtsillu sio n n ie n t that fo llo w e d w a rtim e idealism hit hard in this new home lo r blacks Although I ,.UX) black soldiers, members o l the- decorated I S '69th Infantry Regiment the " H e ll f ight e rs " — had marched trium phantly up f ifth Avenue and then through Harlem to celebrate the A llied victory, peace for the race rang hollow Alter a ll. a nation that had loughl to make "th e w orld sale for dem ocracy" was itself a place o l segregation, inequality and re cent racial violence Determined to declare war on these co n d itio n s was W E B D u B o is. editor o l I he Crisis, published hy the National A ssixiation tor the \dvance- ment o l Colored People I ither "lo v e d or hated.” says the Sm ithsonian's Hutchinson, hut always exercising great influence in the Harlem commun tty, DuBois issued a stirring message right alter the war "W e are cowards and |jckasses if now we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight against the forces ol hell in our ow n land W c return We return from fighltng/W e return tight mg A younger crowd of "N e w N e gro " progressives considered the protest views ot DuBois not to mention the " a c c o m iiiix la iio n is i" p o sitio ns of B txikcr I Washington as dated voi ccs of an " O ld N e gro " establishment This was " a most irreverent h u n c h ," claim ing to he "m o re sophisticated in m ixlem ideas than their e ld e rs ," the journalist Jervis Anderson maintains in his 19« I study, / / in W in Harlem T here were also vocal ra cia l nationalists closely linked to the New Negro writers Together. Aixlerson says, they represented "n o t an appeal to compassion and six ial redress hut a hold assertion o l sell " As blues steeped I angston Hughes. H arlem 's acknowledged pxet laureate, wrote in 1926. " W e younger Negto artists who create now intend to expiress our indi vidual dark skinned selves w ilhou l tear or shame " W hiles and blacks alike suppxirted many o f these new literary lights Hughes hiinscll was favored lo r years by a Park Avenue patron But Carl Van Vcchten. one o l the most influential white go-betweens for black writers and the publishers dow ntow n, was the first to write profitably about the sweep of exotic Harlem life Van Vcchten had long relished the Harlem scene, frequenting such hot spxits as the Cotton Club His ow n par lies seemed to many the epitome o f '20s glamour Here blacks and whiles musicians, artists, the stars o f theater rubbed shoulders, sipped drinks, conversed, sang and danced Yet his controversially tille d novel, V/gger Heaven, focusing as it did on the " r ic h and pxxir, last and slo w , intellectual and ig n o ra n t," was despised by many blacks, among them DuBois, who cal led the w ork "a blow in the face, an affront to the hospitality o f black folk and to the intelligence o f white " Claude M cK ay, the earliest voice of the Harlem Renaissance, droppied another best selling bombshell on the scene w ith his H u m e la Harlem Where Van Vcchten had offended by intruding the under class into a novel about high H a rle m , one histo ria n observes. M cKay "sinne d tar more grievously by totalling ignoring the upper classes." M cKay argued acidly that his was " a real proletarian novel " In his account o l Harlem life , Ander son suggests that works like M cK a y's have lasting value because they "h elp ed set black literature — along w ith American w riting as a whole — upon a course thal has since become broader, more democratic in sensibil /, ARMY. BE ALL YOU CAN BE. Bv the depths of the Depression, both the serious side .md the ruzzle dazzle o f the Harlem Renaissance were muted As I angston Hughes lamented. " W e »ere no longer in vogue Sophisticated New Yorkers turned to Noel Coward Colored actors began to go hungry. publishers politely rejected new uses lo r then money I he generous |920v were over " \n d vet blacks had found a strong new voice, and they would use it again a t In 1909, a black man was on lop of I lie world. I he man was M nllhew Ilenson. A sa m cm hci of Vlmiral Peary’s expedition. lie planted the American Hag at the North I ’ole on April bill. 1909. Henson is one of man\ black Americans to break new ground. The second book publish^! by a woman in America was written bv •/ a black woman. I’liillis W heatle\. • in IT<3. She was commended by President Washington. In 1893. at Provident Hospital in ( Jiieago. I )r. I )aniel I tale W illiams performed the first successful heart operation. Seventeen yeai’S ago. I hnrgood Marshall was appointed Justice to the Supreme ( iourt by President Johnson. Black History Month is a time to honor accomplished men and women of the past. And a time to look ahead to mans accomplishments III th e I I 11 I I IC. = ity " r*- And the rewards ot lx-ing a soldier go far lx-vx>nd earning money tor college You'll abo learn w-lt reliance. discipline, team work and pride So when you do get to college, vx’u ll he able to get the most out ot it for iixwe information about this new pnigram and how vou can qualify tor it. see vxiur kx.il Arms Recruiter today k b call toll tree I fxV I SA A R M ! YouII find out that paying tor college through the Army j'.ivsott in more wavs than one * . --., ’ > » . ■ = ' l ’h i4 < w a (Jl< itir1e*y <nrhu « n f 7 hr A .z/W irm i fu/i
