They were brought to America to be free, but they had to fight for that freedom. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), they started to have rights. Many were freed, and started to live a normal life. In 1920, when the consumer boom took place in USA, other afro-Americans from central America also migrated and stayed to live in this promising country, searching for a better living and opportunities. Afro-American neighborhoods started to appear like Harlem, New York and in this way their culture became even more characteristic. They did not follow the European style nor the white American. Instead they celebrated black dignity and creativity, remembering their cultural ties to Africa. Chicago, St. Louis, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Cleveland were the major cities where black culture was shown.
The “Harlem Renaissance”, was a stage from 1920 to 1929 during wich the culture and social aspects of the afro-American people came alive (Literature, drama, music, visual art, dance, sociology, historiography and philosophy) .
Artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical experiences of black American and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. A lot of Afro-Americans people became famous, such as Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong with their Jazz. In sports, the Harlem Globetrotters were created and an all-black professional baseball team was formed in the same neighbourhood They were called the New York Renaissance or by their coined name, The Rens. Many others, for example William DeHart Hubbard (First Afro-American gold winner in Olimpic Games), Garrett Morgan (invented the traffic-lights), F. Scott Fitzgerald (published “The Great Gatsby”, famous novel), Henry Ossawa Tanner (first African-American artist elected to the National Academy of Design) among others.
In conclusion, I believe that the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s was an important milestone in the American history since they added variety to the American life. However, it was not easy: many of them were killed and suffered the consequences of being a minority in a huge white country.
