As a native New Yorker, I can remember growing up in Harlem on 112th street and St. On this block everyone was treated like a family. My siblings and I would go out and play in the street, because we didn't have the luxury of a backyard. We would sit on the stoop or just lean out of the window to watch out one another. Although we didn't have much we were happy. I remember many days sitting on the stoop and wandering why is my block different from the others. I couldn't understand why the white's lived in neighborhoods that looked much different from my block. Pop's, who is my grandfather, came from Jacksonville, Florida. Pop's would narrate many historical events that took place in Harlem, which brought us to the turning points of Harlem.
As I listened to him, I always wondered why was Harlem so famous. I remember him saying how much his life has changed for the better since he moved to New York. Coming from the rural areas of the south was much different from the big urban city. Although New York wasn't perfect for him it was better then the South. The mistreatment of Blacks in the south sparked the big exodus of African Americans to the North, which eventually led to the Harlem Renaissance.
In this life art project, I will enlighten the reader about my personal impact, the historical background and the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance. .
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II. Historical Background of The Harlem Renaissance.
Between 1900-1920 the number of blacks in Harlem doubled, as did the black populations in many other northern cities. This movement, including the further growth between 1920 and 1930, is referred to as the "Great Migration."Blacks left the South in astonishing numbers for many reasons: depression in the agricultural southern economy; the World War I industrial boom in the North; growing oppression in the South. The black migration to New York City and other Northern cities was characterized by "push" and "pull" factors.
