“The Harlem Renaissance: Art and Culture as Protest”

By Simran Sehmbi

According to scholars Luis Loya and Doug McLeod, social protest can take several forms, including public

displays, demonstrations, petitions, boycotts, and lobbying. We normally think of social and political protests as

overt and evident because we remember popular marches in history like the March on Washington in August

1963, which demanded an end to segregation and asked for economic justice and voting rights for black

Americans. More recent examples are the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and marches, which centred on

police brutality against Black Americans, and the 2024 Gaza protests, which call for an immediate cease-fire and

justice for the people of Palestine.

While the relevance of overt social and political marches and protests is undeniable in understanding how we

advocate for social and political change, we may fail to recognise and comprehend the equal importance of how

art and culture can be forms of protest. Although less evident and more subtle, they are useful and liberating in

their ways. According to artist and activist Daniel G. Andujar, "Art must be a sign of resistance to a political model

that is increasingly hierarchical, diffuse, global, and standardised."

The Harlem Renaissance exemplifies how art and culture may be used to raise awareness about social and

political issues. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and cultural movement in twentieth-century New York's

Harlem area that honoured and lauded Black art, literature, and music. This article will look at the Harlem

Renaissance as an important example of how art and culture can be used for social and political protest, as well

as how art and culture can foster liberating and powerful senses of identity, community, and self-expression,

especially for those dealing with social and political inequalities.

Harlem had become a popular destination of sanctuary for many African Americans fleeing the South in the early

twentieth century. This movement was fuelled by the Great Migration, which saw millions of African Americans

escape the South and come north. Much of this movement was motivated by better economic prospects in the

North, but many African Americans also wanted to build a new identity for themselves. A new persona that felt

liberating and empowering.

Sarah Richie, a historian, noted that the "movement provided a source of release of [African American]

oppression and gave them hope, faith, and inspiration to create an empowered identity." The Harlem

Renaissance serves as a powerful example of how we might investigate the links between creative and cultural

expression and social and political opposition. The Renaissance can be understood as a time when African

Americans formed a new identity for themselves, allowing them to create and build a powerful, unique culture that

was liberating.

Aaron Douglas' paintings are a prime illustration of how Harlem artists use art and culture as subtle but effective

tools of social protest. Douglas' art delves into the African American experience through African American history

and its African roots. Douglas' 1936 artwork "Into Bondage" depicted the experience of an enslaved African, who

was bound and faced a horrible end. Douglass also depicted the African American experience as liberating. His

1926 work "Study For God's Trombones" depicted an enslaved African being freed from the chains that tied and

oppressed him. Douglas' work also resembled Art Deco art, which bridged the divide between "low and high

culture." Douglas' work was frequently shown in the form of murals. His murals, for example, are on exhibit at the

New York Public Library's 135th Street Branch. His work is included as illustrations in books and periodicals.

Douglas generally depicted humanity in their most basic forms, which allowed him to show African Americans as

dignified individuals "who work, suffer, dance, and pray." Douglas, an artist, defined "art [as] the deepest

communicative channel between the races." Aaron Douglas serves as a crucial example of how Harlem artists

understood their works in social and political ways. Douglas's artistic expression served as a way to not only

educate people about the African American experience but also use his works as tools of resistance to depict

African Americans as people who would free themselves from their oppression. Douglas was also able to

humanise his work in ways where they could connect effectively with the masses.

Langston Hughes is another Harlem artist whose work can help us comprehend the use of art and culture as

tools for social and political resistance. Hughes' 1926 essay "The N**** Artist and the Racial Movement" centred

on the imagery of mountains to convey the vital idea that black artists should "celebrate their racial identity," not

reject it. Hughes created landscapes that showed beloved rivers connecting and uniting communities of colour in

liberated ways or mountaintops representing how African Americans may ascend to be heard.

Hughes' 1921 poem "The N**** Speaks of Rivers" defined racial community as a "cultural flow between

communities of colour across space and time." Hughes depicted black culture as capable of reimagining itself,

using the river to represent themes of "movement, rejuvenation, and rootedness." Hughes saw his artistic

expression as potentially freeing for African Americans, and he utilised art to embrace his racial identity,

especially during a period when African Americans experienced racial discrimination and prejudice.

We also had female Harlem writers like Jessie R. Fauset, who employed creative and cultural expression to paint

a truthful image of African-American society. Her writings dealt with racial prejudice, racial passing, and feminism.

Her most acclaimed 1924 novel, 'There Is Confusion,' included an equal balance of male and female voices.

Male characters in Fauset's works were also portrayed as weak, whilst women were shown as strong figures.

She also used this to portray Black women as "capable of uplifting their communities."

Fauset also contributed to 'The Brownies Book: A Monthly Magazine for the Children of the Sun,' which featured

vital biographies of prominent black figures. This was an opportunity for Fauset to "teach black children about

their identity." Fauset is a significant Harlem artist who used her artistic expression to highlight the relationship

between race and gender, so making room for positive and liberated literacy depictions of Black women. She

recognised the necessity of creative and cultural expression, just as Hughes did in terms of celebrating Black

identity.

The Harlem Renaissance was unquestionably an important movement that demonstrated how 20th-century

African-American artists used artistic and cultural expression as a means of social and political protest. Although

it is vital to investigate social and political resistance in the form of political protests, marches, or boycotts, it is

also necessary to consider how individuals use creative and cultural expression as forms of activism. And how

we might apply such language to concerns of identity, belonging, and community. The study of the Harlem

Renaissance can also inspire us to look into more current examples of how artistic and cultural expression can

be used for social and political resistance.

Recent examples are 2020 murals intended to convey black protest and the use of graffiti art to signify black

resistance to police violence. We might also look into how Palestinians are using art and culture in the face of

genocide and land destruction. Mafalda Young's article 'The Art of Resistance: Art and Resistance in Palestine'

delves into exactly that, examining how art is "a form of everyday resistance" and adds "to the embodiment of

Palestinian collective memory."

We must begin to recognise the importance of artistic and cultural experience as tools for political and social

resistance, especially in times when artistic and cultural expression may be the only way to humanise and

liberate oneself from social and political oppression.