American History Since 1865 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

American History Since 1865 - Research Paper Example However, through their perseverance, this community has overcome their difficulties and the development of African Americans was unprecedented. This paper will discuss how African Americans have evolved as a strong presence within the American society from the status as slaves and what role they played within the American society and the laws that were enacted to give them their voice. The six major events of the history of African Americans are Harlem Renaissance, Black Power Movement, Thirteenth Amendment, Reconstruction, Great Migration and The Civil Rights Movement. Harlem Renaissance: Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary flowering that promoted a new black cultural individuality from the 1920s to the 1940s. Certainly, African American culture had again been revived in Harlem Renaissance, which was considered as a cultural movement. During that period, it was also known as the "New Negro Movement†. Although it was centered in neighborhood of Harlem area of Ne w York City, lots of black writers from African and Caribbean city states who were residing in Paris were also affected by the Harlem Renaissance. The first phase of the Harlem Renaissance began in the late 1910s. In 1917, there was a premiere of many plays in a Negro theatre. These plays featured African-American artists, conveying complex human emotions and desires. They rejected typecasting of the blackface and traditions. During the same year James Weldon Johnson called the openings of these plays as an epoch making event in the whole history of the Negros in the Theaters in America. â€Å"These black intellectuals took inspiration from their African heritage and, through their works of creativity, provided racial uplift for their own communities† (4.4: The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1963), n.d.). As the World War I drew to an end, the tale of James Weldon and the poems of Claude McKay were unfolding the reality of African-American existence in America to the people, esp ecially the blacks. The Harlem Renaissance further developed out of various changes taking place within in the African-American community after the abolition of slave system. Similarly industrialization was drawing more people to cities from country areas and this trend gave birth to a new mass culture. The factors which led to Harlem Renaissance were the specific situation in the aftermath of the First World War that had created immense job opportunities in industries and reconstruction for a large number of people and the Great Migration of the African Americans to cities in the north. The Harlem Renaissance thus brought the Black experience within the throng of American cultural history through the integration of African Americans and their culture into the mainstream American society. The heritage of the Harlem Renaissance had redefined how America and the whole world viewed the African Americans. Black Power Movement: The Black Power Movement arises from the Movement of Civil R ights that had gradually increased the momentum of the uplifting of the African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s. Even though not a proper movement, the Black Power movement became another turning point in black and white relations in the US and also in how black persons perceived themselves. This movement was hailed by many as a proactive and positive force aimed at