[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 918 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 918

Honoring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and 
                political movement in American history.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 9, 2022

Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. 
Nadler, Mr. Bowman, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Meeks, Mr. 
Jeffries, Mr. Suozzi, Ms. Meng, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Jones, Ms. 
 Lee of California, Ms. Norton, Mr. Evans, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, and 
   Ms. Ocasio-Cortez) submitted the following resolution; which was 
           referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and 
                political movement in American history.

Whereas the Harlem Renaissance radically redefined the Black experience and 
        continues to influence future generations of artists, writers, and 
        intellectuals, creating indelible impacts on culture in the United 
        States and the world;
Whereas approximately 6,000,000 Black people moved from the American South to 
        Northern, Midwestern, and Western States between the 1910s until the 
        1970s, a population shift which we know today as ``The Great 
        Migration'', one of the largest movements of people in United States 
        history seeking to escape the radically racist system of Jim Crow 
        segregation policies;
Whereas ``the Great Migration'' of Blacks from the Southern States and the 
        arrival of African diasporans notably from the Caribbean and Latin 
        America seeking economic opportunities, better housing and education, 
        and social justice and civil rights also served the World War I efforts 
        as patriotic Americans despite segregation and systemic racial 
        discrimination in the Army;
Whereas the most celebrated African-American regiment in World War I, the 369th 
        Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters (Black Rattlers), mostly New 
        Yorkers (Blacks and Latinos) and residents of Harlem, entered the 
        battlefields on October 15, 1918, fought bravely in the Meuse-Argonne 
        Offensive alongside the French troops, and were awarded the highest 
        honor by the French Government, the Croix de Guerre;
Whereas the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters, fought with 
        bravery in battle, under the leadership of Lieutenant James Reese 
        Europe, the 369th Regiment military band also became known for its 
        ragtime music and is credited for introducing American jazz to Europe;
Whereas its triumphant return to the United States and parade which drew 
        thousands on February 17, 1919, is considered the start of the Harlem 
        Renaissance era;
Whereas Harlem in New York City was one of the most popular destinations for 
        these families, a formerly all-White neighborhood that by the 1920s 
        became home to some 200,000-500,000 African Americans;
Whereas this considerable population shift fostered the birth of an African-
        American cultural movement;
Whereas leading organizations such as the National Urban League and the National 
        Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) headed by 
        well-known figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Walter 
        White, and Jessie Fauset who provided aesthetic guidance and financial 
        support both for this cultural awakening that spanned from the 1910s to 
        the mid-1930s, and to withstand and overcome segregated churches, 
        schools, housing, stores, theaters, hotels, and restaurants which 
        persisted even in Harlem in one form or another as late as the 1960s;
Whereas in 1914, Marcus Garvey, of Jamaican descent, founded the United Negro 
        Improvement Association and advocated for stronger connections between 
        African Americans and the worldwide African diaspora, was also a leading 
        intellectual during the Harlem Renaissance;
Whereas educator, writer, and philosopher Alain Locke compiled an anthology 
        reflecting the works of African Americans seeking social, political, and 
        artistic change called the ``New Negro'' whose name came to define a 
        movement which today we know as the Harlem Renaissance;
Whereas statesman Asa Philip Randolph helped establish our Nation's first 
        federally recognized labor union to protect Black workers, the 
        Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925, in Harlem;
Whereas bold and exciting forms of Black music evolved, along with venues to 
        listen and to dance to the music such as Harlem's Minton's Playhouse, 
        the Cotton Club, Small's Paradise, Baby Grand, Lenox Lounge, Savoy 
        Ballroom, Renaissance Ballroom, and Alhambra Ballroom;
Whereas blues, ragtime, and jazz became the key form of form of cultural 
        expression in Harlem, where legendary artists such as Scott Joplin, 
        Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Bessie Smith, 
        Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ivie 
        Anderson, Mamie Smith, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, Jelly Roll Morton, and 
        many performers composers and arrangers rose to prominence;
Whereas Edward Kennedy ``Duke'' Ellington, with Billy Strayhorn, a gay great 
        affectionately known as, ``Sweet Pea'', was a composer, pianist, and 
        jazz orchestra leader for five decades writing over 1,000 songs, and 
        Louis Armstrong, the ``Jazz Ambassador'', became three of the most 
        influential musicians in the history of jazz with a distinctive voice 
        and a unique style;
Whereas the era also saw the burgeoning of literary work by and about African 
        Americans by writers like Sterling A. Brown, Alice Dunbar Nelson, 
        Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, Wallace Thurman, and 
        Countee Cullen, to name just a few;
Whereas two of the first works that had a significant impact on the culture of 
        the Harlem Renaissance were the poetry anthologies known as ``Harlem 
        Shadows'' by Claude McKay and ``Cane'' by Jean Toomer;
Whereas artist Aaron Douglas, a figure of the Harlem Renaissance, ``defined a 
        modern visual language that represented Black Americans in a new light'' 
        and later became known as the ``father of African-American art'', along 
        with noted sculptor Richard Barthe and several leading women artists, 
        including Augusta Savage and Elizabeth Catlett;
Whereas acclaimed Black architects including Vertner Woodson Tandy, George 
        Washington Foster, John Lewis Wilson, and Norma Merrick Sklarek all 
        helped to transform the Harlem landscape;
Whereas acclaimed photographers James Van Der Zee, Morgan and Marvin Smith, 
        Austen Hansen, and Gordon Parks were known as the ``unofficial 
        chroniclers of African-American life in Harlem'' and their vast 
        portfolios of formal and informal photographs help to provide a 
        resounding visual legacy of this moment in history;
Whereas the Harlem Renaissance is remembered for the literature that came from 
        the movement, including ``Home to Harlem'' by Claude McKay, ``Not 
        Without Laughter'' by Langston Hughes, ``The Infants of the Spring'' by 
        Wallace Thurman, ``Smoke Lillies and Jade'' by Richard Bruce Nugent, 
        ``Black No More'' by George Schuyler, and ``Their Eyes Were Watching 
        God'' by Zora Neale Hurston, and publisher and writer Dorothy West's 
        ``The Living is Easy'';
Whereas the development of Harlem as a Black cultural mecca in the early 20th 
        century and the subsequent social and artistic movements that produced a 
        golden era in African-American culture manifested in dance, design, 
        architecture, poetry, literature, politics, fashion, scholarship, music 
        and stage performance, and art;
Whereas Harlem attracted a remarkable concentration of intellect and talent and 
        served as the symbolic capital of this cultural awakening, while other 
        New York City neighborhoods, as well as communities in Chicago, 
        Cleveland, and Los Angeles, also nurtured social and creative movements;
Whereas the Harlem Renaissance embraced literary, musical, theatrical, and 
        visual arts, its participants also sought to foster a new image of ``the 
        Negro'' that challenged the racist and derogatory stereotypes with which 
        Whites had characterized Black people and instead sought to engender 
        pride in Black culture and heritage;
Whereas crucial to the movement were magazines such as The Crisis, published by 
        the NAACP, Opportunity, published by the National Urban League, and The 
        Messenger, a socialist journal eventually connected with the Brotherhood 
        of Sleeping Car Porters; and
Whereas the Harlem Renaissance was not dominated by a particular school of 
        thought but rather characterized by intense debate, the movement laid a 
        foundation for later African-American literature and consciousness 
        worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance represented a 
        pivotal moment in America history for African Americans and the 
        African diaspora community of intellectuals, artists, 
        performers, writers, poets, and musicians whose works of 
        political discourse and creative expression set a path for 
        self-determination and self-empowerment which is still evident 
        today;
            (2) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance gave Black 
        people pride in and control over how the Black experience was 
        represented in American culture and set the stage for the civil 
        rights movement and continues to inform the activities of today 
        for social justice and equal rights;
            (3) supports efforts to recognize, promote, preserve, and 
        celebrate the rich history of the Harlem Renaissance and its 
        continuum through contemporary interpretive programs;
            (4) protects Harlem's historic assets, its cultural legacy, 
        the rich history of its people against encroachments resulting 
        in the displacement and uprooting of low- and moderate-income 
        residents, and undermine its world-renowned cultural identity 
        and unique neighborhood character, which are economic tools not 
        only for Harlem, but New York City, in general; and
            (5) celebrates the lasting impact of the Harlem Renaissance 
        on the art, literature, music, discourse, and culture of the 
        United States.
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