IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 94 

Honoring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and 

political movement in American history. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. IVEY, and Mr. BOWMAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Oversight and Accountability 

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; 


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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; 


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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 mid1930s, 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; 


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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; 


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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; 


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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 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance 

3 represented a pivotal moment in America history for 

4 African Americans and the African diaspora commu5 nity of intellectuals, artists, performers, writers, 

6 poets, and musicians whose works of political dis7 course and creative expression set a path for self-de8 termination and self-empowerment which is still evi9 dent today; 

10 (2) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance 

11 gave Black people pride in and control over how the 

12 Black experience was represented in American culVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR94.IH HR94

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1 ture and set the stage for the civil rights movement 

2 and continues to inform the activities of today for 

3 social justice and equal rights; 

4 (3) supports efforts to recognize, promote, pre5 serve, and celebrate the rich history of the Harlem 

6 Renaissance and its continuum through contem7 porary interpretive programs; 

8 (4) protects Harlem’s historic assets, its cul9 tural legacy, the rich history of its people against en10 croachments resulting in the displacement and up11 rooting of low- and moderate-income residents, and 

12 undermine its world-renowned cultural identity and 

13 unique neighborhood character, which are economic 

14 tools not only for Harlem, but New York City, in 

15 general; and 

16 (5) celebrates the lasting impact of the Harlem 

17 Renaissance on the art, literature, music, discourse, 

18 and culture of the United States. 

Æ 


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