Rewriting Reality: The Harlem Renaissance and the Art of Defiance

For the longest time, a very dim silhouette represented Black Americans, sketched by the fingers of oppression and shaded with stereotypes that took away the truth and liveliness of these individuals. Nevertheless, Black artists and writers decided to pick up their brushes and pens and tell their stories with bold colors of resilience and pride during tThe Harlem Renaissance. These artists could shatter their old narratives and paint new realities through art and literature. But how did these works redefine black identity and history? The answer lies within the masterpieces left behind. The most influential movement in African American arts, The Harlem Renaissance, emerged after the First World War. These artists used their art to rebel against inequality and contribute self-identity to the black community. Their goal was to make art that defied stereotypes and fought against injustice while promoting pride in the black community. One of the leading writers during the Harlem Renaissance was Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Hurston American Folklorist and writer Zora Hurston joined the Harlem Renaissance when she was 16 with a traveling theatrical company. Through her works of literature like Their Eyes Were Watching God, we see how Zora and other Harlem Renaissance artists changed the narrative of black identities. The book shows a confident Black woman named Janie navigating her social and troubled love life. Many aspects of Zora's life during the Harlem Renaissance inspire Janie's character and display the actual narrative of black identities by voicing the realities of societal expectations, independence, love, and contentment. The Harlem Renaissance reshaped the narrative of African Americans moving away from racist stereotypes and redefining the identity of African Americans with writers like Zora Neale Hurston leading the way with Their Eyes Were Watching God, which captures the continuing complexities of black social expectations for women, choosing love over isolation, and finding independence and strength in retelling their story. 

Artists like Archibald Motley, William Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston worked during the Harlem Renaissance to produce art that reflected the colors and expectations for African Americans and women during the Harlem Renaissance, breaking the radical white European view of being accepted into society through marriage. The piece's artist to the bottom right, Archibald J. Motley Jr, was one of the leading artists during the Harlem Renaissance and was known for his vibrant colors, rhythmic movements, and stylized figures. His painting Cocktails depicts a Black upper-class societal setting with multiple women socializing over drinks and sharing gossip. Motley uses a predominantly warm color palette with abundant reds and pinks to convey a sense of passion and sensuality in stark contrast to the painting behind the ladies of a very masculine European style. This feature symbolizes the revolution in society and the art world moving away from the glorified white-focused European art and into a newer time that represented a more diverse and accepting viewpoint for white people at the time to understand. Many people understood this pressure of high society depicted by Motley during the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston. Zora's father was one of the town's mayors when she was growing up in Eatonville, and she felt that she had to act in a sure way to help her family's image in society. Zora translates this in her writing with her character, Janie, and the societal expectations put on her by her husband. Her second husband, Jody Starks, was a mayor, storekeeper, and the biggest landlord in town. Janie feels very confined by all the gossip and expectations from the people around her, including her husband, making her feel isolated. Janie tells her husband that she wants to be a part of hi  a rich social life, but Jody does not let her interact with everyday people, which isolates her. Janie says, "She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others" (41). Jody’s isolating in this wayher like this and his saying that she is not for any others enforces the stereotypical role of women in society that their one purpose is to serve their husbands. Women at this time were considered to be the property of men in the South and legally had no voice. Janie is left discontent in her life, with expectations exceeding her living period. The painting on the left by William H. Johnson portrays an elegant couple dressed up for an event out on the town. The women's gloves and the man's feather in his hat imply they are a part of upper-class society. The linear direction of all the buildings and the sidewalk seemsseem to point towards the man, symbolizing the masculine dominance in society and women's reliance on men and marriage. At the time, people did not consider black people to be at the top of social status, and this led to much discrimination. The Harlem Renaissance artists like Johnson fought to change this narrative by painting what he saw in Harlem at the time without any stereotypical lens. He used bright colors and a simplified style in the background to focus on the two main characters, using linework to draw the audience's eye, mainly toward the man, to display the truth of black life and women's dependence on men. Zora Hurston also used her life to display the truth of society and class in Harlem. Her literature portrayed African American life uncluttered by stereotypes and white supremacy. She shows the expectations for a woman to marry into society and represents the golden image of black people at the time, like Johnson's painting and Janie’s grandmother's emphasis on marriage. This expectation was a crisp, cleaner image that was easier for Americans to accept then. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora displays the pressure of this acceptable image for black people through her character, Janie. From a young age, Janie's grandmother, Nanny, puts high expectations on her to marry a worthy man suitable for society, but Janie desires nothing more than love. With marriage being the highest achievement for a woman, she feels pressured and gets into numerous failed relationships. Right before Janie's first marriage to Logan Killicks, she states, "You come heah wid yo' mouth full of foolishness on uh busy day. Heah, you got uh prop tuh lean on all yo bown days, and big protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat tuh you and call you Mis' Killicks, and you come worrying' me 'bout love" (23). She is worrying "bout love" and whether she will find love with Logan when they get married. She confides in her grandma about this, who says that love will come with time when they are married, and she should pay attention to Logan's wealth and 60 acres of land, which is more important. Artists and writers during the Harlem Renaissance worked to produce art that reflected the true colors of African American life at the time and displayed the social expectations, especially for women, to fit into this restricted society. 

Love for women during the Harlem Renaissance was an isolating experience, with women trying to choose between fitting into society and seeking the love they feel they deserve. It finally took women being independent to change this narrative and find true love on their own. Ernest Crichlow in Anyone's Date, the painting on the left, depicts a woman solely waiting for a date and twiddling their thumbs for love. The warm colors represent her liveliness, lust for love, passion, and hopes of rebelling against societal expectations to find true love. Around the woman's neck is an evil eye necklace, a protective symbol to warn off evil spirits and curses in one's love life. The title Anyone's Date makes her seem invaluable and undesirable. This shows how dating was less about love and more of a social agreement and how women were only valuable to society if they were married. Even though both Chrichlow and Hurston believe in love, they emphasize that following society's guidelines is more important for a woman than seeking love. The struggle for women to find love was prevalent during the Harlem Renaissance, with Zora Neale Hurston battling the conception of marriage as a societal agreement and not about love.  Zora was married and divorced 3 times and finally found love at age 44 with 23-year-old Percy Punter. Zora uses her writing to show the view of love at the time as a societal agreement for women. In her book, Janie describes how "She knew now that marriage did not make love" (24). Janie struggles to find love in her marriage and ultimately feels very isolated in her journey for love. In this quote, she describes the lack of love in her relationship with Logan because he is unromantic. Crichlow and Logan are oblivious to the struggles of women as men, with Crichlow painting bright, happy colors instead of seeing the true loneliness and struggle of the women behind the easel.  She feels isolated and secluded, like the women in Ernest's painting. Aaron Douglas, another artist during the Harlem Renaissance, used watercolors in his vivid storyline, as depicted in the painting on the right. Leafy branches are sprawled out from the pot beneath a tattered picture hung askew on a beige wall. The painting behind the plant loosely resembles Titian's The Entombment of Christ, which displays grief and unvoiced faith. The wilting plant in front of this religious European painting displays a more current and real-life issue in line with the unfoldings of the Harlem Renaissance. Leaving behind fables, stories, and stereotypes to show the objective reality of African Americans to write their narrative showing the ups and downs. Life during the Harlem Renaissance was far from picturesque, and trauma was passed down through generations, as seen in Zora Huston's life story. Both of Zora's parents were slaves, and the trauma from that discrimination and harassment seeped into Zora's actions and views on the world through the advice they gave. Her parents tell her and her loved ones that the only way for her to survive in society is to marry well. She shows this heartbreak and trauma through her writing and her character, Nanny, and how she eventually overcomes this trauma by being independent and choosing love over all else. Janie is broken and carries the trauma of her past relationships, broken and wilted, until she finally gains the courage to choose love over societal pressures. She meets Tea Cake, and he treats her as an equal and encourages her to participate in manly activities like checking and working in the fields. In contrast to her past relationships, teacake shows more of a feminist version of love and companionship. The contrast between the living plants and the wilting ones in the painting displays how, in Janie's life, she decides to pursue love and happiness over society's views of her even though she is still scarred from past relationships. Janie describes a moment of realization when "Dusk-bearing bees sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage" (11). This quote discusses when Janie lies under a pear tree and makes her realize the purpose of love in a relationship. She discusses the natural act of pollination and how it ties to marriage with ideas of unity, passion, and fertility. The tree needed the bea, and the bea needed the tree; they strengthened each other. The Harlem Renaissance isolated women with their perceptions and standards of love, forcing them to be independent and find the love they truly wanted and deserved. 

It took much strength for African Americans, especially women, to gain independence and change this narrative by telling their stories louder and brighter than the ones told about them. White artists like Winold Reiss (the artist of the painting on the right) conveyed what they saw as the "Harlem type," representing women of darker complexion without the liveliness and strength that the artists of the Harlem Renaissance wanted to convey. Art critic William Andrews says that this was a "piece of subtle propaganda to prejudice the white reader" and that if one "should meet those two school teachers in the street, he would be afraid of them." This perspective was the exact narrative that artists of the Harlem Renaissance were trying to combat. Writers like Zora Neale Hurston struggled in her own life to overcome these stereotypes her whole career but always pushed for her education and success. She attended Howard University and got a scholarship to Barnard College, where she studied anthropology. While joining the writing world, she got very little recognition for her books during her lifetime because people could not accept a black female writer as being exceedingly popular. Her character, Janie, also has to face these stereotypes implemented by society even though she expects more out of life. Facing the many difficulties and stereotypes affects her life decisions, including her love life and social life, to fit in. All of this makes her feel incredibly isolated and unfulfilled in her life. She can overcome this by using the power of her voice, describing that "There! Janie had put works in his deld-in fears" (30). By speaking up and over society's stereotypical norms and voices, she can finally find peace, happiness, and the love she deserves. Finding herself through the courage to speak up past everything she knows finally makes her feel content and satisfied with the direction of her life. This protest shows the strength that African Americans, especially women, had to overcome during the Harlem Renaissance on their way out of segregation and into the modern world. The artist of the portrait on the next page, Charles Henry Alston, creates this bold, intense portrait of a woman to show the defying future of black women in America. Alston describes her portrait as "defiantly black, beautiful and feminine, yet also unsettled, meritorious and utterly modern" (“Girl”). Her elongated neck and grateful sculpturally rendered face combined with her modern standardized attire and considering gaze. Like many artists during the Harlem Renaissance, Alston worked towards a new image and future for African Americans in Harlem, one painting at a time. Harlem Renaissance philosopher Alain Locke says, "Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid” (“Girl”). Locke believed that art was a tool and had the power to break stereotypes and redefine the identity of African Americans. This quote voices the prejudiced caricatures forcing the racist and distorted stereotypes that obscure the true beauty of Black people and culture. Artists like Alston presenting a stronger female allowed women like Zora Lead Hurston to do the same. While women at this time were supposed to fulfill the stereotypical role of serving their husbands, they stayed true to themselves and pursued their careers. Even when the odds were against her, and one of her husbands, Percy Punter, asked her to give up her career to marry him, she refused and stayed independent of herself and her interests, even within her marriage. In the book, Janie faces the same struggles society forces on her with her marriage with TeaCake. During the first week of TeaCake and Janie's marriage, he steals money from her and leaves her alone for one night. Instead of sitting back, Janie asserts herself and can use her language and narrative to gain independence. When TeaCake attacks her after having rabies, instead of being submissive, she fights back and defends herself, showing her strength and independence. Being used for their husband's benefit was a continuous struggle for women during the Harlem Renaissance, and speaking up and telling their narrative, even when no one listened, was a step into the future and in the right direction. Janie brings light to this by telling her narrative and life story to Phoebe, displaying the true colors of African American women's lives during the Harlem Renaissance. African Americans and women had to fight hard and long to tell their stories louder than the people spreading false narratives about them to make a better future for themselves.  

The Harlem Renaissance reshaped the narrative of African Americans moving away from racist stereotypes and redefining the identity of African Americans with writers like Zora Neale Hurston leading the way with Their Eyes Were Watching God, which captures the complexities of black social expectations for women, choosing love over isolation, and the independence and strength in retelling their story. Artists worked during the Harlem Renaissance to produce art that reflected the proper colors and expectations for African Americans and women in society to be acceptable through marriage. They displayed love for women as an isolating experience with many ups and downs, finally leading to women needing to be independent to change this narrative and find true love on their own. Through the strength of these African American artists, women gained independence and changed this narrative by telling their stories louder and brighter than the ones people were speaking about them. By painting over the dim and shaded pictures of their oppression, Black people could change their narrative by using their brushes and pens to show the truth and liveliness of the black community with bold colors and pride. These artists could shatter their old narratives and paint new realities through art and literature.  How did these works transform Black identity and history? The answer is woven into the masterpieces they left behind.

Works Cited

Andrews, William L. "African American Literature." The Britannica, www.britannica.com/art/African-American-literature. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.

Brown, Valerie. "Cocktails." MFA Boston, collections.mfa.org/objects/35646. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.

"Girl in a Red Dress." The MET, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/848284. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Amistad.

Murrell, Denise, editor. The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tallman, Susan. "The Harlem Renaissance Was Bigger than Harlem." The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/07/harlem-renaissance-modernism-met-exhibit/678501/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God." National Endowment for the Arts, www.arts.gov/initiatives/nea-big-read/their-eyes-were-watching-god. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.

Wolfe, Shira. "Art Movement: Harlem Renaissance." Artland Magazine, magazine.artland.com/art-movement-harlem-renaissance/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.