It seems unfair that the pages of our history books or even the lecturers in majority of classrooms speak very little of the accomplishments of blacks. They speak very little of a period within black history in which many of the greatest musicians, writers, painters, and influential paragon'' emerged. This significant period in time was known as the Harlem Renaissance. Blacks attained the opportunity to work at "upper-class" jobs, own their own homes, and establish status among themselves. To no ones surprise, they still were not accepted into the so called "upper-class' of white society, but they neither worried nor became distressed over the fact. They created societies of their own which opened doors for blacks to attain opportunities that were absolutely unheard of, just before the Renaissance. It was from this same society where the beautiful melodies of jazz emerged. Colleagues and peers of their own race, which created a powerful bond between them, accepted Blacks. The attitudes which prompted the movement were those that came about because of the beginning of : (1) the nationalist tendencies of the time, (2) the movement of black Ameri

The Black woman has also been depicted as a welfare mother. The welfare mother image is essentially a updated version of the breeder image that was created during slavery. Welfare mothers are viewed as being lazy and content to sit around and collect checks. Whites feel that these women are dangerous because they are fertile and that they produce too many economically non-productive children (James, Stanlie and Busia, Abena 185).

Temporarily, putting aside all the wonderful things that came about during the Harlem Renaissance, we must then wonder " how was Harlem conceived?" There was a move known as the Great Migration, which, in essence, was the migration from people in the South to New York City. Examining this period in time, there were just a few Black neighborhoods and their population seemed to be dangerously overflowing. Harlem, at the time, was predominantly white but it had no clue of the drastic change that was bout to take place. In Harlem, real estate prices were rising beyond the actual prices that left the market no alternative but to explode. As the prices plummeted, blacks had the opportunity to buy property, which was unthinkable, just a short time ago. They became the dominant residents of Harlem. The biggest church parishioners, such as that of St. Phillips, moved to Harlem. Along with him came black newspapers, social clubs, and political organizations. In essence, in one rapid moment black Harlem was born.

Not everyone in Harlem was rich. As a matter of fact, most of its residents were hard working people employed as domestics, barbers, number- runners, laborers, and other less important occupations. One innovative idea, which was a way to make needed ends, was to throw what was known as "rent-parties". Rent parties were parties given by an occupant of that specific home. Whoever threw the party would charge from ten cents to fifty cents, a person. On the weekends, rent parties thrown in the same neighborhood or even on the same block ran competitions to see who could acquire the most customers. A host's reputation all depended on the amount of good liquor or good music, if not both. Harlem had several nicknames, some of the many names were "The City of Refuge", "The Negro Mecca", and "The Black Manhattan", and these names were not just given by the high-class of Harlem. Even those that struggled to survive saw Harlem as a place of opportunity. A Harlemite did not care if he/ she was poor, just as long as they could be poor in Harlem is all that mattered.

The White southern woman scorned the Black woman's physical attributes. The White woman 's complaining about the "unattractiveness" of the Black woman was a defense mechanism against the " attraction" many White men acted upon with southern society. Joan Gundersen writes about how Black and White women shared the gender created community but they still were not equals. The White woman's experience was totally different than that of the Black woman's. The Black woman never had the opportunity to live a "normal" life. Both races of women had the same gender restraints, but Black women had some different ones. The Negro woman had resrtiction on having children and wheter she was able to keep her child. Slave masters sold many of the slave children to other slave masters and when the masters were raping their slaves they produces many illegitmate children. So instead of taking responsibility for them they either killed the child, denied that it was hteire child, or sold them off. The white woman seldomly worked away from home, but the slave woman had been taken away from her family to work (Finkelman, Paul 129-143).

Writers and intellectuals all around the world were attracted to the optimism, the vibrant nightlife and politics. Painters, writers, and musicians were inspired by Harlem's cabarets, churches, political clubs, and street corners. What was best about this period was that whites were involved in this er

Some common words found in the essay are:
Busia Abena, Harlem Renaissance, Black Manhattan, Jazz Age, Harlemite Harlem, Gray Brenda, Renaissance Blacks, Finkelman Paul, Black American, Black White, black woman, slave woman, harlem renaissance, black women, negro woman, busia abena, renaissance period, stanlie busia abena, white society, woman slavery, white women, black woman slavery, zora neale hurston, james stanlie busia, african -american woman,
Approximate Word count = 5292
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page double spaced)