119-hres146

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 146 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 146

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

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 21, 2025

Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Meng, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 
 and Ms. Clarke of New York) submitted the following resolution; which 
 was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 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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