Reel

The term “Harlem Renaissance” refers to a period of innovation and growth in the creative output from African Americans that flourished during the decades of the 1920s and 1930s in the United States. The creative energy was not limited to Harlem, a district located in the northern part of Manhattan, one of the boroughs of New York City. However, beginning in the 1920s, Harlem was increasingly home to Black intellectuals and a thriving nightlife that encouraged and supported Black actors, singers, dancers, and other performers.

Lenox Avenue and 139th Street, which are duplicated as movie sets in Reel, were locations in Central Harlem that housed notable venues. The Cotton Club was a popular cabaret where Black artists performed for white audiences. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters, and Lena Horne all performed there. Of the many popular night clubs, the Radium Club, also located on Lenox Avenue, was home to musicians innovating in the jazz and blues genres. The Lafayette Theater hosted revues and productions by the Lafayette Players, a Black troupe, and audiences were desegregated in a time when segregation was still legally enforced in many areas in the US.

The Savoy Ballroom was another of the earliest racially integrated public spaces in the US. The dance floor was as long as a city block and could fit thousands of dancers who enjoyed the music of live jazz bands each night. While several dances were developed and popularized at the Savoy, including the Charleston, the Savoy is most celebrated as the birthplace of the Lindy Hop. This is the dance that the Savoy’s signature troupe would perform on worldwide tours, including entertaining soldiers during World War II, and in many period films.

The outpouring of creative talent during these decades also impacted the literary and visual arts. Hand in hand with the artistic output went a rising consciousness of pride in Black heritage and racial identities, working against the common stereotypes about who were then referred to as “Negro” people. This commitment to equality on intellectual and artistic levels fueled the civil rights movement that fought for equal legal rights and protections for Black Americans, leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Despite the artistic vibrancy of the Harlem Renaissance, the existence of laws enforcing racial segregation, widespread prejudice and discrimination, and racial violence such as lynchings motivated many Black Americans to travel or live abroad. Reel includes mention of several celebrities who found a warmer welcome in Europe than in their birth country, including performer Josephine Baker, singer Sidney Bechet, and writer James Baldwin. The Forever publication of Reel includes in the front matter a list of Black artists and performers who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, which left an indelible mark on arts, literature, and culture in the US and beyond.