How the Arts Build Community Identity and Pride

The Arts have often had an instrumental role in improving and strengthening communities and the Harlem Renaissance is a prime example. My research is focused in understanding how the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920\u27s and 1930\u27s used the Arts as a way to build community, identity and pride for African Americans in a way that had never been seen before. I will use four arguments for how the arts was able to unite the African American Community and create a sense of pride within the community that still exists today. The arts of the Harlem Renaissance helped to define a movement and set it apart from others. The arts of the Harlem Renaissance gave a sense of ownership, pride, belonging and cohesion within the African American Community. While looking toward the future, there were artists who helped to preserve the past and a collective memory of what life had been like for many African Americans. It is with each of these arguments that I will show just how instrumental the arts has been in building community cohesion, unity and pride