The Twentieth-Century Black Writer

One of the most important themes in 20th century American history is the struggle of black Americans for their human and social rights. In 1863 during the Civil War, president Abraham Lincoln had ended the slavery of blacks, but their position in American society remains very bad.

In the South especially government laws were used to keep black Americans in a low social position. There was also a powerful organization called the Ku Klux Klan, which often used violence against blacks.

Around the turn of the century large members of blacks began moving from the South, to the cities of the North. In such cities as New York, their situation was somewhat better.

In the North, young black artists and writers began their long struggle for social justice, for their people. In literature this struggle began with “The Souls of Black Folk” (1903) by W.E.B. Du bois (1868-1963).

This book is a work of sociology rather than a fiction. It describes the effects of white American rational prejudice on the minds of blacks. Also, for the fiction time in American literature, it describes the special culture of American blacks’. This culture writers them into a single “nation”. Du Bois also uses the theme in “black cultural nationalism” in his novels: “ The Quest of the Silver Fleece” and “Dark Princess”.(1928)

In the 30’s, Du Bois became interested in Africa. For him, it is a spiritual and cultural home of all blacks.

Near the end of his life, Dubois wrote his most complete study of America. He did this in three novels of his “Black Flame” trilogy (1957-1961), trough his main character Manuel Mansart he carefully describes the history of American blacks, trough the first 60 years of the 20th century.

The era of the 1920’s is often called the Jazz Age. Jazz, a musical form, created by Southern blacks, became an important part of white culture of this time. For the first time the names of black musicians and black writers became famous among all America.

In Harlem, a Northern part of New York city , black writers began the “Harlem Renaissance”.

The writers in this movements were influenced by the experimental styles of European and American literature. They tried using these forms, to talk about the experience of black people in American society. The best writers in the Harlem Renaissance were able to create works of high artistic quality.