A Renaissance in HARLEM, NEW YORK and a Renaissance in FLORENCE, ITALY

During the 1300s, a renaissance, or rebirth, took place in intellectual learning and education in the arts. This Renaissance held its roots in the major urban cities of Italy and spread throughout Europe. Centuries later, during the 1920s through 1930s, a renaissance occured in Harlem, New York. This was called the Harlem Renaissance, originally the New Negro Movement and it was a period of dramatic increase in individuality, creativity, and intellect. Although these two Reanaissances were separated by barriers of water and land and yet the most significant, time, they are both amazingly similar.

The Harlem Renaissance took place after World War I and many people from the south and West Indies imigrated to Harlem for economic opportunity, making the city have the largest concentration of black people in the world. Similarily, the Italian/European Renaissance took place after The Hundred Years' War, a long series of war between England and France. The major Italian cities became the center of the Renaissance and people from all over migrated to the new urban cities because of their great wealth. Both of these Renaissances were born similarily, being that they erupted as a glorious event starting from one that was devastating.

One of the main aspects emphasized during both Renaissances was education. Before the Harlem Renaissance occured, New York did not follow the steps of its fellow states and prohibited segregated schools. Yet, the promise of equal education increased and soon schools for African-Americans were founded. The population was so large that not all students who desired to attend classes were not able to. This education helped create a generation of philosophers and social and political leaders. Prior to the Italian/European Renaissance, the entire educated middle-class disappeared due to feudalism and foolish rulers. Yet, the Renaissance encouraged education amongst all people. Even if the people did not receive a proper education, the atmosphere around them was brimming with new ideas and priceless items representing the rebirth of the arts. Both of these people knew that the enhancement and emphasis on education would be able to revive the glory of their past. Education was the key to the arising of a "new and improved" generation that would take part in the leading of movements to put an end to the people's troubles.

During the Harlem Renaissance, the arts flourished in the aspect of literature and music. Along the time period of the 1920s to the 1930s, the styles of blues Gospel, stride piano, hot jazz, and pre-swing erupted. This movement lasted as an impact on America's and the world's music environment. Singers' such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, and Fletcher Henderson had their career start in Harlem, New York. African-Americans started to publish their own magazines and a generation of poets and writers arose. To study the arts, many people traveled to Paris, France to expand their horizon of education. During the Italian/European Renaissance, master artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vince, and Raphael began their masterpieces. Many writers and poets also wrote great works to be read even today. Similar to the migration to Paris, many aspiring artists traveled to Florence, Italy where arts were the focus.

Both the Harlem and Italian/European Renaissance were rebirths of education and the arts although separated by centuries, ocean, and land.