The Harlem Renaissance Origins, Characteristics, And Significance - 2475 Words

The Harlem Renaissance: Origins, Characteristics, And Significance (Essay Sample) Content: THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE: ORIGINS, CHARACTERISTICS, AND SIGNIFICANCE Name of Author Institutional Affiliation Date of Submission Believed to have originated in 1918 and spanned across the 1920s and early 1930s in Harlem, The Harlem Renaissance defines the prominent revitalization of the arts performances and productions by African-Americans at the time. Characteristically, it represented a new robust disposition of cultural expressions, social interactions, artistic enthusiasm that would later turn into an enormous movement that transformed divergent ideas on music, race, modernism, literature, slavery, socialism, and Pan-Africanism among other topics affecting African-Americans’ ways of life. Again, this movement would expand to influence African-Americans internationally in Paris and other locations. Also referred to as the New Negro Movement, the Negro Renaissance, and the Jazz Age, this movement remains significant in the history of African-Americans and other Americans because it redefined the social position of African-Americans in the society, helped them develop an independent spirit, stimulated a great participation in art and literature, and conjoined the African-American revolutionary spirit with the American Dream.[. Sherrard-Johnson, Cherene.  A Companion to the Harlem Renaissance (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015), 6.] An Overview of the Harlem Renaissance Typically, definers of the Harlem Renaissance identify the period with activities like the existence of late-night clubs, unlimited partying, the fancy of jazz music all over the place, and the beauty of trendy clothes in New York City’s Harlem. However, the wholesome description of the renaissance goes beyond the fancy party life. Instead, it defines a literary movement whose effect was overwhelmingly astounding and most of whose shindigs and jamborees contained serious artists, writers, and intellectuals from both the black and white communities with dominations of the former. Some examples of these include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and W.E.B. Dubois among others. Markedly, the intellectual and literary effects of these writers have travelled across decades and some of their texts are still studied as major writings in high schools, colleges, and universities across the world today. Viewed as the creation of the African American Literary Space the renaissance iden tifies a time when African American literature defined its social position and established an independent spirit. Considering the fact that the period of the renaissance was not long after the abolishment of slavery and slave trade, assisting African Americans to achieve the great limits of expressionism and creating the spirit of identity remains an element to celebrate and be proud of.[. Ibid., 12.] The Relevance of the Harlem Renaissance The achievements of the Harlem Renaissance on arts and literature remain the most defining features of its relevance to the American society of 1920s and 1930s as well as the contemporary one. The most amazing of this was how the African American society, which was previously enslaved, illiterate, and considered backward travelled into a free literary, intellectual, and high spirited position in less than fifty years. Functionally, the period of the renaissance may appear to be ancient as it is almost a century old. Nonetheless, many ideas raised in the renaissance remain relevant to modern literature and academia. Examples of these encompass the ‘twoness’ of the misunderstood teenager by DuBois and the adoption and redefinition of the concept of self-governance by Marcus Garvey for the African American community.[. Ibid., 17.] Perhaps, the most relevant contribution of the Harlem renaissance to the development of African American culture and artistry lay on its establishment of various organizations. The most conspicuous among these were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League (NUL). Other than supporting the activities of African Americans and creating for them platforms to express themselves, these organizations laid a foundation for the development of this culture in music, art, and literature. The ultimate outcome of the renaissance is witnessed decades later in a richer, more interesting, and complex exposition of the African American in his participation and contribution to the spirit of the renaissance and the American Dream.[. Gates, Henry L, and Evelyn B. Higginbotham.  Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 86.] Characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance Various transformative and thematic ideas travelled across the streets of Harlem and other places to build the culture that would later be called the Harlem Renaissance. Most commonly, the subjects of these discussions were based on divergent aspects of historical and contemporary African American experiences. Using romantic poetry and the experimentation of new rhythms, like jazz and be-bop, the renaissance achieved an overwhelming influence on the composition of gospel hymns, secular music including slave songs and blues, and the enrichment of African American oral tradition, especially traditional poetry. The most featuring themes encompassed resistance, oppression, creative expression, intellectualism, and racial identity among others. These ideas were represented in the characteristics of the Jazz age, modernism, the Great Migration, â€Å"racial division†, the â€Å"New Negro†, socialism, and Pan-Africanism.[. Ibid., 4.] The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance The Jazz age stands out as one of the leading defining moments of the Harlem Renaissance. Admittedly, it is not possible to define the Jazz age independently and differentiate its artistic and musical medium from the practices, and artistic trends of the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. In all, it was among the leading thought formation processes that influenced the way and the content people thought, spoke, and wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. Hence, the origin of jazz as an African American musical genre simultaneously gave African writers the opportunities to interact with its stimulating ability to the extent they even got involved in it at times. Examples of such involvement can be drawn from the works of Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon, and Scott Fitzgerald.[. Pochmara, Anna.  The Making of the New Negro: Black Authorship, Masculinity, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011), 121.] Langston’s involvement with Jazz in writing was to the extent he incorporated his epic poetry into Jazz with the two stimulating one another in rhythm and sensational creative artistry. This is perhaps the reason he wrote a whole epic poem called "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz" that was mainly based on the art of Jazz. Bu Bois also indulged in the usage of Jazz for his writing. As for Fitzgerald, his involvement with Jazz doesn’t occur during the Jazz age, but the influences of this age are so evident in his works of The Great Gatsby to the extent in cannot be disputed that the age influenced his thinking and approach to writing. Perhaps, the clearest evidence of the involvement of the Jazz age and the Harlem Renaissance can be drawn from James Weldon who was a renowned Harlem Renaissance writer, who personally involved in the composition, singing, and performance of Jazz music.[. Ibid., 128.] Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance By definition, the term modernism implies the disposition of contemporary characteristics, techniques, and ways of expression that tend to break away from classical ones through the use of philosophies and fashionable trends. In general, it usually occurs in the form of an involuntary move that modifies traditional ideas and beliefs to suit contemporary times and expressions.[. Mullen, Bill, and James Smethurst.  Left of the Color Line: Race, Radicalism, and Twentieth-Century Literature of the United States (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 14.] Evidently, the rejuvenating spirit of the Harlem Renaissance remained elementary in the theme of modernism. There was clearly a birth of modern views in politics, literature and the social way of life. Before the renaissance, the great depression, slavery, and an oppressed form of the African American life had dominated the African American population. Most of the people were disheartened and disillusioned. With the rise of the renaissance, these peoples invented modern ways of expressing their thoughts and advocating for their needs. To a large extent, modernism in the spirit of Harlem Renaissance was representative of the contemporary response to changing times which involved changing classical values and adapting them into modern ones.[. Ibid., 21.] The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance The Great Migration also remains one of the most important elements that facilitated the rise of the Harlem Renaissance in various ways. Within the context of the Great Migration lies topics like the Civil War and slavery. These two were the main reasons most African Americans had to flee the South towards the North, a migration that would ultimately land most of them in Harlem and other parts on New York as well as other Northern cities. Other causes of the Great Migration were stemmed on the fact that numerous labor and employment opportunities sprang in the North alongside favorable environments that would allow African Americans the chances to thrive socially, artistically, and economically. Coupled with hostilities in the South, the war and slavery made many African Americans flee to the North and enhance the spirit of the renaissance.[. Ibid., 40.] Giving job opportunities to the immigrants gave them the economic capacity to drive the spirit of the renaissance. Giving them freedom allowed incre...

Crowd Source Equity Funding Research Assignment - 2200 Words

Crowd Source Equity Funding Research Assignment (Essay Sample) Content: Crowd Sourced Equity FundingName:Institution:IntroductionThe world has become very dynamic today due to the exponential, continuous and tremendous growth of the internet and the numerous social media platforms that are available today. This has provided numerous opportunities to the many companies and business enterprises in seeking, raising and collecting funds for their firms through these online platforms such as blogs and websites. This is what has led to the establishment and growth of the Credit Sourced Equity Funding (CSEF), a concept that seeks to raise capital and equity for business enterprises through online platforms. This concept has been embraced in many countries today. However, in Australia Proprietary companies are finding it hard and difficult to have access to these funds due to the laws that govern the establishment and running of the companies.Hence this report covers an in-depth and critical analysis of what Crowd Sourced Equity Funding is, barr iers to Crowd Sourced Equity Funding for proprietary companies in Australia, whether the Crowd Sourced Equity Funding should be extended to these companies and what model the Proprietary companies should adopt to have the CSEF funding.An analysis of what is meant by Crowd Sourced Equity FundingCrowd sourced funding can basically be defined as the practise of asking and soliciting small amounts of monetary contributions from members of the general public at large (Muguire,2014). However with technological advancements, crowd source funding has taken huge and significant transformations where the internet has played a major role in these transitions. In an organizational context, Crowd Sourced Equity Funding is a concept of collecting and raising capital and equity for corporate purposes through offering debts and equity (Maguire,2014) . However with the modern technology, the concept has been incorporating the use of the social media and the internet to raise the funds hence it can basically be defined as a new form of collecting corporate and organizational equity or capital while using the internet as its major platform. Equity on the other hand can be defined as the shares that shareholders of an organization contribute towards the organizations capital funding (Maguire, 2014).Crowd Sourced Equity Funding (CSEF) has incorporated the use of the internet so as to be able to reach to all potential investors since the internet is global and through the internet the world has become globalized making business transactions very easy to carry out. This eventually increases the number of shareholders to a corporate organization, especially the small investors since CSEF has paid more emphasis to the potential and numerous small investors by basically selling off small capital units to the small potential investors. In this case the online websites act as the platforms and intermediaries through which these corporate organizations sell out their capital interests a nd equities.CSEF primarily focuses and lays more emphasis on the start-up companies that are trying to raise and collect capital for the establishment of their businesses. Many countries in the world today are adopting and embracing this concept as a better alternative way of raising funds due to the fact that the concept has been seen to improve the potential to risk of assessing capital and many investors who many not be aware of an investment opportunity can easily be reached out to. This hence increases the amounts of funds and capital that a company collects. CSEF has also been argued out to increasing and enhancing economic growth since it provides additional funds that other lending institutions such as the banks and other financial institutions do not basically meet due to the strict and tight credit lending regulations that they provide (Australian Government, 2014).The CSEF concept basically involves three participants where from its definitions the three parties include; the small and medium based companies who are the issuers, the online investors may be interested since the internet is a global platform. This would eventually lead to many potential investors being turned down due to this limit on the maximum number of shareholders.Another barrier to the use of CSEF by the proprietary companies in Australia is the prohibition to have public offers for the companies equity. The is due to the fact that proprietary companies, under the Australian law are not allowed to offer shares to the general members of the public or otherwise undertake capital and equity fundraising and soliciting activities that would eventually lead an organization to publicly disclose its documents. This also poses as a difficulty since CSEF involves seeking for funds from the members of the public.Another barrier is the concept of offers to very sophisticated, experienced, and professional or over-seas investors (Australian Government, 2014). Credit Sourced Equity Funding lac ks this aspect since it seeks to offer and solicit funds and equity from small potential investors to help start-up companies with difficulties in raising capital get started. This is because Credit Sourced Equity Funding lacks the required and necessary element of offers to sophisticated and very professional investors (Australian Government, 2015).Yet another aspect that poses as a barrier to proprietary companies having access to CSEF funds would be the fact that the already existing barriers would be alleviated by the need to comply to more laws and regulations due to the practise of interposing an already managed and established scheme between the company and its numerous investors(Australian Government, 2014). The increased compliance requirements will be difficult for the proprietary companies since they are used to fewer and lesser laws and regulations to comply to compared to the public companies. This eventually and ultimately means more time will be spent in establishing a proprietary company as well as taking up more time in the establishment process.Another hindrance to proprietary companies having access to the Credit Sourced Equity Funding is the fact that CSEF involves small equity contributions from many numerous investors. However this cannot be adequately accommodated within the Australian legal framework unless the laws and policies are reviewed.A high failure rate for the implementation of the Credit Sourced Equity Funding framework and high levels of risks such as frauds are also a huge barrier to proprietary companies as the investors may lose confidence in investing in the companies if such a misfortune occurs. Hence as a result of fears of implementing the framework and then investors are robbed off their money by the internet scammers, the proprietary companies shy away from embracing this framework.An analysis of whether Credit Sourced Equity Funding should be extended to proprietary companies in Australia and what model these compan ies should hence adoptCredit Sourced Equity Funding has been argued to have very many great and significant contributions and benefits to start-up companies, small enterprises as well as all business companies in general that may be struggling to raise their capital (Maguire,2014). Hence as a result the insights and ideas of this concept and framework can as well be extended to the proprietary companies in Australia so that they can also enjoy the benefits that come tagged along with the adoption and implementation of the Crowd Sourced Equity Funding. The Australian law makers should review the rules, conditions and policies that govern the establishment and running of proprietary companies in Australia to allow them have access to the Credit Sourced Equity Funding.Australia is currently faced with challenges of ways of encouraging and sustaining innovations amongst their citizens and companies so as to be able to establish and sustain a competitive advantage in the world markets as well as obtain organizational growth and success. In this case, proprietary companies and small start-up businesses and enterprises with excellent innovation ideas are a worthy roadmap in achieving this objective and hence the companies should be supported by extending the Credit Sourced Equity Funding to them to increase on their capital pool. CSEF comes in handy in providing capital and funds to such enterprises and eventually driving the economy of Australia to great and huge success filling in the capital gap that these innovators may be experiencing.Small businesses significantly contribute to the growth and development of the Australian economy and given the limit of the number of shareholders in a proprietary company in the Australian, the proprietary companies fall under the category of small and medium sized business enterprises. Hence the various barriers discussed above that hinder these companies from accessing funds through CSEF should be made more flexible or abolishe d. The Australian law makers should review the companies laws and policies to allow proprietary companies access the Credit sourced Equity Funding. This is founded on the citizens feedback and perspectives that many companies would love to retain their status as proprietary companies as well as the benefits of having to comply with fewer rules and regulations and to maintain flexibility for future funding rounds as well as being subject to lower reporting and governance as compared to public corporations (Australian Government, 2015).Adopting and extending CSEF to proprietary companies would make investors want to be identified with the companies and other small start-up companies making it easy for the proprietary companies to meet and surpass the funding required for their equity and capital since a huge pool of potential investors is created. This makes it possible for the proprietary companies to collect a huge sum o...