The Show Down was a magazine published to highlight various musical performers of the black night life scene during the Harlem Renaissance. It mainly covered New York, Indianapolis, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis. This is page 24 of the first volume, published in 1935. It's intended audience was "theatricals exclusively" according to its first page, but was probably of interest to any person who engaged in the night life culture of this era.
Something I noticed when reading this page was the interesting slang, like in paragraph 4 "... while Mary beats it out on the keys, assisted by Al Mitchell, who picks a mean string". It makes me wonder if this way of speaking was unique to black culture at this time. Even today, certain expressions that are being adopted into "internet culture" today have African American Vernacular English (AAVE) roots.
This magazine was published during the Harlem Renaissance, when Jim Crow was still prevalent. At this time, black people did not have a lot of economic or social freedom. They were isolated to few jobs, and degraded by racism. As stated in Module 13, "For most Black workers, nightclubs, jook joints, and house parties represented an escape from their everyday life. Some took advantage of the informal economy and entertainment industry to supplement their incomes as well as relieve their minds and bodies from the constant toil of their everyday lives."
This magazine is a beautiful example of how, in spite of oppression and difficult times, black people found purpose outside of their jobs and social status. They created beautiful art and music and utilized their talents to create entertainment. This source really highlights the resistance to Jim Crow, not only as a literal fight for human rights, but as a symbolic resistance to every hateful stereotype against people of color at this time.
In what ways has the Harlem Renaissance influenced American culture then and now?
Hi Kelly! I love your observation of the language/slang that was used in The Show Down. (The history of slang is fascinating unto itself! It is interesting to think about the specific language used in the theater/nightclub scene, and how that might change depending on who is speaking.) There are definite connections in terms of the cultural roots of the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the greatest quintessentially American music came out of this period--blues, jazz, these are so ingrained in American musical history and American culture, as @Ahmed Abdirahman noted above.
The spirit of the Harlem Renaissance is still so powerful, and I really appreciate your last paragraph relating the impact of leisure and culture on the fight for human rights and political equality.
From seeing this and from my own experiences I would think that everything would call back on to it's origins meaning that everything would take some piece and form it into something new but still keeping true to it's nature.
I think the idea of harlem in itself is so ingrained in american culture. The style, and look of that time is what I think of when I think of jazz. The big city life, with a style unique and copied. The night life being the time they could be around their community and the people they could be around safely. A time where they focused on other things other than work and oppression. Even fueling the culture of night life in the city for years to come.