Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HR146 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	IV
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. RES. 146
5	5	Honoring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and
6	6	political movement in American history.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY21, 2025
9	9	Mr. E
10	10	SPAILLAT(for himself, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. OCASIO-COR-
11	11	TEZ, and Ms. CLARKEof New York) submitted the following resolution;
12	12	which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
13	13	form
14	14	RESOLUTION
15	15	Honoring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural,
16	16	social, and political movement in American history.
17	17	Whereas the Harlem Renaissance radically redefined the
18	18	Black experience and continues to influence future gen-
19	19	erations of artists, writers, and intellectuals, creating in-
20	20	delible impacts on culture in the United States and the
21	21	world;
22	22	Whereas approximately 6,000,000 Black people moved from
23	23	the American South to Northern, Midwestern, and West-
24	24	ern States between the 1910s until the 1970s, a popu-
25	25	lation shift which we know today as ‘‘The Great Migra-
26	26	tion’’, one of the largest movements of people in United
27	27	States history seeking to escape the radically racist sys-
28	28	tem of Jim Crow segregation policies;
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31	31	•HRES 146 IH
32	32	Whereas ‘‘the Great Migration’’ of Blacks from the Southern
33	33	States and the arrival of African diasporans notably from
34	34	the Caribbean and Latin America seeking economic op-
35	35	portunities, better housing and education, and social jus-
36	36	tice and civil rights also served the World War I efforts
37	37	as patriotic Americans despite segregation and systemic
38	38	racial discrimination in the Army;
39	39	Whereas the most celebrated African-American regiment in
40	40	World War I, the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem
41	41	Hellfighters (Black Rattlers), mostly New Yorkers
42	42	(Blacks and Latinos) and residents of Harlem, entered
43	43	the battlefields on October 15, 1918, fought bravely in
44	44	the Meuse-Argonne Offensive alongside the French
45	45	troops, and were awarded the highest honor by the
46	46	French Government, the Croix de Guerre;
47	47	Whereas the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem
48	48	Hellfighters, fought with bravery in battle, under the
49	49	leadership of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, the 369th
50	50	Regiment military band also became known for its rag-
51	51	time music and is credited for introducing American jazz
52	52	to Europe;
53	53	Whereas its triumphant return to the United States and pa-
54	54	rade which drew thousands on February 17, 1919, is
55	55	considered the start of the Harlem Renaissance era;
56	56	Whereas Harlem in New York City was one of the most pop-
57	57	ular destinations for these families, a formerly all-White
58	58	neighborhood that by the 1920s became home to some
59	59	200,000–500,000 African Americans;
60	60	Whereas this considerable population shift fostered the birth
61	61	of an African-American cultural movement;
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64	64	•HRES 146 IH
65	65	Whereas leading organizations such as the National Urban
66	66	League and the National Association for the Advance-
67	67	ment of Colored People (NAACP) headed by well-known
68	68	figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson,
69	69	Walter White, and Jessie Fauset who provided aesthetic
70	70	guidance and financial support both for this cultural
71	71	awakening that spanned from the 1910s to the mid-
72	72	1930s, and to withstand and overcome segregated
73	73	churches, schools, housing, stores, theaters, hotels, and
74	74	restaurants which persisted even in Harlem in one form
75	75	or another as late as the 1960s;
76	76	Whereas, in 1914, Marcus Garvey, of Jamaican descent,
77	77	founded the United Negro Improvement Association and
78	78	advocated for stronger connections between African
79	79	Americans and the worldwide African diaspora, was also
80	80	a leading intellectual during the Harlem Renaissance;
81	81	Whereas educator, writer, and philosopher Alain Locke com-
82	82	piled an anthology reflecting the works of African Ameri-
83	83	cans seeking social, political, and artistic change called
84	84	the ‘‘New Negro’’ whose name came to define a move-
85	85	ment which today we know as the Harlem Renaissance;
86	86	Whereas statesman Asa Philip Randolph helped establish our
87	87	Nation’s first federally recognized labor union to protect
88	88	Black workers, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,
89	89	in 1925, in Harlem;
90	90	Whereas bold and exciting forms of Black music evolved,
91	91	along with venues to listen and to dance to the music
92	92	such as Harlem’s Minton’s Playhouse, the Cotton Club,
93	93	Small’s Paradise, Baby Grand, Lenox Lounge, Savoy
94	94	Ballroom, Renaissance Ballroom, and Alhambra Ball-
95	95	room;
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98	98	•HRES 146 IH
99	99	Whereas blues, ragtime, and jazz became the key form of
100	100	form of cultural expression in Harlem, where legendary
101	101	artists such as Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, Duke
102	102	Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Bessie Smith,
103	103	Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holi-
104	104	day, Ivie Anderson, Mamie Smith, Noble Sissle, Eubie
105	105	Blake, Jelly Roll Morton, and many performers com-
106	106	posers and arrangers rose to prominence;
107	107	Whereas Edward Kennedy ‘‘Duke’’ Ellington, with Billy
108	108	Strayhorn, a gay great affectionately known as, ‘‘Sweet
109	109	Pea’’, was a composer, pianist, and jazz orchestra leader
110	110	for five decades writing over 1,000 songs, and Louis
111	111	Armstrong, the ‘‘Jazz Ambassador’’, became three of the
112	112	most influential musicians in the history of jazz with a
113	113	distinctive voice and a unique style;
114	114	Whereas the era also saw the burgeoning of literary work by
115	115	and about African Americans by writers like Sterling A.
116	116	Brown, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Langston Hughes, Zora
117	117	Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, Wallace Thurman, and
118	118	Countee Cullen, to name just a few;
119	119	Whereas two of the first works that had a significant impact
120	120	on the culture of the Harlem Renaissance were the po-
121	121	etry anthologies known as ‘‘Harlem Shadows’’ by Claude
122	122	McKay and ‘‘Cane’’ by Jean Toomer;
123	123	Whereas artist Aaron Douglas, a figure of the Harlem Ren-
124	124	aissance, ‘‘defined a modern visual language that rep-
125	125	resented Black Americans in a new light’’ and later be-
126	126	came known as the ‘‘father of African-American art’’,
127	127	along with noted sculptor Richard Barthe and several
128	128	leading women artists, including Augusta Savage and
129	129	Elizabeth Catlett;
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132	132	•HRES 146 IH
133	133	Whereas acclaimed Black architects including Vertner Wood-
134	134	son Tandy, George Washington Foster, John Lewis Wil-
135	135	son, and Norma Merrick Sklarek all helped to transform
136	136	the Harlem landscape;
137	137	Whereas acclaimed photographers James Van Der Zee, Mor-
138	138	gan and Marvin Smith, Austen Hansen, and Gordon
139	139	Parks were known as the ‘‘unofficial chroniclers of Afri-
140	140	can-American life in Harlem’’ and their vast portfolios of
141	141	formal and informal photographs help to provide a re-
142	142	sounding visual legacy of this moment in history;
143	143	Whereas the Harlem Renaissance is remembered for the lit-
144	144	erature that came from the movement, including ‘‘Home
145	145	to Harlem’’ by Claude McKay, ‘‘Not Without Laughter’’
146	146	by Langston Hughes, ‘‘The Infants of the Spring’’ by
147	147	Wallace Thurman, ‘‘Smoke Lillies and Jade’’ by Richard
148	148	Bruce Nugent, ‘‘Black No More’’ by George Schuyler,
149	149	and ‘‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’’ by Zora Neale
150	150	Hurston, and publisher and writer Dorothy West’s ‘‘The
151	151	Living is Easy’’;
152	152	Whereas the development of Harlem as a Black cultural
153	153	mecca in the early 20th century and the subsequent so-
154	154	cial and artistic movements that produced a golden era
155	155	in African-American culture manifested in dance, design,
156	156	architecture, poetry, literature, politics, fashion, scholar-
157	157	ship, music and stage performance, and art;
158	158	Whereas Harlem attracted a remarkable concentration of in-
159	159	tellect and talent and served as the symbolic capital of
160	160	this cultural awakening, while other New York City
161	161	neighborhoods, as well as communities in Chicago, Cleve-
162	162	land, and Los Angeles, also nurtured social and creative
163	163	movements;
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166	166	•HRES 146 IH
167	167	Whereas the Harlem Renaissance embraced literary, musical,
168	168	theatrical, and visual arts, its participants also sought to
169	169	foster a new image of ‘‘the Negro’’ that challenged the
170	170	racist and derogatory stereotypes with which Whites had
171	171	characterized Black people and instead sought to engen-
172	172	der pride in Black culture and heritage;
173	173	Whereas crucial to the movement were magazines such as
174	174	The Crisis, published by the NAACP, Opportunity, pub-
175	175	lished by the National Urban League, and The Mes-
176	176	senger, a socialist journal eventually connected with the
177	177	Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; and
178	178	Whereas the Harlem Renaissance was not dominated by a
179	179	particular school of thought but rather characterized by
180	180	intense debate, the movement laid a foundation for later
181	181	African-American literature and consciousness worldwide:
182	182	Now, therefore, be it
183	183	Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1
184	184	(1) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance 2
185	185	represented a pivotal moment in America history for 3
186	186	African Americans and the African diaspora commu-4
187	187	nity of intellectuals, artists, performers, writers, 5
188	188	poets, and musicians whose works of political dis-6
189	189	course and creative expression set a path for self-de-7
190	190	termination and self-empowerment which is still evi-8
191	191	dent today; 9
192	192	(2) recognizes that the Harlem Renaissance 10
193	193	gave Black people pride in and control over how the 11
194	194	Black experience was represented in American cul-12
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197	197	•HRES 146 IH
198	198	ture and set the stage for the civil rights movement 1
199	199	and continues to inform the activities of today for 2
200	200	social justice and equal rights; 3
201	201	(3) supports efforts to recognize, promote, pre-4
202	202	serve, and celebrate the rich history of the Harlem 5
203	203	Renaissance and its continuum through contem-6
204	204	porary interpretive programs; 7
205	205	(4) protects Harlem’s historic assets, its cul-8
206	206	tural legacy, the rich history of its people against en-9
207	207	croachments resulting in the displacement and up-10
208	208	rooting of low- and moderate-income residents, and 11
209	209	undermine its world-renowned cultural identity and 12
210	210	unique neighborhood character, which are economic 13
211	211	tools not only for Harlem, but New York City, in 14
212	212	general; and 15
213	213	(5) celebrates the lasting impact of the Harlem 16
214	214	Renaissance on the art, literature, music, discourse, 17
215	215	and culture of the United States. 18
216	216	Æ
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