Essays on Harlem Renaissance

1918 – mid 1930s

Harlem, New York City, United States

New Negro Movement

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James VanDerZee, Dorothy West, Aaron Douglas

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. The period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.

In the early 1900s, a few middle-class Black families moved to Harlem, and other Black families followed. From 1910 to 1920, African American populations migrated in large numbers from the South to the North.

With the Harlem Renaissance came a sense of acceptance for African-American writers. "The New Negro" written by Alain Locke, was considered the cornerstone of this cultural revolution.

Many of the writers discussed the role of Christianity in African-American lives. Christianity played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance.

During the Harlem Renaissance was created a new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride. The traditional jazz band was considered a symbol of the south. During this period, the music of blacks was becoming more and more attractive to whites.

The end of Harlem’s creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression. The Harlem Renaissance was a golden age for African American artists, writers and musicians.