• The Harlem Renaissance
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  • 06.09.2025
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What Was the Har­lem Re­nais­sance?

The Har­lem Re­nais­sance was a flowe­ring of the arts in the early 20th cen­tu­ry, when Afri­can Ame­ri­cans dis­co­ver­ed a new free­dom of ex­pres­si­on.

The Har­lem Re­nais­sance was a great flowe­ring of art, poe­try, fic­tion and music that emer­ged out of the Har­lem neigh­borhood of New York City du­ring the ‘roaring twen­ties.’ Du­ring the Great Mi­gra­ti­on from 1910 to 1920, hundreds of thousands of Afri­can Ame­ri­cans moved from Southern to Nor­thern Ame­ri­ca in se­arch of work. A dense com­mu­ni­ty of Black Afri­can Ame­ri­cans con­gre­ga­ted in Har­lem, where housing was in ple­nti­ful sup­ply. This close-​knit com­mu­ni­ty of Black fa­mi­lies be­ca­me a strong and ex­ci­ting cul­tu­ral mecca for Afri­can Ame­ri­cas who fi­nal­ly dis­co­ver­ed a new crea­ti­ve free­dom like never be­fo­re. From civil rights ac­ti­vist wri­ters to jazz mu­si­ci­ans, many of the 20th cen­tu­ry’s most im­portant voices emer­ged out of the Har­lem Re­nais­sance. We look th­rough some of the ground-​breaking his­to­ri­cal mo­vement’s key cha­rac­te­ristics.



Poe­try and Fic­tion Flou­ris­hed

Poe­try was one of the ear­liest art forms to emer­ge du­ring the Har­lem Re­nais­sance, and it was thanks to the pi­o­nee­ring lea­ders of the Black Pride mo­vement, in­clu­ding Afri­can Ame­ri­can ac­ti­vist W.E.B. Du Bois that se­ve­r­al emer­gent poets were able to pu­blish their work. Ce­le­bra­ted poe­try vo­lu­mes in­clu­de Clau­de McKay’s collec­tion Har­lem Sha­dows, pu­blished in 1922, and Jean Too­mer’s Cane, pu­blished in 1923. Me­an­while, fic­tion be­ca­me an im­portant means for Afri­can Ame­ri­cans to bring their voices into the pu­blic arena, and have their ex­pe­ri­en­ces heard. Jes­sie Red­mon Fauset’s 1924 novel There Is Con­fu­si­on ex­plo­red how Black Afri­can Ame­ri­cans can find a new cul­tu­ral iden­ti­ty in a white-​dominated city. Other wri­ters crea­ted stir­ring socio-​political ob­ser­va­tions, such as James Wel­don John­son, whose Black Man­hat­tan: Ac­count of the De­ve­lo­p­ment of Har­lem, 1930, traces the ex­plo­si­on of crea­ti­vi­ty among the Black com­mu­ni­ty of Har­lem.



Music Was a Vital Strand of the Har­lem Re­nais­sance

Music was un­doub­ted­ly a key cha­rac­te­ristic of the Har­lem Re­nais­sance. The music style that emer­ged out of Har­lem was jazz and blues, per­for­med by out­stan­ding mu­si­ci­ans in Har­lem’s un­der­ground night­clubs and spe­a­ke­a­sies. Har­lem re­si­dents came out in droves to enjoy the live­ly music scene, as did white au­di­en­ces from fur­ther afield. Many of the mu­si­ci­ans who emer­ged du­ring this time are still house­hold names today, in­clu­ding Louis Arm­strong, Duke El­ling­ton, Cab Cal­lo­way, Bes­sie Smith and Al­ber­ta Hun­ter. These mu­si­ci­ans went on to shape the next ge­ne­ra­ti­on of Ame­ri­can sin­gers in­clu­ding Bil­lie Ho­li­day, Ella Fitz­ge­rald and Janis Jop­lin.



Mem­bers of the Har­lem Re­nais­sance Be­ca­me Civil Rights Ac­ti­vists

Civil rights were fun­da­men­tal to the Har­lem Re­nais­sance, at a time when Afri­can Ame­ri­cans were fi­nal­ly be­gin­ning to shake off the shack­les of their past. Many of the lea­ding in­tel­lec­tu­al voices of the Har­lem Re­nais­sance du­ring the 1920s went on to be­co­me lea­ding fi­gu­res du­ring the Civil Rights mo­vement of the 1940s, in­clu­ding W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke.



https://www.the­collec­tor.com/what-​was-​the-​harlem-​renaissance/









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