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The Harlem Renaissance [imagemap with 8 links]



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The Harlem Renaissance was a period of flourishing artistic expression and cultural activity during the 1920s and early 1930s. Centered in Harlem, New York City, it was an era when some of America's foremost black writers, artists and musicians emerged as a significant dynamic within American culture.
Shepherded by the leadership and brillance of W.E.B. Du Bois, and promoted by Carl Van Vechten, the movement grew in strength. With the publication of The New Negro in 1925, Alain Locke became the Renaissance's leading ideologist. Four major writers who established their reputations at this time were Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer and Countee Cullen.
Among many other prominent writers were Zora Neale Hurston, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Arna Bontemps and Sterling A. Brown and Nella Larsen. The Renaissance came to an end with the economic depression of the 1930s, but the rich literary and artistic development begun during that time left a significant legacy.