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Harlem
Jessica Johnston, Author

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Harlem Renaissance Summary

The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that
took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During the
time it was known as the "New Negro Movement" named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke.
Amid this period Harlem was the Mecca where black writers, artists, musicians, photographers,
poets, and scholars traveled in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents.

One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the Great Migration of
African-Americans to northern cities between 1919 and 1926. The two major causes that fueled
An Archive for Virtual the Great Migration were the Jim Crow segregation laws of the south and the start of World War
Harlem I. When World War I began in Europe, foreign workers were no longer able to emigrate to America
and the factories in the north needed a new labor source and they looked to the south for this
Main menu work force. Hundreds of thousands of blacks migrated during this period, but it is estimated that
five million blacks migrated from the south between 1900-1960.
1. Virtual Harlem
The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new
2. Purpose of
the Archive black cultural identity. Its essence was summed up by Alain Locke when he declared that through
art, "Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self-determination." Harlem
3. Harlem
Renaissance became the center of a "spiritual coming of age" in which Locke's "New Negro" transformed social
Summary disillusionment into racial pride. The Harlem Renaissance was successful in many ways. It
4. Artists of the brought the Black experience clearly within the "corpus" of American cultural history and
Harlem encouraged a new appreciation of folk roots and culture. On a sociological level it redefined how
Renaissance
America and the world viewed African-Americans from rural undereducated peasants to one of
5. Harlem urban sophistication. The Renaissance influenced future generations of black artists, writers,
Renaissance
and musicians through sharing their rich cultural experiences.
Artist Aaron
Douglas, 1899-
1979 The video below is a compilation of three segments put together to form this montage providing
6. Harlem general information about the Harlem Renaissance, then highlighting jazz and film, and finally
Renaissance writers of the period.
Artist Augusta
Savage, 1892-
1962 Harlem Renaissance / YouTube

7. Harlem
Renaissance
Artist Hale
Aspacio
Woodruff, 1900-
1980

8. Harlem
Renaissance
Artist James Van
Der Zee, 1886-
1983

9. Harlem
Renaissance
Artist Lois
Mailou Jones,
1905-1998

10. Harlem
Renaissance
Artist Meta Vaux
Warrick Fuller,
1877-1968

11. Harlem
Renaissance
Artist Sargent
Claude Johnson,
1888-1967

12. Music from

the Harlem Details
Renaissance

13. Musician
Bessie Smith
Begin this path: Harlem Renaissance Summary
14. Musician
Billie (Lady Day) 1. Artists of the Harlem Renaissance
Holiday
2. Music from the Harlem Renaissance
15. Musician
Chick Webb 3. Literature and Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance
16. Musician
Duke Ellington
Comment on this page
17. Musician Fats
Waller Previous page on path Virtual Harlem, page 2 of 5 Next page on path
18. Musician
Jelly Roll Morton

19. Musician
Version 9 of this page, updated 29 April 2015.
Willie "The Lion"
Smith
An Archive for Virtual Harlem by Jessica Johnston. Help reading this book. • More
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and Poetry of
the Harlem
Renaissance

21. Writer
Angelina Weld
Grimké

22. Writer Arna

Bontemps

23. Writer
Gwendolyn
Bennett

24. Writer James

Weldon Johnson

25. Writer Jean

Toomer

26. Writer Jessie

Fauset
 27. Writer
Langston
Hughes

28. Bibliography

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