The Harlem Renaissance Advanced English 11

Definition Langston Hughes remembered it as a time “when the Negro was is vogue.” He was referring to the legendary period between the end of World War I and the onset of the Great Depression; this period designated a renaissance, was a time when African American art and artists seemed to claim the attention of the world.

The Great Migration The movement of blacks from the rural South to the Northern urban centers, it lasted fifty years. In 1910 ¾ of the African American population lived in the rural South; by 1960, ¾ of this population was urban and the majority lived outside the Southern states.

Harlem In the 1920’s Harlem was like a magnet for the African American intellectual, pulling from everywhere. Aspiring writers such as Jessie Fauset, Rudolph Fisher, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay and Langston Hughes all came to Harlem to make their fortunes.

Literary Contributions of Women Jessie Fauset published four novels and was the literary editor of The Crisis, the most widely read black journal of the period. Nella Larsen’s novels Quicksand and Passing, considered the situation of educated, middle-class black women.

A New Mood in Literature The new mood reflected the increasing political activism of African Americans. This activism gave birth to the (NAACP) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and the (UNIA) Universal Negro Improvement Association founded by Marcus Garvey.

The End of an Era The last great work of the Harlem Renaissance was Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The Depression dashed the optimism the Renaissance had launched.

Authors James Weldon Johnson Claude McKay Langston Hughes Countee Cullen Zora Neale Hurston Jean Toomer