A6H Harlem Renaissance

1920s and 1930s

A6H Zora_Neale_Hurston_NYWTS, Harlem RenaissanceProbably one of the most positive and productive consequences of the “Roaring ’20s” was the establishment of what came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. Based in Harlem, New York City, African-American writers, artists and musicians banded together and expressed their own unique experience of American life, politics and culture.

Immersed in the music and sensibilities of “The Jazz Age,” the community in Harlem was, in effect, a safe and protected place within a thriving and cosmopolitan city where, possibly for the first time in American history, African-Americans lived freely and openly created their own art and forms of personal expression. The success of the community and its works could be measured by their popularity among all aspects of society. Not limited to the patronage of other African-Americans, the energy and excitement of the Harlem Renaissance attracted and influenced many of the noted white musicians, authors and poets of A6H Street_scene_harlem_1943, Harlem Renaissancethe period, whose own works reflected their genuine appreciation of the culture and its vitality.

Many of the more prominent authors of the Harlem Renaissance continued writing long after the movement waned in the 1930s, producing novels and poems that increased national sensitivity to the plight of African-Americans and paved the way for the Civil Rights crusades that were to follow the end of World War II.

Harlem Renaissance Literature

The following authors in our database represent the Harlem Renaissance Period of American Literature:

Bennett, GwendolynBook Icon (1902-1981) Larsen, NellaBook Icon (1891-1964)
Bonner, MaritaBook Icon (1898-1971) Locke, Alain LeRoyBook Icon (1886-1954)
Bontemps, ArnaBook Icon (1902-1973) McKay, ClaudeBook Icon (1890-1948)
Brown, Sterling AllenBook Icon (1901-1989) Nugent, Richard BruceBook Icon (1906-1987)
Cullen, CounteeBook Icon (1903-1946) Ovington, Mary WhiteBook Icon (1865-1951)
Cuthbert, Marion VeraBook Icon (1896-1989) Popel, EstherBook Icon (1896-1958)
Du Bois, W.E.B.Book Icon (1868-1963) Richardson, WillisBook Icon (1889-1977)
Dunbar-Nelson, AliceBook Icon (1875-1935) Schuyler, GeorgeBook Icon (1895-1977)
Fauset, Jessie RedmonBook Icon (1884-1961) Spencer, AnneBook Icon (1882-1975)
Fisher, RudolphBook Icon (1897-1934) Thurman, WallaceBook Icon (1902-1934)
Grimke, Angelina WeldBook Icon (1880-1958) Toomer, JeanBook Icon (1894-1967)
Hughes, LangstonBook Icon (1902-1967) Van Vechten, CarlBook Icon (1880-1964)
Hurston, Zora NealeBook Icon (1891-1960) Walrond, EricBook Icon (1898-1966)
Johnson, Charles SpurgeonBook Icon (1883-1956) West, DorothyBook Icon (1907-1998)
Johnson, James WeldonBook Icon (1871-1938) White, WalterBook Icon (1893-1955)

Click on any of the above names to open the corresponding biographical essay.

Click on the red book icon Book Iconto the left of any name in the list to access that author’s bibliography and our collection of direct links available for the associated titles as hosted by a wide variety of professional and academic Web sites.

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