
9 Key Figures of the Harlem Renaissance
- Langston Hughes. One of the leaders of the Renaissance, Langston Hughes made his mark by using his art to show the...
- Zora Neale Hurston. An author, playwright and filmmaker, Zora Neale Hurston celebrated the culture of the Black rural...
- Marcus Garvey. Few activists had the impact Marcus Garvey brought to the African American...
Who was the most famous writer in the Harlem Renaissance?
Who were some of the most influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance?
- Claude McKay.
- Alain LeRoy Locke.
- Aaron Douglas.
- Marcus Garvey.
- Zora Neale Hurston.
- Duke Ellington.
- Josephine Baker.
- W. E. B. Du Bois.
Why was the Harlem Renaissance so important?
Terms in this set (16)
- New Negro Movement
- New Negro Renaissance
- Negro Renaissance
Who were the important people in the Harlem Renaissance?
People who made important contributions to the Harlem Renaissance.pptx
- the Black rural South like few others. Her love of the South came from her own
- idyllic upbringing came to an end when she turned 13 and her beloved mother died,
- her way north to Harlem, becoming a friend of Hughes. The two collaborated on a. ...
Who were three religious leaders during the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement that began as a way to fight against racial injustice in the United States. Yet, it is remembered most for the fiery poetry of Claude McKay and Langston Hughes, as well as for the vernacular found in the fiction of Zora Neale Hurston.

Who is the most important contributor to the Harlem Renaissance?
Langston Hughes (1901-1967) As the most influential and widely celebrated voice of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes also wrote essays, novels, short stories and plays, all of which centered and celebrated Black life and pride in African American heritage.
Who was the first important writer of the Harlem Renaissance?
F - CLAUDE McKAY was the first important writer of the Harlem Renaissance.
Who were some important artists and writers during the Harlem Renaissance?
Famous artists of the Harlem Renaissance included: sociologist and historian W.E.B. Du Bois, writers Claude McKay, Langton Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, musician Duke Ellington, and entertainer Josephine Baker. These artists strived to express their racial identity and pride.
Who made the Harlem Renaissance?
Helmed by white author and Harlem writers' patron Carl Van Vechten and filled with works from prolific Black writers including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Aaron Douglas, the magazine exoticized the lives of Harlem residents.
Who were the two leading painters of the Harlem Renaissance?
Hale Woodruff, alongside Aaron Douglas, Richmond Barthé, and Archibald John Motley Jr., is among the major visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
How did Louis Armstrong influence the Harlem Renaissance?
Armstrong changed the jazz during the Harlem Renaissance. Being known as "the world's greatest trumpet player" during this time he continued his legacy and decided to continue a focus on his own vocal career. The popularity he gained brought together many black and white audiences to watch him perform.
How did Harlem Renaissance begin?
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 the Great Migration were the Jim Crow segregation laws of the south and the start of World War I.
What did Louis Armstrong do for the Harlem Renaissance?
Armstrong changed the jazz during the Harlem Renaissance. Being known as "the world's greatest trumpet player" during this time he continued his legacy and decided to continue a focus on his own vocal career. The popularity he gained brought together many black and white audiences to watch him perform.
How did Ella Fitzgerald contribute to the Harlem Renaissance?
Ella Fitzgerald was well known throughout the Harlem Renaissance for her musical talent. Like Billie Holiday, she was one of the inspiring women that brought passion in the Renaissance. Fitzgerald has won her name "First Lady of Song" or "First Lady of Jazz" proudly with her beautiful voice.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement that flourished in the 1920s and had Harlem in New York City as its symbolic capit...
Who were notable people of the Harlem Renaissance?
Key figures included educator, writer, and philosopher Alain Locke, who was considered the movement’s leader; sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, who helpe...
When did the Harlem Renaissance occur?
The movement is considered to have begun about 1918 and continued to 1937. Its most productive period was in the 1920s, as the movement’s vitality...
Why was the Harlem Renaissance significant?
The Harlem Renaissance was a turning point in Black cultural history. It helped African American writers and artists gain more control over the rep...
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic flowering of the “New Negro” movement as its participants celebrated their African heritage and embraced self-expression , rejecting long-standing—and often degrading—stereotypes. Read more below: Black heritage and American culture. Harlem.
When did people walk in Harlem?
People walking in Harlem, New York City, 1942.
Who is the father of African American art?
Perhaps most prominent in the visual arts was painter Aaron Douglas, who was called the father of African American art. Read more about American writer Alain Locke, leader and chief interpreter of the Harlem Renaissance.
Who was the leader of the NAACP?
Key figures included educator, writer, and philosopher Alain Locke, who was considered the movement’s leader; sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, who helped found the NAACP; and Black nationalist Marcus Garvey. Among the notable writers were Claude McKay, author of Home to Harlem (1928); Langston Hughes, known as “the poet laureate of Harlem”;
Who was the pastor of the Harlem Renaissance?
Poetry, too, flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullen was 15 when he moved into the Harlem home of Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, the pastor of Harlem’s largest congregation, in 1918.
When did the Harlem Renaissance end?
Harlem Renaissance Ends. The end of Harlem’s creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression. It wavered until Prohibition ended in 1933, which meant white patrons no longer sought out the illegal alcohol in uptown clubs. By 1935, many pivotal Harlem residents had moved on to seek work.
What were the first major breakthroughs in the Black Pride movement?
Two of the earliest breakthroughs were in poetry, with Claude McKay’s collection Harlem Shadows in 1922 and Jean Toomer’s Cane in 1923. Civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man in 1912, followed b y God’s Trombones in 1927, left their mark on the world of fiction.
What did the cultural boom in Harlem give black actors?
The cultural boom in Harlem gave Black actors opportunities for stage work that had previously been withheld. Traditionally, if Black actors appeared onstage, it was in a minstrel show musical and rarely in a serious drama with non-stereotypical roles.
What music was popular in Harlem in the 1920s?
The music that percolated in and then boomed out of Harlem in the 1920s was jazz, often played at speakeasies offering illegal liquor. Jazz became a great draw for not only Harlem residents, but outside white audiences also.
When did the Harlem creative boom end?
The end of Harlem’s creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression. It wavered until Prohibition ended in 1933, which meant white patrons no longer sought out the illegal alcohol in uptown clubs.
When did black people move to Harlem?
In the early 1900s , a few middle-class Black families from another neighborhood known as Black Bohemia moved to Harlem, and other Black families followed. Some white residents initially fought to keep African Americans out of the area, but failing that many whites eventually fled.
Who was the most influential person in the Harlem Renaissance?
Langston Hughes is the most famous person associated with the Harlem Renaissance and among the most influential leaders of the movement. He famously wrote about the period that “the negro was in vogue”.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
Centered at the Harlem neighborhood in New York City, Harlem Renaissance was an African American movement which peaked around the mid-1920s and during which African Americans took giant strides politically, socially and artistically. Known as the New Negro Movement during the time, it is most closely associated with Jazz and the rise of African American arts. Know about the 10 most famous people associated with the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, WEB Du Bois and Duke Ellington.
When did Zora Neale Hurston arrive in New York City?
Zora Neale Hurston arrived in New York City in 1925 when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak and she soon became a prominent figure of the movement. Her writings, more than anyone else, revealed the truth of the black Southern experience as being a native of the rural South she was intimate with black folklore.
What was the highest civilian award for jazz?
Considered by many as the greatest jazz composer and bandleader, Ellington was awarded the highest civilian award in US, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.
Who were the most famous people in the Harlem Renaissance?
Know about the 10 most famous people associated with the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, WEB Du Bois and Duke Ellington.
When was the greatest period of UNIA?
The greatest period of UNIA was in the 1920s and the organization remains active even today. The paper of UNIA, Negro World was among the prominent journals associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Garvey worked as its editor for a while.
Who was the editor of the NAACP magazine?
In 1910, the NAACP launched its official magazine The Crisis and Du Bois was its editor for the first 24 years. The Crisis played an important role in the Harlem Renaissance providing a platform for several well-known writers of the movement, including Claude McKay and Langston Hughes.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
Updated January 04, 2020. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement that began as a way to fight against racial injustice in the United States. Yet, it is remembered most for the fiery poetry of Claude McKay and Langston Hughes, as well as for the vernacular found in the fiction of Zora Neale Hurston.
Who was the literary editor of the Harlem Renaissance?
Jessie Redmon Fauset played an integral role in building the Harlem Renaissance and its writers. Working with W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson, Fauset promoted the work of writers during this significant literary and artistic movement as literary editor of the Crisis .
What did Du Bois do during the Harlem Renaissance?
Using his influence as editor of the Crisis magazine, Du Bois promoted the work of many African American visual artists and writers.
Who is Jessie Redmon Fauset?
Jessie Redmon Fauset, Literary Editor. Historian David Levering Lewis notes that Fauset's work as a critical player of the Harlem Renaissance was "probably unequaled" and he argues that "there is no telling what she would have done had she been a man, given her first-rate mind and formidable efficiency at any task.".
Who was Asa Philip Randolph?
Randolph was a prominent leader in the American labor and socialist political parties who successfully organized the Brotherhood for Sleeping Car Porters in 1937.
Who wrote the New Negro?
Locke’s expanded edition included writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Arthur Schomburg, and Claude McKay.
Who edited the book of American Negro Spirituals?
The anthology featured work by writers such as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay. To document the importance of African-American music, Johnson worked with his brother to edit anthologies such as "The Book of American Negro Spirituals" in 1925 and "The Second Book of Negro Spirituals" in 1926.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was a time era that began in the 1920s and it marked a period where a cultural, social, and artistic explosion took place in Harlem. This happened between the end of World War 1 and during the middle of the 1930s. Harlem was a place where most African Americans wanted to be, many of them actually migrated there which was known as The Great Migration. With all the fascinating things that we benefited from the Harlem Renaissance represented a rebirth of culture. The Jazz and
How did the Harlem Renaissance affect society?
Influence of the Harlem Renaissance in Society A group of people who had at one point held no power and position in society were now thriving in the nation, as they spread their culture and ideas. It was the start of an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a more than a literary movement, it was a cultural movement based on pride in the Africa-American life. They were demanded civil and political rights (Stewart). The Harlem Renaissance changed the way African Americans were viewed by
What was Langston Hughes' contribution to the Harlem Renaissance?
Langston Hughes contribution to Harlem Renaissance Harlem was founded back in the 17th century as a Dutch outpost. Harlem adjoins New York City and host a large population of the African American Community. The blacks found New York City to be more accommodative to their culture and ideologies, during the great migration of the early 1900s, Harlem became the major destination and it became home to many African Americans. [1] Harlem received over time, Harlem developed from a farming village to become
How did the Great Migration influence the Harlem Renaissance?
The Great Migration influenced the Harlem Renaissance because when they migrated North they were able to express themselves in a new way they never could before. Writers like Claude McKay contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing about injustices
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater and politics centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the " New Negro Movement ", ...
How did the Harlem Renaissance impact the African American experience?
The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the Black experience clearly within the corpus of American cultural history. Not only through an explosion of culture, but on a sociological level, the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. The migration of southern Blacks to the north changed the image of the African American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication. This new identity led to a greater social consciousness, and African Americans became players on the world stage, expanding intellectual and social contacts internationally.
What did the majority of African Americans do during the reconstruction era?
During the Reconstruction Era, the emancipated African Americans, freedmen, began to strive for civic participation, political equality and economic and cultural self-determination.
What was the Harlem Stride style?
A new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride style was created during the Harlem Renaissance, and helped blur the lines between the poor African Americans and socially elite African Americans. The traditional jazz band was composed primarily of brass instruments and was considered a symbol of the south, but the piano was considered an instrument of the wealthy. With this instrumental modification to the existing genre, the wealthy African Americans now had more access to jazz music. Its popularity soon spread throughout the country and was consequently at an all-time high.
What was the role of Christianity in the Harlem Renaissance?
Christianity played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the writers and social critics discussed the role of Christianity in African-American lives. For example, a famous poem by Langston Hughes, "Madam and the Minister", reflects the temperature and mood towards religion in the Harlem Renaissance.
What was the first stage of the Harlem Renaissance?
The first stage of the Harlem Renaissance started in the late 1910s. In 1917, the premiere of Granny Maumee, The Rider of Dreams, Simon the Cyrenian: Plays for a Negro Theater took place. These plays, written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, featured African-American actors conveying complex human emotions and yearnings. They rejected the stereotypes of the blackface and minstrel show traditions. James Weldon Johnson in 1917 called the premieres of these plays "the most important single event in the entire history of the Negro in the American Theater".
When did Harlem become an African American neighborhood?
Harlem became an African-American neighborhood in the early 1900s. In 1910, a large block along 135th Street and Fifth Avenue was bought by various African-American realtors and a church group. Many more African Americans arrived during the First World War.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was caused by the migration of African Americans, their search for identity, and talent. After the abolition of slavery many blacks moved toward industrialized cities. There, they hoped to find success and be identified as common people. After World War I, people began to recognize the African American identity and saw their work as more than an object but rather a piece of art. The art works blacks created were due to their progression in literature and visual arts (Blackman). Therefore, several artistic contributions were made by African Americans during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance; thus, the art works demonstrate their culture, struggles and feelings caused by racism.
What did African Americans do during the Harlem Renaissance?
Not to mention, During the Harlem Renaissance African Americans experienced a new form of freedom through their talents. For example, African Americans were able to appear in theatres and express themselves. However, there was still discrimination against blacks at the time and blackface did occur. Blackface was most commonly done by whites in order to portray stereotypes of African Americans. However, African Americans also put on blackface to please the white crowd as they expected them to be darker than they actually were. In addition, Shuffle Along created by Langston Hughes became one of the most important black theatrical production. People flocked to go see the Broadway show due to its music and dancing.
Why were African Americans interested in visual arts?
African Americans faced prejudices in the visual arts. However, for that reason, they focused more and created “realistic paintings of landscapes, historical scenes, and portraits of famous people and prominent or wealthy families.” (The Beauty). Though strenuous work and determination blacks got the appreciation they deserved and “… felt freer to learn, experiment, and generally practice their art” (The Beauty). Several famous white artists were interested in the African Americans way of creating art, thus they began including aspects of African American art into their own pieces of art. For those reason blacks began to create new forms of art which included images being based on African American masks and other aspects of their culture, such as tribal traditions and dances. With more aspects of their culture in their works, whites would include it in their own and spread the African American culture as well, helping identify blacks as common people. Moreover, another person interested in African visual arts was a real-estate developer and philanthropist called William E. Harmon. Harmon created exhibitions for African American art which “provided an opportunity and showcase for black artists to gain national and international recognition that otherwise would not have been available to them” (Hammond). One of the most well-known artists from the time period of the Harlem Renaissance was Aaron Douglas. Douglass is known for “his murals, paintings, book designs, and periodical illustrations” (Hammond). Douglas’ artistic contributions displayed African American culture as he created “scenes fusing jungle drums, rhythms, and dances with the music and dance of Jazz Age Harlem” (Nieman). Thus, the artistic contributions made by African Americans during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance demonstrate their culture.
Can writers help with essays?
Our writers can help you with any type of essay. For any subject
How is the Harlem Renaissance viewed?
The Harlem Renaissance is increasingly viewed through a broader lens that recognizes it as a national movement with connections to international developments in art and culture that places increasing emphasis on the non-literary aspects of the movement.
Who is the specialist in the Harlem Renaissance?
In his remarks, Wintz addresses the origins and nature of the movement—a task, he says, that is far more complex than it may seem. Wintz is a specialist in the Harlem Renaissance and in African American political thought.
What was the name of the musical that was performed in the Harlem Renaissance?
For those who viewed the Harlem Renaissance in terms of musical theater and entertainment, the birth occurred three years earlier when Shuffle Along opened at the 63rd Street Musical Hall. Shuffle Along was a musical play written by a pair of veteran Vaudeville acts—comedians Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, and composers/singers Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. Most of its cast featured unknowns, but some, like Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson, who had only minor roles in the production, were on their way to international fame. Eubie Blake recalled the significance of the production, when he pointed out that he and Sissle and Lyles and Miller accomplished something that the other great African American performers—Bob Cole and J. Rosamund Johnson, Bert Williams and George Walker—had tried, but failed to achieve. "We did it, that's the story," he exclaimed, " We put Negroes back on Broadway!" 4
What was the music of the Harlem Renaissance?
Music was also a prominent feature of African American culture during the Harlem Renaissance. The term "Jazz Age" was used by many who saw African American music, especially the blues and jazz, as the defining features of the Renaissance. However, both jazz and the blues were imports to Harlem. They emerged out of the African American experience around the turn of the century in southern towns and cities, like New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis. From these origins these musical forms spread across the country, north to Chicago before arriving in New York a few years before World War I.
Why did realtors take advantage of declining property values in Harlem?
Both black and white realtors took advantage of declining property values in Harlem—the panic selling that resulted when blacks moved in. Addressing the demand for housing generated by the city's rapidly growing black population, they acquired, subdivided, and leased Harlem property to black tenants.
Where did the Harlem Renaissance take place?
Situating the Harlem Renaissance in space is almost as complex as defining its origins and time span. Certainly Harlem is central to the Harlem Renaissance, but it serves more as an anchor for the movement than as its sole location. In reality, the Harlem Renaissance both drew from and spread its influence across the United States, the Caribbean, and the world. Only a handful of the writers, artists, musicians, and other figures of the Harlem Renaissance were native to Harlem or New York, and only a relatively small number lived in Harlem throughout the Renaissance period. And yet, Harlem impacted the art, music, and writing of virtually all of the participants in the Harlem Renaissance.
What was the significance of Shuffle Along?
It was always packed. 5. Shuffle Along also brought jazz to Broadway. It combined jazz music with very creatively choreographed jazz dance to transform musical theater into something new, exciting, and daring. And the show was a critical and financial success.
Why was the Harlem Renaissance important?
Why Was the Harlem Renaissance so Important? The Harlem Renaissance was important for its impact on the worlds of theatre, literature and jazz. Plays in the early 20th century typically portrayed negative black stereotypes through practices such as blackface, and the plays of the Harlem renaissance portrayed African-American characters as ...
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance also led to the emergence of a number of influential African-American writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes who helped bring national attention to African-American writing. Jazz was an important musical contribution of the Harlem Renaissance.
How did the Harlem Renaissance affect literature?
The Harlem Renaissance also had a number of effects on literature. Newspapers such as The Voice provided a political voice for the "New Negro Movement," but also promoted both modern African-American literature as well as often-overlooked literature from the 19th century. The Harlem Renaissance also led to the emergence of a number ...
What was the importance of jazz in the Harlem Renaissance?
Specifically, jazz helped to break down a number of social boundaries of the period. It helped to highlight the piano as an instrument that anyone could play, not just wealthy people.
