What Is The Harlem Renaissance

Words: 473
Pages: 2

Originally called The Negro Movement, The Harlem Renaissance movement started in the 1920s, brought an excitement and a new found freedom and voice to African-Americans who had been silent for a long time. It was the most influential movement in African-American literary history. A blossoming century 1918- 37 of African-American culture, particularly in the creative arts. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to reconceptualize “the negro” apart from the stereotypes that had influenced black people’s relationship to the heritage and to each other. While the renaissance was not just in the Harlem district of New York City, Harlem drew a remarkable concentration of intellect and talent and served as the symbol capital of this culture awakening. …show more content…
An older generation of writers and intellectuals–James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Alain Locke, and Charles S. Johnson–served as mentors. The most prolific writer of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes. Hughes cast off the influences of white poets and wrote with the rhythmic meter of blues and jazz. Zora Neale Hurston was noticed quickly with her moving novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. No aspect of the Harlem Renaissance shaped America and the entire world as much as jazz. Jazz flouted many musical conventions with its syncopated rhythms and improvised instrumental