A brief introduction

1. The Harlem Renaissance
(c. 1918-37)

2. Definition
• “Blossoming” of African American culture,
especially the creative arts
• Most influential movement in African American
literary history
• Sought to identify “the Negro” apart from white
stereotypes that had influenced black people’s
relationship to their heritage and each other (e.g.
Minstrel shows & possibly Huck Finn)
• Laid the groundwork for all subsequent African
American literature (“Harlem Renaissance”)

3. Background
• Precipitated by northward movement of
blacks into urban spaces
• Aided by higher rates of literacy, creation of
national organizations, new socioeconomic
opportunity, growing race pride
• Ushered in the Civil Rights movement in the
1940s and 1950s (“Harlem Renaissance”)

4. Harlem
• The city of Harlem was the symbolic capitol of
the movement
• Included influences from many sources:
primarily in the US and the Carribbean
• Harlem made “New Negroes” visible and
provided publishing opportunities
• The city was a catalyst for creative expression
& drew blacks from all over the US (“Harlem
Renaissance”)

5. Three Important Contributors

6. Langston Hughes
• “Harlem”
• “As I Grew Older”
• Langston Hughes

7. Countee Cullen
• “Yet I Do Marvel”

8. Zora Neale Hurston
• Their Eyes Were
Watching God

9. Works Cited
Covarrubias, Miguel: dust jacket for Langston Hughes’s “The Weary Blues.
Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/72217/Dust-jacket-designed-by-theMexican-illustrator-and-writer-Miguel>.
Cullen, Countee. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/15616/Countee-Cullen-pastel-byWinold-Reiss-1925>.
"Harlem Renaissance." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-Renaissance>.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/73515/First-edition-dust-jacket-ofZora-Neale-Hurstons-Their-Eyes>.