Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance

    During the early 1900's, many southern blacks ventured northward to find jobs. Many of these travelers ended up in a section of New York City called Harlem. As large populations of blacks began to congregate in Harlem, a distinct culture began to form in turn. These formerly scattered people came together and among each other, a kindred spirit was realized. They took this unified sense of ethnic pride and began to mold it into tangible and familiar things. Unique music, art, and literature were results of the creative minds of this new and fresh culture. As with most new things, however, the rest of the world was slow to recognize and understand exactly what this embryonic culture was all about.

     By the early 1920's, blacks from several sections of New York City were coming together to hold literary discussions. These particular discussions led to what was called at the time "The New Negro Movement." This was the forerunning title to the Harlem Renaissance. During this period, the movement truly began to intensify. The intensity brought direct attention to the Harlem Renaissance, and the world began to see the underlying culture and society that was being modeled. As outsiders took in different genres of "Harlem Art," this previously unknown, or perhaps ignored, aspect of black culture was illuminated. This exposure gave African-Americans a platform from which they could somewhat effectively speak their minds. Blacks began to unite as a result of this platform and began to agitate for civil rights, racial equality and such things. So, as one can see, the Harlem Renaissance served not only as the initiation of a budding black culture, but also the unified beginning of a fight that would last until the 1960's, and some would argue is still taking place today.

Three events that launched the birth of the Renaissance between the spring of 1924 & the fall of 1926:

     March 21, 1924—dinner hosted by Charles S. Johnson of the Urban
     League found a small group of African-American intelligentsia and
     writers meeting.

     Paul U. Kellog, editor of The Survey Graphic devoted an entire issue
     in March 1925 to black art and literature. This was later expanded
     into a book called The New Negro. This made the work of the
     Harlem Renaissance group easily accessible for the first time.

     Fall 1926 publication of Fire!!, the only magazine produced and
     devoted to the artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
     Marked the recognition of black writers that this was indeed a
     movement.