Making Waves in Literature:  The Writers of the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem itself provided a variety of subjects for the writers who resided there.  There were two groups of writers living in Harlem, an inner circle who were the center of the movement, and an outer circle.  Those writers included in the inner circle were the core of the Renaissance's literary movement, setting the lifestyle for the Harlem author set.  Writers of the inner circle included:  Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, Zora Neele Hurston, and Rudolph Fisher.  Other famous writers living in Harlem, as members of the outer circle, included Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and Jessica Faucet.  The poetry, fiction, and essays of these writers reflected the very life of Harlem, a realistic portrayal of African-American city life and culture.  In the sense of literature, the Harlem Renaissance was not a rebirth as the definition of Renaissance would suggest but the birth of a new collection of African-American literature.
Writers of the Harlem Renaissance:

(Click typewriter to go to writer's page for samples of their work.)
Langston Hughes
James Weldon Johnson
Charles S. Johnson
Claude McKay
Music of the Harlem Renaissance
to the Harlem Renaissance Index