Harlem Renaissance
Renaissance=rebirth
Harlem=a location in NYC that was/is primarily populated by African Americans
1919-early 1930’s
Large movement of African Americans from the south to the industrialized north and fleeing
from violence of the south.
Black people began to celebrate their heritage: explosion of African American art, music and
literature.
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. (Wikipedia)
Birth of Jazz
The “Roaring 20’s” opened the door for the African Americans because of a general idea of
“liberalism” that was felt among the women. The women’s movement and African American
freedoms often go hand in hand. (Cotton Club, The Apollo Theater, Harlem Globetrotters)
Novels
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Arna Bontemps — God Sends Sunday (1931), Black Thunder (1936)
Countee Cullen — One Way to Heaven (1932)
Jessie Redmon Fauset — There is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun (1928), The Chinaberry Tree
(1931), Comedy, American Style (1933)
Rudolph Fisher — The Walls of Jericho (1928), The Conjure-Man Dies (1932)
Langston Hughes — Not Without Laughter (1930)
Zora Neale Hurston — Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
Nella Larsen — Quicksand (1928), Passing (1929)
Claude McKay — Home to Harlem (1927), Banjo (1929), Gingertown (1931), Banana Bottom
(1933)
George Schuyler — Black No More (1931), Slaves Today (1931)
Wallace Thurman — The Blacker the Berry (1929), Infants of the Spring (1932), Interne (1932)
Jean Toomer — Cane (1923)
Carl Van Vechten — Nigger Heaven (1926)
Walter White — The Fire in the Flint (1924), Flight (1926)
[edit] Short Story Collections
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Eric Walrond — Tropic Death (1926)
[edit] Drama
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Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr., author of the play, On the Fields of France.
Charles Gilpin, actor
Angelina Weld Grimke, author of the drama, Rachel
Langston Hughes, Mulatto, produced on Broadway. Hughes also helped to found the Harlem
Suitcase Theater
Zora Neale Hurston, author of the play Color Struck
Georgia Douglas Johnson, author of the play, Plumes, A Tragedy.
John Matheus, author of the play, 'Cruiter.
Richard Bruce Nugent, author of the play, Sahdji, an African Ballet.
Paul Robeson, actor
Eulalie Spence, author of the play, Undertow.
[edit] Poetry
 Lewis Grandison Alexander,
poet
 Gwendolyn Bennett, poet
 Arna Bontemps, poet
 Sterling A. Brown, poet
 Lillian Byrnes, poet
 Joyce Sims Carrington, poet
 Ethel M. Caution, poet
 Anita Scott Coleman, poet
 Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.,
poet
 Mae V. Cowdery, poet
 Countee Cullen, poet — The
Black Christ and Other
Poems (1929)
 Clarissa Scott Delany, poet
 Blanche Taylor Dickinson,
poet
 Ruth G. Dixon, poet
 Alice Dunbar-Nelson, poet
and fiction writer
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Jessie Redmon Fauset, editor,
poet, essayist and novelist
Angelina Weld Grimke, poet
and dramatist
Gladys May Casely Hayford,
poet
Virginia A. Houston, poet
Langston Hughes, poet, fictionwriter, essayist, dramatist,
autobiographer, editor
Mary Jenness, poet
Georgia Douglas Johnson, poet
Helene Johnson, poet
James Weldon Johnson, poet,
God's Trombones
Rosalie M. Jonas, poet
Dorothy Kruger, poet
Aqua Laluah, poet
Elma Ehrlich Levinger, poet
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Marjorie Marshall,
poet
Dorothea
Mathews, poet
Bessie Mayle, poet
Claude McKay,
poet and novelist
May Miller, poet
and playwright
Isabel Neill, poet
Effie Lee
Newsome, poet
Richard Bruce
Nugent, poet
Esther Popel, poet
Anne Spencer,
poet
Margaret L.
Thomas, poet
Eloise Bibb
Thompson, poet
Jean Toomer, poet
and novelist
Eda Lou Walton,
poet
Lucy Ariel Williams,
poet
Octavia Beatrice
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[edit] Leading intellectuals
 William Stanley Braithwaite
 Marion Vera Cuthbert
 W. E. B. Du Bois
 Marcus Garvey
 Hubert Harrison
 Leslie Pinckney Hill
[edit] Visual artists
 Charles Alston
 Henry Bannarn
 Romare Bearden
 Leslie Bolling, Wood carvings
 Beauford Delaney
 Aaron Douglas
Wynbush, poet
Kathleen
Tankersley Young,
poet
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James Weldon Johnson
Charles Spurgeon Johnson
S. J. Joyce
Alain Locke
Mary White Ovington
Chandler Owen
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A. Philip Randolph
Joel Augustus Rogers
Arthur Schomburg
Carl Van Vechten
Walter White
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Palmer Hayden
Paul Heath
Sargent Johnson
William H. Johnson, Painter
Lois Mailou Jones
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Jacob Lawrence
Norman Lewis, Artist
Archibald Motley
Augusta Savage
Prentiss Taylor
[edit] Popular entertainment
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Cotton Club
Apollo Theater
Black Swan Records
Small's Paradise
Connie's Inn
Harlem Globetrotters
Speakeasies
Rent party
Savoy Ballroom
[edit] Musicians/Composers
 Marian Anderson
 Lil Armstrong
 Louis Armstrong
 Ivie Anderson
 Josephine Baker
 Count Basie
 Eubie Blake
 Lucille Bogan
 George Bueno
 Cab Calloway
 The King Cole Trio
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Roland Hayes
Fletcher Henderson
Earl "Fatha" Hines
Billie Holiday
Lena Horne
Charlie Johnson
James P. Johnson
Lonnie Johnson
Moms Mabley
Pigmeat Markham
The Will Mastin Trio
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The Nicholas Brothers
Ma Rainey
Nora Douglas Holt Ray
Bill Robinson
Cecil Scott
Noble Sissle
Bessie Smith
Mamie Smith
Victoria Spivey
William Still
Billy Strayhorn
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The Chocolate Dandies
The Dandridge Sisters
Duke Ellington
Ella Fitzgerald
Dizzy Gillespie
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McKinney's Cotton Pickers
Nina Mae McKinney
Thelonious Monk
Mantan Moreland
Jelly Roll Morton
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Fats Waller
Ethel Waters
Chick Webb
Bert Williams
Fess Williams