Characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance (also known as the Black Literary Renaissance and New Negro Renaissance) refers to the flowering of African American literature, art, and drama during the 1920s. Though centered in Harlem, New York, the movement was felt in urban centers throughout the United States. Black novelists, poets, painters, and playwrights began creating works rooted in their own culture instead of imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans.The Harlem Renaissance began as a result of the changes in the African American community after the end of the Civil War. The African American community had established a middle class, especially in the cities. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans to the cities of the Northern United States. Harlem, in New York City, became a center of social and literary change in the early 20th century. Alongside the social change was a political undercurrent, fostered by groups such as the newly-formed NAACP and individuals such as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois. Jazz and Blues, staple music of the South, came to the North with the migrants and was played in the nightclubs and hotspots of Harlem.

After the end of World War I, many African American soldiers came home to a nation that did not always respect their accomplishments. Race riots and other civil injustices occurred throughout 1919.