Harlem Renaissance

Beginnings African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City The first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and the literature attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Mostly a literary movement.

Beginnings During a phenomenon known as the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved from an economically depressed rural South to industrial cities of the North to take advantage of the employment opportunities created by World War I.

Characteristics No common literary style or political ideology defined the Harlem Renaissance. Writers were united by their common goal of expressing the African American life experience at the time. Desire political and social equality.

Literary Devices Colloquial expressions Allusions Repetition Analogy Voice

Authors Zora Neale Hurston Langston Hughes Claude McKay Jessie Fauset