What was the Harlem Renaissance?
The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement that reached its height between 1925 and 1935 in a district of New York City called Harlem. This period marked the first time that white Americans gave serious attention to African American culture. Harlem was primarily a Jewish neighborhood until 1910, when large numbers of African Americans began migrating into the area from the South. By the 1920s Harlem was the largest and most influential African American community in the nation. Out of this community came a wide variety of artists and musicians. The Harlem Renaissance was led by Alain Locke (1886–1954), the first African American Rhodes scholar, who was a philosophy professor at Howard University. The Harlem Renaissance produced a legacy in music, literature, and other arts. Jean Toomer (1894–1967) wrote the book Cane (1923), which is considered…
