Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.
Zora Neale Hurston
During times of oppression, literature was a way for people to show their motivation, pain and feelings [6]. Harlem Renaissance artists explored themes such as legacy, racism, oppression, alienation, rage, hope and pride through the creation of novels, essays, plays, and poetry. The Harlem Renaissance created African American literature in the United States and influence many authors throughout the twentieth century[8]. While some Black authors continued to write primarily in traditional English literary forms, others explored Black speech and designs while creating works that identified with the African American masses [8].
Folk Spotlight
W.E.B. Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, author, writer and editor. He was the founder of the NAACP and argued that racial equality could be gained through the arts.
Timeline: Major Literary Works
1922
Claude McKay publishes his first volume of poetry, Harlem Shadows. The collection is considered the first major text of the Harlem Renaissance.
James Weldon Johnson’s anthology, Book of American Negro Poetry, is published.
1923
Jean Toomer’s Cane is published.
The NUL establishes the journal, Opportunity. Charles S. Johnson serves as the journal’s editor.
1925
The literary magazine, Survey Graphic, publishes a special issue, Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro. The issue is edited by Alain Locke.
Color, Countee Cullen’s first collection of poetry is published.
1926
Locke edits the anthology, The New Negro. The collection is an expanded version of Survey Graphic’s, Harlem issue.
Langston Hughes publishes his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues.
The short-lived literary and artistic magazine, Fire!! is published. Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas and Richard Bruce Nugent are founding editors of the magazine.
1927
James Weldon Johnson’s collection of poems, God’s Trombones, inspired by sermons of African-American preachers is published.
1928
McKay publishes his first novel, Home to Harlem. The text becomes the first bestselling novel by an African-American author.
1929
Thurman publishes his first novel, The Blacker the Berry.
1930
Hughes’ novel, Not Without Laughter, is published.
Journalist George Schuyler publishes the satirical novel, Black No More.
1932
Sterling Brown’s collection of poetry, Southern Road, is published.
1933
Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) are established. Both agencies provide jobs to many African-American artists, such as Hurston.
1937
Hurston’s second novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is published. The novel is considered the last novel of the Harlem Renaissance.
Harlem Renaissance and Black Artistic Expression 