In the towering, bustling metropolis that was New York City in the 1920’s, a small town called Harlem lay nestled amid the skyscrapers. The South  was a bad place to be if you were black; you were in constant danger of being lynched, and there were no job opportunities other than farming-related vocations. On the other hand,Harlem was the place to be for aspiring African-American performers, writers, and artists, who flocked to Harlem looking for jobs.  Before they knew it, many of them were changing the world. Blacks who no one had heard of a year, two years before, found themselves a household name. An entire generation of people of all races moved along to the slow, funky beat of the sensational new music known as jazz, almost always performed by African-Americans. These people helped fuel the fight against racism towards blacks, which was stronger than ever. When all was said and done, the Harlem Renaissance meant a new way of life for colored people.

In the twenties, thousands of African-Americans were moving north to urban areas (Danvers 452). This was called the Great Migration. By the end of the decade, 5.2 million of the nation’s 12 million African-Americans—over 40%–lived in cities (Danvers 453). A popular relocation spot for blacks was Harlem, a neighborhood on the upper west side of Manhattan Island (Danvers 454). Incredibly diverse, Harlem had citizens from the South, the West Indies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti (Danvers 454). It was known as the capital of black America by famous black activist James Weldon Johnson.
Inspired by the city it took place in, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement in the 20’s when a large number of aspiring blacks came to Harlem in search of work (Danvers 454). Many African-Americans wrote and sang about or portrayed in art the hardships of being black in a world dominated by whites. Black musicians especially thrived in Harlem. Popular black performers included: Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, Mabel Mercer, Roland Hayes, Ethel Waters, Paul Robson, Joe “King” Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, who brought jazz to Chicago, Louis Armstrong, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Bessie Smith (Danvers 456). “Shuffle Along” was a black musical comedy that became very popular in the twenties (Danvers 456). It featured jazz music, which was originally popular in New Orleans but eventually moved to New York (Danvers 456). Jazz was often played in popular clubs in Harlem such as the Cotton Club (Danvers 455). What was ironic about these clubs was that even though they often featured black musicians as entertainment, they only allowed white customers! Along with new music, brilliant black writers gave poetry, short stories, and even novels a new insight to whites about what it was like to be black (454). A huge influence in black society was Langston Hughes, widely known as the most famous poet of the Harlem Renaissance (Danvers 454). His poems about working-class African-Americans had the beat of jazz. Along with Hughes, Alain Locke, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston were incredibly prominent writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Popular black performers included: Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, Mabel Mercer, Roland Hayes, Ethel Waters, Paul Robson, Joe “King” Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, who brought jazz to Chicago, Louis Armstrong, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Bessie Smith (Danvers 456).

An entire culture was being thrust upon a people who had never known anything other than the prim, proper principles their parents had taught them. Some didn’t take it well and maintained the firm belief that whites were the “superior race”, but many members of their so-called superior race were excited by the idea of being exposed to new things and jumped at the opportunity to learn about a different culture than their own. The worst kind of people, though, were a twisted combination of the two—eager to reap the benefits of the popular new music, writing, and art, but not interested in giving blacks any more rights than the ones they already had. Change is hard and sometimes unpleasant. Whites who had never been discriminated against because of where they came from and what they looked like saw no reason to change. Race riots were a huge problem. There were approximately 25 in 1919 (Danvers 453). Another obstacle for Blacks was that only a few were lucky enough to rocket to success. Many suffered from poverty and unemployment, and the neighborhoods they lived in were overcrowded (Danvers 454).

But there were people who weren’t just going to sit back and let racism dominate the lives of millions of blacks. Prominent organizations like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) protested racial violence (Danvers 453). Founded by W.E.B. du Bois and led by James Weldon Johnson, the NAACP’s main goal was to pass anti-lynching laws in 1919. They introduced three anti-lynching bills to Congress, though none were passed. Another important organization in the twenties was the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914. Garvey was an immigrant from Jamaica who desperately wanted to beat back racial violence. The UNIA was more radical than the NAACP. It wanted to promote African-American businesses and blacks returning to Africa to help the Africans get out from under the rule of their oppressors. The UNIA awakened a renewed sense of pride in millions of blacks. However, in the mid 1920’s Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and jailed and support for the UNIA declined.

When the Harlem Renaissance ended in the early 1930’s, it had affected millions of lives—the lives of those who were directly involved in the movement and those who simply enjoyed its products. Those effects didn’t truly come into light until the late 1930’s, along with positive and negative reactions to the movement . Some black writers in that period were greatly influenced by the Great Depression and some of the more subtle Marxist ideals of the twenties, and they tried not to encompass too much of what the Harlem Renaissance was all about (www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-Renaissance/272831/The-Legacy). People like Richard Wright, a well-known novelist and short story writer who protested racism and segregation, criticized 1920’s black writers’ subject matter. These people said the writers of the previous generation accepted the treatment they received from whites without protest. But the works of many such critics showed similarity to that of the outdated generation they seemed to want to resist so much. On the other hand, many black writers were inspired by the works of sensations such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was especially influential to black female writers. Another prominent role model for black writers in the thirties was Nella Larsen, whose works of fiction encouraged much of the exploration of black women’s sexuality and interracial parentage that took place after the Harlem Renaissance. The reason so many African Americans could make their opinions known was that The Harlem Renaissance had opened up more opportunities for blacks in the publishing and theatre industry, who were suddenly more accepting of African Americans. The works of African Americans were not only being published, they were being published in several languages.

Like all things in life, the Harlem Renaissance couldn’t bring good things to the world without a fight. Many were injured; some died for their cause. Some brought music; some brought art; some brought poems, novels, and short stories; and some brought a revolution. They all knew that something big was happening, and they knew that they were the ones making it happen.