Harlem Renaissance- Literature and Art

The Harlem or Negro Renaissance marked the 20s and 30s as a period where the spirituality and potential of the African-American community was expressed in the most explosive way possible. Black art had been relatively unknown to the American public until then, at least to the urban communities. Centered in the Southern states and with a freedom of expression generally trampled with, black art expression was simply censored or manifested itself in its raw forms. The migration to the Northern metropolis after the First World War was similar and implied the development, in all its forms, of Black culture. This included literature (poetry and prose), music (jazz played in the notorious Cotton Club and elsewhere), visual arts (painting) and acting in musicals.

Langston Hughes, one of the most representative creators of the Harlem Renaissance, best resumed this period as being a period when "Negro was...
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