Beginning as a series of literary discussions in lower and upper Manhattan, which are sections of New York City, this African American movement was first know as "The New Negro Movement" and later identified as the Harlem Renaissance. The movement began toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid to late1920's, and began to fade in the mid 1930's. The Harlem Renaissance was a time when black and white Americans alike discovered the uniqueness of black art, music, and especially literature. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time African American literature as well as art, were taken seriously by mainstream publishers. The decade was marked by the publishing of a large number of novels, short stories, plays, poems and articles about and written by blacks. One of the contributing factors to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African Americans to northern cities such as New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C.
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Langston Hughes, novelist and poet, photographed b...
English: This chart shows three groups of major co...between 1919 and 1926.
The impact that the Harlem Renaissance had was very positive. The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the black experience within the core of American cultural history. The Harlem Renaissance redefined how America and the rest of the world viewed the African American population. The migration of blacks from the south to the north changed the image of African Americans from uneducated peasants to one of sophistication. The new identity lead to greater social consciousness of African Americans, only then did they begin to expand their intellectual and social contacts from local to international.
The Harlem Renaissance also impacted the African American Community as a whole. The African American community gained a sense of self-determination that provided black militancy as well as a foundation for...