Literature

The roots of modern black American literature took hold during the Harlem Renaissance. Concepts such as primitivism, pride in black heritage/solidarity, oppression, inequality, and racial conflict permeated themes of various literary works by African American authors during the Harlem Renaissance.  Threads of racial uplift and optimism for a bright future were also weaved into literature during this time of cultural awakening.  The mood of the day for the African American community was brought to life through protest literature, autobiographies, novels, and poetry.

Courtesy:
 http://www.singleandhappy.net/singleindc/2009/04/index.html#tp

The Harlem Renaissance represented an outpouring of African American literary culture that corresponded to the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North during the first part of the 20th century. Arna Bontemps, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer were all prominent African-American writers associated with the Harlem Renaissance.  Richard Wright was the first African-American author to publish a work that appeared on the national bestseller list.  Langston Hughes, poet, novelist, and songwriter, was arguably the most successful black writer in to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and Contee Cullen were prominent black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Through their literature, these great African American authors were successful not only in pointing out the horrific injustice of racism, but they also were able to present a more unified consciousness within the culture (Harlem Renaissance, 2003).

Below is a cover picture of "The Crisis" magazine, which was utilized by many black authors of the period:

Courtesy: http://www.newseum.org/news/2010/02/6561.jpg

---Theresa L.

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Encyclopedia Britannica Online. (n.d.) Arts and entertainment:  Harlem renaissance.  Retrieved

     November 10,2010, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-

     Renaissance/272824/The-background

Encyclopedia.com. (2010). Harlem renaissance. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from http://www.

     encyclopedia.com/doc/1g2-3401801849.html