The Harlem Renaissance is one of the most literary and artistic movements in African American culture. It embraced Negro literature, music, theater and visual arts; during a period of reclamation of the “free Blackman”. During 1900-1940, where Black art was finally being recognized and free to be shared, Harlem proved to be a catalyst for artistic experimentation and a highly popular nightlife destination. It gave “New Negroes” visibility and opportunities for publication not evident elsewhere and not by the hands of “white ghostwriters”. The Harlem Renaissance brought together and developed talent that had never been seen in Black America and now made for public consumption. A new sound of music was created; new colors were used in paintings and most importantly, the literature now more relatable and dynamic.
1916- James David Corrothers- writer (1869–1917)
"In Spite of the Handicap: An Autobiography"-1916 “In 1836 or '38, perhaps, at about the period when Abraham Lincoln was beginning a modest law practice in Springfield, Illinois, some Quaker abolitionists established an “Underground Railroad station,” or hiding-place for escaping Negro slaves, in the lower peninsula of Michigan.”
1917- Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay- writer/poet (September 15, 1889– May 22, 1948) "The Harlem Dancer" "The wine-flushed, bold eyed boys, and even the girls, Devoured her shape with eager, pa**ionate gaze; But looking at her falsely-smiling face, I knew her self not in that strange place"
1925- Archibald John Motley, Junior- painter (October 7, 1891- January 1981) In an interview with the Smithsonian Institution-1978 “ And that's why I say that racism is the first thing that they have got to get out of their heads, forget about this damned racism, to hell with racism. ... That means nothing to an artist. We're all human beings. And the sooner that's forgotten and the sooner that you can come back to yourself and do the things that you want to do”
1926-Carl Van Vechten-photographer/patron (June 17, 1880 – December 21, 1964)
“n******g Heaven”1926- “It startled her somewhat to perceive how little unwelcome to her it would be to encounter this man again. She did not mention Byron Ka**on in her letter to her mother nor, conscious of this fact, could she bring herself to do so.”
1928-Alain Leroy Locke-writer/philosopher (September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954) “The New Negro” 1928- “The Sociologist, the Philanthropist, the Race-Leader, are not unawareof the New Negro, but they are at a loss of account for him. He simply cannot be swathed by their formulae”.
1930-Lois Mailou Jones- painter (November 3, 1905 – June 9, 1998)
Lois Mailou Jones: the Grand Dame of African-American Art, Woman's Art Journal (Vol. 8, No.2 Autumn 1987- “The French were so inspiring. The people would stand and watch me and say ‘mademoiselle, you are so very talented. You are so wonderful.' In other words, the color of my skin didn't matter in Paris and that was one of the main reasons why I think I was encouraged and began to really think I was talented."
1931-Prentiss Taylor- illustrator/painter (December 13, 1907 – October 7, 1991) “I prepared a smaller booklet of some of my newer poems to sell for a quarter. Its title poem was “The Negro mother” Prentiss Taylor, a young artist in Greenwich Village designed the booklet, endowed it with a dozen handsome black and white drawings and supervised the printing of it. Since Prentiss Taylor was white, and I, colored, I thought maybe such a book, evidence in itself of interracial collaboration and good will, might help democracy a little in the south where it seemed so hard for people to be friends across the color line.” -Langston Hughes
1931-George Samuel Schuyler-writer ( February 25, 1895 – August 31, 1977) "Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free,1931 “After having the excruciatingly painful Black-No-More procedure, Max awakens to a whole new world of possibilities. As he starts off for home he is overjoyed with his new appearance, but upon stepping out of his taxi he is quickly surrounded by a mob of reporters wishing to question the life he planned to live now that he had become white.”