Online Encyclopedia
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of art in the United States in the 1920s and early 1930s led by the African-American community based in Harlem, New York City.
Though Harlem is sometimes said to include all of upper Manhattan, traditionally Harlem is bounded on the south by East 96th Street, where the railroad tracks emerge from the tunnel under Park Avenue, and by Central Park, on the West by Morningside Heights, then west on 125th Street to the Hudson River, on the north by 155th Street, and on the east by the East River.
Jazz music, literature, and painting were important components of the Harlem Renaissance Major figures included:
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Writers
- Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, anthropologist
- Nella Larsen, novelist
- Langston Hughes, poet
- Jessie Fauset, editor, poet, essayist and novelist
- Countee Cullen, poet
- Claude McKay, poet
- James Weldon Johnson, poet
- Arna Bontemps, poet
Painters
- John T. Biggers
- Edward Burra
- Aaron Douglas
- William H. Johnson
- Lois Mailou Jones
- Jacob Lawrence
- Hale Woodruff
Musicians
The Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is one of the most famous clubs for popular music in the United States. It was mentioned in the Lou Reed song "Take a Walk on the Wild Side". Here many figures from the Harlem Renaissance found a venue for their talents.
The club fell into a decline in the 1960s but is now run by a non-profit organization, the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc., and reportedly draws 1.3 million visitors annually. It is the home of "Showtime at the Apollo", a nationally syndicated variety show showcasing new talent.