Harlem Renaissance: Context

African American Odyssey
This page includes material on Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Marian Anderson and other Harlem Renaissance topics.

Blues Aesthetic
Essay on jazz and blues themes in Harlem Renaissance art and in American culture.

Du Bois, W. E. B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk.
A book on black culture that had a major influence on the Harlem Renaissance writers and artists.

Haiti and Images of Black Nationhood
Mystique about Haiti and Garvey's Africa for Africans movement helped drive the Harlem Renaissance, according to this essay.

Harlem After Dark: A Tour
Excerpts from Steven Watson, describing Harlem in the 1920s through a trip through clubs and dives. A few paragraphs on the lesbian/gay culture aspects, too.

Harlem Renaissance
Brief outline of the history, with excellent follow-up study questions.

The Harlem Renaissance
An overview of the Harlem Renaissance -- music, art, literature -- and Harlem as a "cultural metaphor for black America itself."

The Harlem Renaissance: A Brief Chronology
A timeline of the Harlem Renaissance, from 1919 to 1938.

Harlem Renaissance: Exotic, Sensual Images
Why did African American artists reinforce stereotypes of the "primitive African"?

Imagining Africa
Essay on the role of nostalgia in the arts of the Harlem Renaissance.

Modernism and Modernity
Essay on images of blackness -- sometimes reinforcing stereotypes -- and Euro-American modernism.

The New Negro
A new image for black Americans was part of the cultural revolution called the Harlem Renaissance, according to this essay.

PAL: A Brief Introduction
A research and reference guide with basic information on the Harlem Renaissance, from chronology to suggested research topics.