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Watson

During the Harlem Renaissance period from 1919 to the Great Depression, Harlem became the unrivaled center of African American culture as nightclubs, publishing houses, and galleries sprang up. The Harlem Renaissance transformed both African American identity and American culture more broadly by embracing African American artistic productions and styles. The document examines this history through the popular culture and interactions between luminaries that helped shape America.

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186 views1 page

Watson

During the Harlem Renaissance period from 1919 to the Great Depression, Harlem became the unrivaled center of African American culture as nightclubs, publishing houses, and galleries sprang up. The Harlem Renaissance transformed both African American identity and American culture more broadly by embracing African American artistic productions and styles. The document examines this history through the popular culture and interactions between luminaries that helped shape America.

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h21kitty
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Watson, Steven. "Harlem Renaissance." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. Web.

27 Feb. 2011. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/blues/watson.html>

While many still refer to Harlem as the unofficial capital of Black America, during the

period from 1919 to the Great Depression, Harlem reigned as the unrivaled center of African-

American culture. The Harlem Renaissance saw the flowering of African-American literature,

music, dance, art, and social commentary in the neighborhood newly transformed by the Great

Migration of African-Americans to the North during World War I. Nightclubs, community

centers, cafes, publishing houses, and galleries sprang up in Harlem amidst a tremendous level of

energy and excitement. The Harlem Renaissance transformed African-American identity and

history, but it also transformed American culture in general. Never before had so many

Americans read the thoughts of African-Americans and embraced the African-American

community's productions, expressions, and style. It would be impossible to examine the Jazz

Age without understanding the complex role that African-Americans--and the African-American

community of Harlem--played in the modern re-identification of American culture. In The

Harlem Renaissance, Steven Watson examines this history, focusing on the popular culture of

Harlem and Manhattan. He illustrates the complex interactions between Harlem luminaries like

Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, A'Lelia Walker, and

W.E.B. DuBois, and traces how this community of artists came to transform America as a

whole.

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