Harlem Renaissance


The Topic:

Harlem Renaissance

This project includes over one-hundred and fifty websites providing biographies of writers, poets, artists, musicians, entertainers, activists, thinkers, and leaders of the Harlem Renaissance movement. These additional biography resources have been placed on a 'bonus' webpage entitled Biographies of the Harlem Renaissance. Be sure to check it out!


Easier - Harlem Renaissance refers to an era of written and artistic creativity among African-Americans that occurred after World War I and lasted until the middle of the 1930s Depression.

Harder - A major factor leading to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the migration of African-Americans to the northern cities. Between 1919 and 1926, large numbers of black Americans left their rural southern states homes to move to urban centers such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

This black urban migration combined with the experimental trends occurring throughout 1920s American society and the rise of a group of radical black intellectuals all contributed to the particular styles and unprecedented success of black artists. What began as a series of literary discussions in lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) was first known as the 'New Negro Movement.' Later termed the Harlem Renaissance, this movement brought unprecedented creative activity in writing, art, and music and redefined expressions of African-Americans and their heritage.

Drop Me Off in Harlem from ArtsEdge: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/
Discover the themes and works of the Harlem Renaissance.

Guide to Harlem Renaissance Materials from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/harlem/harlem.html
This guide presents the Library's resources as well as links to external Web sites on the Harlem Renaissance and a bibliography.
Also from LOC:
2) Harlem Renaissance and the Flowering of Creativity http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart7b.html
Harlem Renaissance from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance
Related Websites:
2) Harlem Renaissance from the American Library of Montpellier http://www.sspfrance.com/library/harlem.htm
3) Harlem Renaissance from MSN Encarta http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566483/harlem_renaissance.html
4) Kari's Thoughts on Poets of the Harlem Renaissance http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/huttenl2/
Harlem Renaissance from PBS NewsHou: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february98/harlem_2-20.html
This is the site of an online forum that examined the Harlem Renaissance literary and political movement.
Another Related PBS Site:
2) Harlem Renaissance http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/harlem.html



After visiting several of the Harlem Renaissance websites, complete one or more of the following activities.

Create A Harlem Renaissance Poster. The subject could be a magazine cover, a stage production, music group or performer, public lecture or forum. You may get some ideas at sites like Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance. Create and display your poster. An alternative subject would be to create a Harlem scene that envisions what you think a location would have looked like in the Twenties.

Compare and Contrast the Lives and Work. Chose two people who played important roles in the Harlem Renaissance period. You can find lots of possibilities on the 'bonus' site for this project: Biographies of the Harlem Renaissance. Compare and contrast their endeavors and accomplishments. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Were both activists? What type of influence do they have today?

Hold A Harlem Renaissance Event. Plan and organized your own 'literary group' or 'rent party.' For the literary group, pick a few favorite pieces of prose and poetry by one or more of the Harlem Renaissance writers to read and discuss . . . try to portray characters of the era. You may want to include refreshments. For the rent party, make sure to find and play some music of the time period. Include dance instruction to teach the Lindy Hop or other swing steps.

Complete a Harlem Renaissance Biography. Start by selecting an important person of the era. You may find some help in selection and resources at Biographies of the Harlem Renaissance. Use the resources found there and at a library to learn all that you can about the person. Put together a multimedia presentation (PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Webpage) that summarizes their life and accomplishments. Include pictures, text, drawings, and where appropriate, music.

Complete a Harlem Renaissance WebQuest. Adapt or follow the procedures found at the webQuest site: tm

1) Designing an Art Exhibit: The Harlem Renaissance (11th Gr.) by A. Munski & A. Witt http://eprentice.sdsu.edu/J03CR/amunski/webquest/harlem.html
2) Harlem Renaissance by K. S. Frame http://www.manteno.k12.il.us/webquest/high/LanguageArts/HarlemRenaissance/Harlem%2

0Renaissance.HTM
3) Harlem Renaissance: A WebQuest by D. Hogue http://www.mshogue.com/English_11/Harlem/wq.htm

Websites By Kids For Kids
Harlem Renaissance (1999 ThinkQuest Challenge Project): http://library.thinkquest.org/26656/; This 'quick course' on the Harlem Renaissance covers history, art, music, history, drama, and more.
More Harlem Renaissance Websites
American Cultural History 1920 -1929: http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade20.html; The purpose of this site is to help the user gain a broad understanding of the Roaring 1920s.
Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1937 by P.P. Reuben: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/chap9.html; This site concentrates on literature and writers in the four prominent genres of poetry, fiction, drama, and essay

Circle Association's Weblinks to The Harlem Renaissance: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/circle/harlem-ren-sites.html; Here are links to pages devoted to the Harlem Renaissance.

Cotton Club Revues: http://www.jass.com/cotton.html; Take a tour through a collection of sheet music covers that feature the music of the Cotton Club.; Related Website:; 2) Interview With F. Nicholas http://www.jitterbuzz.com/nicho.html

Field To Factory: Afro-American Migration 1915-1940: http://otal.umd.edu/~vg/msf95/ms20/intro2.html; This site provides a brief overview of the migration of Afro-Americans to northern cities.; Related Migration Websites:; 2) Black Workers and the City by C.S. Johnson http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/JohWorkF.html
3) Making of African American Identity: Volume III, 1917-1968 from the National Humanities Ctr.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/migrations/migrations.htm; 4) Migrations: African-American Mosaic from the Library of Congress http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam008.html; 5) Some Economic Aspects of Negro Migrations by C.S. Johnson http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collID=cool&hdl=amrlgs:op3:014

Harlem: http://www.harlem.org/; This site uses biographies behind Art Kane's famous photo of 57 jazz musicians gathered on a Harlem street as the jumping-off point for a survey of the history of jazz.

Harlem 1900-1940: An African-American Community
from the Schomburg Center for Black Culture, New York Public Library: http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/index.html; This exhibit traces the history of the urban experience in Harlem's early days through graphic and photographic images.; Related Websites:; 2) Harlem Renaissance by S. Watson (Caution: This site contains some explicit language related to homosexual lifestyles) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/blues/watson.html; 3) Harlem Memories by M.L. Pfeffer http://nfo.net/usa/harlem.html; 4) Duke Ellington's Washington http://www.pbs.org/ellingtonsdc/index.htm
Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro from University of Virginia: http://etext.virginia.edu/harlem/index.html; This is the site of an online edition of the March 1925 Survey Graphic, a premier journal of social work in 1920s America. Alain Locke, then a professor of philosophy at Howard University, designed and edited this special issue devoted to the African American 'Renaissance' that was then underway in Harlem. Contributors include Countee Cullen, Angelina Weld Grimké, Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Arthur Schomburg, Jean Toomer, and others.
Harlem Renaissance Poetry: http://www.world-class-poetry.com/Harlem_Renaissance.html
A brief overview of poetry and poets of the Harlem Renaissance period is provided.
Jass, Jasz, and all that Jazz from PBS River of Song: http://www.pbs.org/riverofsong/music/e2-mo-jazz.html; No one description of jazz adequately outlines this ever-changing music; no definition can pinpoint simply when and where it all began.; Other Music Websites:; 2) America's Jazz Heritage from the Smithsonian Institution http://www.si.edu/ajazzh/; 3) Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz (William P. Gottlieb Collection) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html
Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance: http://www.iniva.org/harlem/index2.html; This site is devoted to the art of the Harlem Renaissance.; Related Website:; 2) ArtLex on the Harlem Renaissance http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/h/harlemrenaissance.hml
Swing: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/IPHS/Projects/swing1/swingmain.htm; This is a website devoted to the historical culture, music, and dance of the Swing Era.; Related Website:; 2) Jazz Age: Flapper Culture & Style http://www.geocities.com/flapper_culture/
Websites For Teachers
Contributors to the Harlem Renaissance by H.L. Giles: http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/harlem/harlemsg1.html; This activity addresses some of the common themes that bring together members of this literary movement.

Folktales of Zora Neale Hurston by M.E. Riccio: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/2/93.02.10.x.html; Here is a series of lesson plans on the folktales of Zora Neale Hurston.
Inside the Harlem Renaissance (Grade 11) at Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE): http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/harlem/; Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s, in terms of the Harlem Renaissance and new trends in literature, music, and art, with special attention to the work of writers.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) at the Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC): http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/hughes.htm; Here you find a collection of lesson plans and resources for study of Langston Hughes.; Related Website at ISLMC:; 2) Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902-1973) http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/bontemps.htm; 3) Countee Porter Cullen (1903-1946) http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/cullen.htm; 4) Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/hurston.htm; Related Lesson Plans:; 5) Langston Hughes: Artist and Historian by M. Blue http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1996/1/96.01.02.x.html; 6) Langston Hughes: Voice Among Voices by G.C. Cassidy http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1991/3/91.03.01.x.html

Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-American Culture by C. Jackson (Grades 11 and above) at the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1978/2/78.02.03.x.html; This is a unit plan for study of a pivotal period in the development of Afro-American culture; a time when black and white Americans alike 'discovered' the vibrancy and uniqueness of black art, music, and especially, literature.

Impact of the Music of the Harlem Renaissance on Society by K.B. Hilliard (Grades 7-8) at the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1989/1/89.01.05.x.html; This unit plan's major focus is the people, places, and music of the Harlem Renaissance from 1918-1933.; Other Harlem Renaissance Lessons at Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute:; 2) African-American Art and the Political Dissent During the Harlem Renaissance by V. Belton; http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2000/4/00.04.01.x.html; 3) Harlem Renaissance Births a Black Culture by S. Friday http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2000/4/00.04.04.x.html; 4) Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions by P. Flynn http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1988/2/88.02.02.x.html; 5) Social Contributions of The Harlem Renaissance by H. Rhodes http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.08.x.html
Migration North to the Promised Land by B. Lapucia: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.05.x.html
This curriculum unit investigates the great migration of blacks from the rural South to northern industrial cities.




Harlem African-American Renaissance artist writer poetry poetry for kids oral history 1920s art music literature Black migration Jazz World War I theater Lindy Hop Black Manhattan Blues 'Roaring 20s' Chicago Jazz Age theatre writing urban World War II 'New Negro Movement' civil rights Amsterdam News Cotton Club dance 'talented tenth' stage Women's suffrage creativity drama Universal Negro Improvement League ghetto photography agrarian heritage race literary group rent party riot Sugar Hill prose Great Depression



Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, June 2001 - 2008