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The Harlem Renaissance (also known as the '''Black Literary Renaissance''' and '''New Negro Renaissance''') refers to the flowering of African American literature, art, and drama during the 1920s and 1930s . Though centered in Harlem , New York City , USA , the movement impacted urban centers throughout the United States. Black novelists, poets, painters, and playwrights began creating works rooted in their own culture instead of imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans. The Harlem Renaissance began as a result of the changes in the African American community after the end of the Civil War . The African American community had established a middle class, especially in the cities. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans to the cities of the Northern United States. Harlem, in New York City, became a center of social and literary change in the early 20th century. Alongside the social change was a political undercurrent, fostered by groups such as the newly-formed NAACP and individuals such as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois . Jazz and Blues, staple music of the South, came to the North with the migrants and was played in the nightclubs and hotspots of Harlem. After the end of World War I, many African American soldiers came home to a nation that did not always respect their accomplishments. Race riots and other civil injustices occurred throughout 1919. Historians disagree as to when the Harlem Renaissance began and ended. It is unofficially recognized to have spanned from about 1919 until the early or mid 1930s , although its ideas lived on much longer. The zenith of this "flowering of Negro literature", as James Weldon Johnson preferred to call the Harlem Renaissance, is placed between 1924 (the year that Opportunity Magazine hosted a party for black writers where many white publishers were in attendance) and 1929 (the year of the Stock Market crash and then resulting Great Depression ). Most of the participants in the African American literary movement descended from a generation whose parents or grandparents were slaves, and themselves having lived through the gains and losses of Reconstruction after the American Civil War . Many of these people were part of the Great Migration out of the South and other racially stratified communities who sought relief from prejudices and a better standard of living in the North and Midwest regions of the United States. Others were Africans and people of African descent from the Caribbean who had come to the United States hoping for a better life. Uniting most of them was their convergence in Harlem , New York City . Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro who through intellect, the production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading Racism and Stereotypes of that era to promote Progressive or Socialist politics, and Racial and Social Integration . The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race. There would be no set style or uniting form singularly characterizing art coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. Rather, there would be a mix of celebrating a wide variety of cultural elements, including a Pan-Africanist perspective, "high-culture" and the "low-culture or low-life," from the traditional form of music to the blues and jazz, traditional and new experimental forms in literature like Modernism , and in poetry, for example, the new form of Jazz Poetry . This duality would eventually result in a number of African American artists of the Harlem Renaissance coming into conflict with conservatives in the black intelligentsia who would take issue with certain depictions of black life in whatever medium of the arts. The Harlem Renaissance was one of primarily African American involvement and an interpersonal support system of black patrons, black owned businesses and publications. On the periphery, however, it was supported by a number of white Americans who provided various forms of assistance, opening doors which otherwise would have remained closed to the publicizing of their work outside of the black American community. This support often took the form of Patronage or Publication . Then, there were those whites interested in so-called " Primitive " cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time, and wanted to see this " Primitivism " in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. Other interpersonal dealings between whites and blacks can be categorized as exploitative because of the desire to capitalize on the " Fad ", and "fascination" of the African American being in "vogue". This vogue of the African American would extend to Broadway , as in Porgy And Bess , and into music where in many instances white band leaders would defy racist attitude to include the best and the brightest African American stars of music and song. For blacks, their art was a way to prove their Humanity and demand for Equality . For a number of whites, preconceived prejudices were challenged and overcome. In the early 20th century the Harlem Renaissance reflected social and intellectual changes in the African American community. An increase of education and employment opportunities had developed by the turn of the century. Contributions that lead to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance included the great migration of African Americans to the northern cities and World War I. Factors leading to the decline of this era include the Great Depression. Corresponding with the Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of mainstream publishing. Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. Publishers began to attract a great amount of attention from the nation at large. Some famous authors during this time included Jean Toomer , Jessie Fauset , Claude McKay , Zora Neale Hurston , James Weldon Johnson and Alain Locke and Eric D. Walrond as well as Langston Hughes . The Harlem Renaissance would help lay the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement . Moreover, many black artists coming into their own creativity after this literary movement would take inspiration from it. POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT WRITERS/LITERATI
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