Episode 811: The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance, the great flowering of African American arts and culture in the early twentieth century, is hard to define but easy to admire. Coupled with the Great Migration, in which hundreds of thousands of Southern black workers moved to the rapidly industrializing cities of the North, the Harlem Renaissance was a time of radically innovative artistic expression, as musicians, visual artists, and writers forged a new consciousness. The works they produced reflected a spirit of change, progress, and optimism – but underlying the excitement were also a sense of struggle; reflective themes of nostalgia, guilt, and regret; and a clear-eyed view of racial relations in American culture.

In Episode 811, Jacke looks at the social context for the Harlem Renaissance, with a particular focus on works by Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, and Zora Neale Hurston.

For more about Harlem Renaissance authors, check out the following episodes:

Episode 533: Featuring Langston Hughes scholars Vera Kutzinski and Anthony Reed about their new book, Langston Hughes in Context.

Episode 675: Featuring Hurston biographer Cheryl R. Hopson, author of Zora Neale Hurston: A Critical Life.