Test Your Knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance

In 1912, Claude McKay immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica to study agronomy. But after settling in Harlem two years later, he shifted to writing poetry and fiction, which he often used to advocate against racial oppression. He established himself as a key voice in the Harlem Renaissance with his 1922 collection of poems, “Harlem Shadows.” He was posthumously named Jamaica’s National Poet in 1977.

Writer Alain LeRoy Locke earned the title “father of the Harlem Renaissance” through his support and mentorship of Black creatives such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. His 1925 anthology of essays by Harlem Renaissance writers, titled “The New Negro,” cemented his place as a founder of the movement.

Between 1916 and 1970, over 6 million Black Americans left the rural South to escape discriminatory Jim Crow laws and racial violence. They relocated to the North, Midwest, and West to major cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit. This shared migratory experience drew Black Americans together and gave rise to a rebirth of Black creative and intellectual culture, eventually known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Born in Florida, James Weldon Johnson became an influential writer and composer during the Harlem Renaissance after moving to New York City in 1901. Johnson wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in 1900 to highlight the struggle of Black Americans while expressing hope for a better future. The NAACP endorsed the song, and civil rights activists adopted it as a rallying cry in the 1950s.

During WWII, jazz sensation Josephine Baker served as a spy for France. Since she was a celebrity, few would suspect her of espionage, and she was able to hide in plain sight. She smuggled Nazi documents to the French government and hid photographs and messages written on sheet music in invisible ink in her skirts. For her service, Baker received two of France’s highest military honors.

“Strange Fruit,” originally a poem by Abel Meeropol, depicts the horrific image of lynching in the American South. Billie Holiday’s haunting rendition of the protest song brought the pain of racism to life. She was forbidden to perform the song by government officials, but refused to stop. The 2021 film “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” chronicles Holiday’s refusal to comply with the ban, leading to her eventual arrest.

Langston Hughes’ 1951 poem “Montage of a Dream Deferred” asks what happens to a deferred dream: “Does it dry up / Like a raisin in the sun?” The poem is a contemplation of what occurs when a white-dominated society denies opportunities to Black people. Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 stage play “A Raisin in the Sun” attempts to answer Hughes’ question through the lives of her characters.

Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which allowed a racially integrated audience when it reopened in 1934, played a major role in ushering jazz and blues music into the mainstream. The Apollo was a hub of New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, which saw a cultural revival of African American arts and literature in the 1920s and ‘30s. The influential theater launched the careers of many jazz artists, including Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a coming-of-age story featuring an independent Black female protagonist, Janie. Set in the rural American South, the novel explores love through Janie’s search for individuality as a Black woman. The book is considered Hurston’s finest work and one of the most important novels in American literature.

Louis Armstrong’s talent on the trumpet earned him a reputation as the world’s greatest trumpet player. His technique on the instrument, combined with his dramatic and expressive energy, introduced new styles and sounds to jazz music. Throughout his career, Armstrong formed multiple jazz bands, produced hit records, and appeared in many films, including 1969’s “Hello, Dolly!”