Harlem Renaissance: A Brief History with Documents

The Harlem Renaissance -- the unprecedented artistic outpouring centered in 1920s and 1930s Harlem -- comes down to us today, says Jeffrey B. Ferguson, as a braiding of history, memory, and myth. To analyze the movement's contents and meaning, Ferguson presents its signature works and lesser known pieces in a framework that allows students to examine the issues its writers and artists faced. Political theorists and civil rights activists, as well as poets, artists, musicians, and novelists, explore the character of the so-called New Negro, the influence of African and Southern heritage, the implications of skin color and race and gender, and the question of whether black artistic expression should be directed toward the black freedom struggle. Ferguson's thought-provoking introduction provides the broad background for the Harlem Renaissance and a frank assessment of its significance. A glossary of key individuals and journals, document headnotes and annotations, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography help students understand the context of this artistic outpouring and investigate its themes.

JEFFREY B. FERGUSON (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Assistant Professor of Black Studies and American Studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he teaches a course in the Harlem Renaissance. He is the author of The Sage of Sugar Hill: George S. Schuyler, Satire, and the Harlem Renaissance (2005). His 1998 dissertation on the African American journalist George S. Schuyler was awarded the Helen Choate Bell Prize. He has been a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute.