Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Watson
Watson
While many still refer to Harlem as the unofficial capital of Black America, during the
period from 1919 to the Great Depression, Harlem reigned as the unrivaled center of African-
American culture. The Harlem Renaissance saw the flowering of African-American literature,
music, dance, art, and social commentary in the neighborhood newly transformed by the Great
centers, cafes, publishing houses, and galleries sprang up in Harlem amidst a tremendous level of
energy and excitement. The Harlem Renaissance transformed African-American identity and
history, but it also transformed American culture in general. Never before had so many
community's productions, expressions, and style. It would be impossible to examine the Jazz
Age without understanding the complex role that African-Americans--and the African-American
Harlem Renaissance, Steven Watson examines this history, focusing on the popular culture of
Harlem and Manhattan. He illustrates the complex interactions between Harlem luminaries like
Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, A'Lelia Walker, and
W.E.B. DuBois, and traces how this community of artists came to transform America as a
whole.