Celebrate Black History Month

Harlem Renaissance Artistic Influences on Black Culture

Centered in Harlem, New York City, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement of art, music, and literature. Harlem was an urban destination for people from the Great Migration, where more than 6 million African Americans migrated from southern states to urban centers (including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit) from 1916 to the 1930s. Migration stalled during the Great Depression but picked back up after World War II. Migration push factors included the invention of the mechanical cotton picker, reducing the need for labor on plantations.

As African American people moved to urban industrial centers (e.g., New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit), life in cities brought challenges, such as discrimination in housing and employment. It also brought access to education, higher-paying work, and closeness to the community (challenging in the rural south). Movement to northern cities meant more waged work with freedom from Jim Crow legal segregation and forced labor (sharecropping & convict leasing). In NYC, many Black families moved to Harlem in upper Manhattan, including artists and intellectuals. In the 20th century, Harlem became the hub for Black Culture.

This Library Guide introduces writers, musicians, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance and their continued legacies, tying a thread to the legacy of art & artists influenced by them.