Wondering who the Harlem Renaissance writers were and why they still matter? You’ll meet Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay and others here. In short, they redefined Black identity and laid groundwork for the later civil rights movement.
This guide sits within the wider topic of literature and society.
| Item | Key fact |
|---|---|
| Span of the movement | Roughly the 1910s through the mid-1930s |
| Southern Black migrants who had moved north | About 300,000 by 1920 |
| Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows | 1922 |
| Jean Toomer, Cane | 1923 |
| Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues | 1926 |
| Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God | 1937 |
The figures above come from History.com’s Harlem Renaissance overview and its profiles of the writers. Dates and counts can change as sources are revised, so check the source before you rely on them.
Where did the Harlem Renaissance begin?
The movement grew out of the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the rural South for the urban North to seek economic opportunity and escape racial prejudice, segregation and violence. Harlem became the focal point of that shift, according to History.com’s writer profiles.
By 1920, some 300,000 African Americans from the South had moved north, and Harlem was one of the most popular destinations, as History.com’s overview explains. The neighborhood had been developed as an upper-class white area in the 1880s, but overbuilding left empty buildings, and Black families moved in.
History.com says the era lasted roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, and it is widely regarded as a golden age of African American culture, expressed through literature, music, theater and visual art (overview). An EBSCO research starter says the literary movement flourished primarily during the 1920s and early 1930s. Sources draw the edges differently, so treat the dates as approximate.
The main Harlem Renaissance writers
Most of the movement’s writers, artists and musicians were born elsewhere, and the acknowledged focal point of African American culture was still Harlem, per EBSCO. Their creations did not always center on the neighborhood. These are the best-known Harlem Renaissance writers and what each is remembered for:
- Langston Hughes: described as the most influential and widely celebrated voice of the movement. He wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” soon after high school and wove jazz and blues into his first collection, The Weary Blues (1926) (History.com).
- Zora Neale Hurston: a trained anthropologist who published the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the life of a Black woman in the rural South (History.com).
- Countee Cullen: won widespread acclaim for his debut poetry collection, Colors (1925), and drew on Romantic poets such as John Keats (History.com).
- Claude McKay: born in Jamaica, he became a major voice with Harlem Shadows (1922). His novel Home to Harlem (1928) was the first commercially successful novel by a Black writer (History.com).
- Jean Toomer: his novel Cane (1923) mixed prose, dramatic dialogue and poetry and was hailed as an important example of literary modernism (History.com).
Titles can vary between sources. Another History.com article names Cullen’s first volume Color rather than Colors, so confirm a title in a library catalogue before you cite it.
The editors and mentors behind the books
Jessie Redmon Fauset moved to New York in 1919 to become literary editor of The Crisis, helping introduce Cullen, Hughes and McKay to national audiences. She also published four novels, including There Is Confusion (1924) and Plum Bun (1929), about the emerging Black middle class (History.com).
Sociologist Charles S. Johnson was integral in shaping the Harlem literary scene. He founded and edited Opportunity, the National Urban League magazine, a success that bolstered writers like Hughes (History.com).
EBSCO adds W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke to the figures who nurtured emerging writers such as Hughes, Hurston and McKay. It also notes that major publishers produced books by African Americans with unprecedented frequency during the 1920s and early 1930s.
Themes and debates in the writing
According to EBSCO, the writers boldly rejected stereotypes that portrayed African Americans as nothing more than pitiable societal problems. Three threads run through their work:
- Range of Black life: characters come from all levels of society, socially and economically.
- City settings: for the first time in American literature, there are consistent attempts to portray African Americans in urban locations.
- Dual identity: being Black and American could bring joy, as in “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (1900), known as the black national anthem, or despair, as many African American World War I veterans discovered on their return.
The writers did not agree on everything. History.com notes that Hughes, in “The Negro Artist and His Racial Mountain”, urged Black poets to combat the “urge within the race toward whiteness,” while Cullen was unapologetically influenced by Romantic poets like Keats.
Hurston courted controversy through her involvement with the publication FIRE!!, according to History.com. Disagreement of this kind shows a movement with many voices rather than one style.
A short reading path
If you are new to the period, this order gives you a quick tour of its range:
- Start with Hughes’s poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, then move to the jazz and blues rhythms of The Weary Blues.
- Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God for a Black woman’s life in the rural South.
- Try McKay’s Home to Harlem to see the first commercially successful novel by a Black writer.
- Finish with Toomer’s Cane, an experimental mix of prose, dialogue and poetry.
Why the writers still matter
History.com says the literature drew much-needed attention to the bitter legacy of slavery and racism, helping to lay the foundations for the later civil rights movement (source).
Reputations also shifted over time. Hurston struggled to make a living as a writer in her lifetime, but interest revived after her death and Their Eyes Were Watching God came to be celebrated as a literary classic (History.com). Her posthumous book Barracoon, about a slave who survived the Middle Passage, was released in 2018 (Biography.com).
EBSCO says the legacy continues to resonate, reflecting the importance of diversity in literary expression. Readers curious how literary reputations are recognised worldwide can browse the nobel prize in literature winners, and those interested in how books meet public argument can follow the banned books history.
Frequently asked questions
Who was the most influential of the Harlem Renaissance writers?
Show answer
History.com describes Langston Hughes as the most influential and widely celebrated voice of the movement. Besides poetry, he wrote essays, novels, short stories and plays, according to its profile.
When did the Harlem Renaissance take place?
Show answer
History.com says it lasted roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s. EBSCO describes the literary movement as flourishing primarily during the 1920s and early 1930s.
Which novel was the first commercially successful by a Black writer?
Show answer
History.com credits Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem (1928) with that distinction, as stated in its writer profiles.
Did all the writers live in Harlem?
Show answer
No. EBSCO says most were born elsewhere and that their creations did not always center on Harlem, though the neighborhood was the acknowledged focal point.
