What Shaped The Harlem Renaissance?

The “roaring” 1920s were an age of dramatic social, political and literary change. For the first time, writers were acknowledged on their creative writing. Therefore, when the nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, the economic growth swept many Americans into a prosperous but unfamiliar consumer culture. People from all over bought the same merchandise, listened to the same music, did the same dances, and mostly read the same books. Before radio and the television, most people became aware of news and current events through printed material like newspapers and books. If one knew a lot about the classics, they were considered an educated, well rounded and high societal person. Learning to read and reading the major works of the time period was considered a necessary part of education. The life style troubled some of the conservative citizens, but for a small handful of young
Scott Fitzgerald, E. E. Cummings, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neal Hurston, Sinclair Lewis and many more. In the 1917 the Harlem Renaissance was created by the literature of African Americans and ended in 1935 mostly because of the great depression. Many authors like Langston Hughes played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance. During this period Harlem was a cultural center, drawing in African American writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Many came from the South, fleeing the oppressive system in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents, skills and opinions. “The renaissance was also more than just a literary movement: It involved racial pride, fueled in part by the militancy of the "New Negro" demanding civil and political rights” ~ Richard Wormser. The book that define the period is the “Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot. The books theme was the ultimate reflection of the modern world's loss of personal, moral, and spiritual