Harlem Renaissance The end of World War I set up conditions for a new culture to transpire. Due to the loss of jobs the war created, many African-Americans moved from southern cities to northern cities during the 1920’s and 1930’s. In fact, so many of them moved up north, they created strong African-American communities, including Harlem in New York City. During the 1920’s, Harlem became the Mecca of Black culture and was home to many talented individuals from all fields. Roughly lasting from the end of World War I to the stock market crash in 1929, the Harlem Renaissance was the time period in which black literature was first taken seriously and published by mainstream companies. Even though the Harlem Renaissance focused mainly on literature, it is also strongly related to the advances in African-American music, art and politics of the 1920’s.
This period of time showed the great promise and talent of many black musicians, painters, and authors. Langston Hughes, Sargent Johnson and CJ Walker were some of the many individuals who played a huge role in the demonstration of blacks also experiencing universal concepts through their artwork. In the excerpt, “Thursday afternoon” from the novel Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes, has a mother and daughter arguing about the daughter’s friends and her love of going out. In this excerpt, the daughter is growing up and loves to party. The mother on the other hand, focuses on the future and wants her to go back to