LibGuides: MHS Library: US History: Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance Figures

Poets

Langston Hughes ● Claude McKay ● Arna Wendell Bontemps ● Marcus Garvey ● Countee Cullen ● James Weldon Johnson ● Georgia Douglas Johnson ● Sterling Brown ● Gwendolyn Brooks ● Angelina Weld ● Gwendolyn B. Bennett

Visual Artists

Aaron Douglas ● Lois Mailou Jones ● Laura Wheeler Waring ● Charles Alston ● Meta Fuller ● Archibald Motley ● Augusta Savage ● Jacob Lawrence ● Palmer C. Hayden ● William Johnson ● James Van Der Zee

Musicians

Fletcher Henderson ● Earl "Fatha" Hines ● Cab Calloway ● James P. Johnson ● Dizzy Gillespie ● Thelonious Monk ● Count Basie ● "Jelly Roll" Morton ● King Oliver ● Charlie Parker ● Art Tatum ● Fats Waller

Writers

Alain LeRoy Locke ● ‎Zora Neale Hurston ● Arna Bontemps ● Dorothy West ● Rudolph Fisher ● W.E.B. Du Bois ● Georgia Douglas Johnson ● Nella Larsen ● Jessie Redmon Fauset ● James Weldon Johnson ● Jean Toomer ● James Baldwin ● ‎Countee Cullen ● Jessie Redmon Fauset ● George Schuyler ● Gwendolyn B. Bennett ● Langston Hughes ● Walter White ● A. Philip Randolph ● Wallace Thurman ● Chandler Owen

Singers

Ella Fitzgerald ● Adelaide Hall ● Lottie Gee ● Cab Calloway ● Ethel Waters ● Avon Long ● Aida Ward ● Edith Wilson ● Ma Rainey ● Bessie Smith ● Louis Armstrong ● Paul Robeson ● Josephine Baker ● Fats Waller ● Billie Holiday ● Lena Horne

Dancers

Josephine Baker ● Bill "Bo jangles" Robinson ● George Snowden ● Herbert White ● Earl "Snakehips" Tucker ● Mildred Dixon ● Florence Mills ● The Nicholas Brothers ● Stepin Fetchit ● Butterbeans and Suzy ● Evelyn Welch

Leaders

Marcus Garvey ● Oscar DePriest ● A. Philip Randolph ● L.S. Alexander Gumby ● Madam C.J. Walker ● Alain LeRoy Locke ● W.E.B. Du Bois ● Walter White ● James Weldon Johnson

Library Databases

Britannica School This link opens in a new window
Good place to start for concise background / biographical information on individual figures and conversation topics.
ABC-CLIO: American History This link opens in a new window
A good place to start for concise background information. See the Topic Center on the Harlem Renaissance and / or search directly for your character. or conversation topic.
GALE: US History This link opens in a new window
Start from the Harlem Renaissance or 1920s Topic Pages or use the Search Bar to look up your chosen character or topic.
GALE: Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Use for literary figures - biography, work overviews and critical analysis.
Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window
Browse by Harlem Renaissance Literary Movement or search for directly for name of author (Lastname, Firstname). This resource also includes the full-text of poems.
Classroom Video on Demand This link opens in a new window
Documentary and archival footage of Harlem Renaissance and Decade of the 1920s in general, as well as content on individual figures.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Background article on Harlem Renaissance and information on visual artists.
PROQUEST This link opens in a new window
PROQUEST: Alexander Street Video This link opens in a new window
Streaming video and documentary content.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Best for scholarly journal articles, primary sources and images.
Salem Press ebooks This link opens in a new window
Critical Survey of American Literature and Critical Survey of Poetry: American Poets will contain entries on writers that include biographical information and literary analysis of their works.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture by Thomas Riggs
ISBN: 9781558628533
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Use GALE login to access this ebook.

Websites

Academy of American Poets: Harlem Renaissance
Includes poet biographical information and full-text of poems.
The Dinner Party That Started the Harlem Renaissance
New York Times article commemorating the 100 year anniversary.
Drop Me off in Harlem: The Kennedy Center
Meet the artists, writers, dancers, musicians, activists, philosophers, and patrons of the Harlem Renaissance between the years of 1917 and 1935. Discover the places they congregated and explore how this period in American history was documented through art, literature, journalism, theater, and film.
Harlem Renaissance: National Gallery of Art
Focuses on the visual arts (works and biographies) of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance: Origins, Influences, and Currents
This online exhibition highlights books, magazines, photographs, and ephemera, that explore how authors and
artists created visions of Black modernity that extended beyond New York to become a national and global movement.
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: MOMA
Interactive online exhibition focusing on Lawrence's painting series.
Library of Congress Research Guide: Harlem Renaissance
See the Digital Collections and Related Resources sections for primary source materials and other info.
Place, Culture, and Representation: The Art and Politics of the Harlem Renaissance
Photographic collection that explores the post-war era, which gave rise to several organized political and economic movements that helped fuel the Harlem Renaissance.
Poetry Foundation: Intro to the Harlem Renaissance
Includes contextual essay, biographical information on poets and full-text of selected works.

I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100

(5:28) Guest Curator and author Wil Haygood talks about the Harlem Renaissance and the I, Too, Sing America exhibition at Columbus Museum of Art, October 19, 2018 - January 20, 2019.

Black History in 2 Minutes: Harlem Renaissance

From the Podcast series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. See also episodes on Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Madam C.J. Walker and Jazz.

Books from the Library Collection

Collection: Harlem Renaissance / 1920s
These books are available for use in the library. See display bookshelf.