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= Harlem Renaissance =

Urban African-American intellectuals and activists rejected the sterotypes that had bound rurual workers and called for a new investigation fo black life and culture that depicted real experience. At the same time, respect for the artistic acievements of African Americans grew as their literature, art, and music flourished. Not only fiction, poetry, and drama, but also criticial essays and politicals analysis were shared through such periodical literature as The Crisis. Langston Hughes' writing captures the political, social, and artistic climates of Harlem in the 1920s and1930s. Zora Hurston's writing explores the courageous struggles of African Americans living in the rural South in the early 1800s. Countee Cullen's poems tackled issues of race.

Many white Americans were also interested in these cultural developments and looked to black artists and scholars to interpet the less familiar aspects of urban life. Such plays as Langston Hughes' The Weary Blues and Nella Larsen's Quicksand were introduced with great success, and Duke Ellington's shows at the Cotton Club in Harlem were well attended by whites. Many writers of the Harlem Renaissance were sponsorsed by whtie patrons, although those well-intentioned sponsors were often more interested in primitivism and Africana than in changing the social conditions of African Americans.

//Langston Hughes(1902-1967)// For four years, Hughes worked at odd jobs on board ship and aboard, while his verse began to appear in magazines. In 1926, he enrolled at Lincoln University near Philadelphia. By the time of his graduation in 1929, he had published two volumes of verse, The Weary Blues(1926) and Fine Clothes to the Jew(1927), that earned him a reputation among the writers and artists of the African-American cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. He published his first novel, Not Without Laughter, in 1930. Hughes was an important voice of racial protest, as well as black affirmation. His politics evolved as times changed, bu the held fast to a belief in the black popular imagination and he wrote for the broadest audience possible.

Countee Cullen(1903-1946)

By the time aspiring poet Countee Cullen graduated from New York University in 1925, his work had appeared in national magazines such as //Harper's// and //The Nation.// His first book of poem- //Colors,// published the year he graduated- earned the praise of critics and readers alike. Cullen resisted being pigeonholed as a black poet, yet many of his poems tackled issues of race. Cullen's literary style rivaled his personal flair. While his poems explored modern racial injustices within classical forms such as the 14-line sonnet, his courtly manners and impeccable dress distinguished him as a true gentlemen. Cullen's writing brought him plenty of plaudits in his lifetime. Among the honors he recieved were literary prizes from //Opportunity// magazine, the Harmon Foundation Gold Medal Award, and one of the first Guggenheim Fellowships ever awarded to an African American.

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