Zora Neale Hurston, 1938, by Carl Van Vechten (Library of Congress)
One of the most creative and intellectually productive eras in African American history, the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was fueled by the contributions of African Americans in music, art, and literature. Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Lois Mailou Jones, and Alain Locke are prominent figures of the period who also had strong Washington, D.C. roots.
Historian and scholar Michele L. Simms-Burton, a former professor of African-American studies at Howard University, leads a day that examines the creators and the works that came alive during a period whose influence continues to be felt.
10 a.m. The Great Migration and “The Warmth of Other Suns”
The Jim Crow South through industrialization, World War I, and urbanization
11:45 a.m. Modernism and the “New Negro Aesthetics”
Black writers, artists, and musicians defining a movement
1 p.m. Lunch (participants bring their own)
2 p.m. White Patrons and Supporters of the Harlem Renaissance
Carl Van Vechten, Charlotte Osgood Mason, Nancy Cunard, and the Harmon Foundation
2:45 p.m. “When Washington Was in Vogue”
The Harlem Renaissance reflected in the capitol city
3:30 p.m. The Black Renaissance Lives On
The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance
Smithsonian Connections
View artwork, background resources, and information on the artists included in the American Art Museum’s exhibition African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond.
