The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of Black literary, musical, and artistic production that occurred between 1917 and 1935. Based in Harlem, New York, the writers, musicians, and visual artists from this important period sought to advance the cause of Black civil rights through representations of what notable writer Alain Locke termed “The New Negro.” Working to counter common stereotypes and present an alternative to racist representations of African Americans in popular culture, Harlem Renaissance writers instead depicted their Black subjects in a positive, humanizing light. The literary project of the Harlem Renaissance was twofold: Writers wanted to provide a window into the Black experience in modern-day America and showcase the literary talent of their communities, proving that Black-authored texts deserved a place in the American literary canon.

Although its origins are complex and multifaceted, two critical sociohistorical phenomena laid the groundwork for the Harlem Renaissance: the “Red Summer” of 1919 and the Great Migration. The summer of 1919, which came on the heels of the Russian Revolution and the conclusion of World War I, was a period of intense racial discord and brutal violence in the United States. Many Black Americans fought in the war, and although they enjoyed recognition and acceptance in the armed forces, they returned to an often hostile country marked by inequality and prejudice. They were subject to widespread racism, vied with white Americans for a limited number of newly created industrial jobs, and were often the targets of violence. Nineteen-hundred-and-nineteen saw a horrific number of lynchings, and race riots exploded in many major cities. It was against the backdrop of this racialized violence that Black Americans (and Harlem Renaissance authors) fought for humanity, recognition, and respect.

The Great Migration was one of the largest population shifts in United States history. Beginning in 1910 and continuing through the 1960s, more than 6 million African Americans moved from rural areas in the South to northern cities. There were several factors behind this period of dramatic immigration; namely, Black Americans sought new economic opportunities in the rapidly industrializing North and wanted to escape the segregationist policies of the Jim Crow South. (“Jim Crow” refers to a set of racist laws, policies, and ordinances that perpetuated inequality during the Reconstruction era.) The Great Migration contributed to Harlem becoming the center of Black culture in the 1920s. For the first time in American history, the largest groups of Black Americans were concentrated in cities, especially in neighborhoods like Harlem. There, African Americans found jobs, increased educational opportunities, places to congregate, and avenues for personal and cultural expression.

The Harlem Renaissance unfolded over three distinct phases. The first, typically dated from 1917 to 1923, was characterized by the development of “the New Negro Movement,” so named by Alain Locke in his canonical essay “The New Negro.” Locke argued that the “greatest rehabilitation” of the image of Black America “would rest on the revaluation by white and black alike of the Negro in terms of his artistic endowments and cultural contributions” (Locke, Alain. “The New Negro.” The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, edited by David Levering Lewis, Penguin, 1994, p. 50). Writers from this first wave argued that their artistic contributions to American art and letters would help Black Americans gain recognition and respect. The second phase, lasting from 1923 to 1925, was dominated by voices from the civil rights establishment such as the NAACP, and their work evidences a distinct civil-rights ideology. Writers from both the first and second waves felt strongly that Black-authored texts should depict African Americans as upstanding, hardworking, church-going citizens. They believed that such representation was needed to counter prevailing stereotypes about Black Americans.

The third and final phase, lasting from 1926-1935, challenged the norms and values established by the first and second waves. Writers such as Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes rebelled against the idea that Black authors should depict African Americans solely as respectable, reputable individuals. They argued that the “authentic” Black experience in America was more complex than that, and representations of African Americans should include those in the working classes, those living on the margins of society, and those whose life experiences did not conform to prevailing notions of straight-laced respectability. The Harlem Renaissance is generally thought to have ended by the 1935 Harlem riots, although questions about Black identity, authenticity, and African American cultural values would work their way into successive Black literary movements. Classic texts from the Harlem Renaissance such as Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jean Toomer’s Cane, Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues, Nella Larson’s Passing, and Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem are still widely read and taught and have become an important part of the American literary canon.