The Harlem Renaissance in Brief

Zora Neale Hurston was one of the acclaimed writers that came to the forefront during the Harlem Renaissance, an interesting point of growth in African American culture.
The New Negro Movement, later titled the Harlem Renaissance, began in the early 1920's and continued into the 1930's. African Americans, after migrating to northern communities, began finding power in numbers with the influence and production of literature, art, and music. The goal of the New Negro Movement was to improve social and political relations in the United States. They desired to demonstrate the equality of humanity in the black culture with that of the white culture. However, there was some dispute over certain ideas of what was desirable to display in art, especially in the form of literature. The intellectual side wanted a more educated and "civilized" portrayal of their culture. Hurston found disfavor from some of her Harlem associates due to her use of the vernacular in her writings.
For more information about the Harlem Renaissance and other faces of the movement, give yourself a tour of Harlem.