Writers of the Harlem Renaissance
Posted: 20 Jul 2014, 19:26
This genre is an important and vital one to my work as an African American person and writer. Though my own work may or may not deal directly with my own cultural background, none of us who strive to call ourselves artists can truly express our souls without acknowledging our roots and the diligence put forth by those who paved the way beforehand. As a young person, I spent a great deal of time learning about as many cultures and backgrounds to which I became readily exposed, but never really grasped the depths of my own rich cultural history until I went to college. The writers/artists/poets of the Harlem Renaissance (Alain LeRoy Locke, Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson and countless others) helped to establish the collective voice of the African American community in artistic circles as one to be greatly celebrated; the influence of that voice taught me that I was relevant for reasons that never came into focus until I learned about the artists and what they endured for their craft. They lived and fought their way through the struggles of discrimination, abuse, and social injustice. Their legacy has given me the nerve, resolve and fervor to express myself with boldness and confidence. I owe them much respect and admiration.