Harlam rennaissance and writers

            Literature can be often used as a primary source in understanding a time period. It can often serve the reader as an honest and true revelation. From the 1900's through the middle of the century, America was experiencing many changes. Some of these changes were political, some economic, and overall always affecting society. This period was known as the Modern Era. Many different types of schools of thought came about at this time due to the changes occurring daily. There were regionalists of the World War I. There were the postwar writers who reflected a "lost generation" after fighting or having some participation in the war. There were many new women writers who depicted the changes in their roles through their writing. There was also a large group of people known as the Harlem Renaissance writers because they lived in Harlem and wrote about the urban life that existed beside them. Langston Hughes was a Harlem Renaissance writer and his two poems, "Negro" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" depicted the 1920's as a time where African Americans were reclaiming their rights and retaliating against their discrimination. Zora Neale Hurston was a writer that depicted the change in women's roles and her story "Sweat" and essay titled "You Don't Know Us Negroes" showed how women were rebelling against their inequality and taking a firm stand on what they believed and wanted. .
             The Harlem Renaissance took place in Manhattan, New York in the 1920's. The time period was a revival of art, literature, theater and music, but it was mostly a revival of the African American spirit. African Americans became more politically active and involved in issues concerning their civil rights. More and more African Americans began to shed the stereotypes they were accustomed to. They wanted to define themselves with new terms (Huggins, 3). Besides the fact many African Americans who flocked to New York became writers, poets, artists, the most important part of this renaissance is what that literature and art actually represented.