The Harlem Renaissance were a time of great change and excitement in that occurred in the early twentieth century. The Harlem Renaissance took place on the island of Manhattan in the neighborhood called Harlem. During this time black artist of all kinds and thinkers flexed their creative side with the fund of wealthy aristocrats. Harlem was in vogue for a period of time, making it very desirable for almost all the country. IN a country replete with segregation and racism, the Harlem Renaissance acted as artistic and cultural outlet for the African-American population. The Harlem Renaissance was a period in marked by great change in though and attitude that would forever alter the conscious of the entire county. .
Harlem humble beginnings started centuries before, when it was established in 1958 by Dutch settlers who called it Niew Haarlem, after a city in Holland. The neighborhood stretched from 110th street to 150th street, covering a space of less then two square miles. Harlem remained a rural area intill the nineteenth century when transportation improved, making it accessible to lower Manhattan. In time Harlem became a fashionable white neighborhood of New York City. The Great Migration, in witch there was a tremendous influx of foreigners and southern blacks seeking equality, fueled the beginnings of the Harlem Renaissance. During the beginning of the century the black population in the north increased by four hundred percent. The African American population in New York was soaring, while the white community of Harlem was in financial trouble. Land lords could not charge enough for rent so as to pay the buildings mortgage, so the Harlem building owners panicked and began to sell. Philip A. Payton, a black relator began to buy the buildings and rent them to blacks. Remaining While owners and tenants the fled, selling for what aver price they could get. It was this emigration of whites, and immigration of blacks that was the very beginning of what we now know as the Harlem Renaissance.