The Harlem Renaissance was the most significant event in AfricanAmerican intellectual and cultural life in the twentieth century.Its most obvious manifestation was in a self-conscious literarymovement, but it touched almost every component of African Americancreative culture in the period from World War I through the GreatDepression: music, the visual arts, theater, and literature. Italso affected politics, social development, and almost every phaseof the African American experience in the 1920s and 1930s. This anthology concentrates on the literary aspects of theHarlem Renaissance, though it does include several examples of thevisual arts associated with the movement. The literary texts arearranged more or less chronologically; for the most part shorterpieces have been selected that could be presented in theirentirety. There are some excerpts from longer works. All of themajor authors are represented as well as some less well known. Thisanthology also includes selections that help frame the history ofthe movement, several essays on the Harlem Renaissance, as well assome critism contemporary to the writing. Concluding with a bibliography, this volume serves as a briefintroduction to the Harlem Renaissance, its writers, and the richbody of literature they produced.