Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
"Perhaps the mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people- the beauty within themselves." ~ Langston Hughes
Pictured to the right, Langston Hughes was on of the defining poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes captured the essence of the Harlem Renaissance with his words and gave a voice to a changing time and its people. Hughes frequented The Savoy Ballroom and wrote about it in some of his poems. Hughes gained first gained recognition through his poem, " The Negro Speaks of Rivers", which was published in The Crisis Magazine. Claude Mckay is generally regarded as the first poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Mckay's major literary work was a collection of poems published in the novel Harlem Shadows (1922).