What Was the Harlem Renaissance?

This engaging chapter book from the popular "What Was?" series introduces young readers to the Harlem Renaissance, a pivotal period of African American artistic and cultural flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s. It traces the movement's roots from the Great Migration and Jim Crow South to the bustling streets of Harlem, highlighting key figures like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington, and Augusta Savage. With accessible language, fun illustrations, and a photo insert, the book explains complex historical concepts in a way that is both informative and inspiring for children aged 6-9, fostering an appreciation for Black history and cultural contributions.

In this book from the #1 New York Times bestselling series, learn how this vibrant Black neighborhood in upper Manhattan became home to the leading Black writers, artists, and musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. Travel back in time to the 1920s and 1930s to the sounds of jazz in nightclubs and the 24-hours-a-day bustle of the famous Black neighborhood of Harlem in uptown Manhattan. It was a dazzling time when there was an outpouring of the arts of African Americans--the poetry of Langston Hughes; the novels of Zora Neale Hurston; the sculptures of Augusta Savage and that brand-new music called jazz as only Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong could play it. Author Sherri Smith traces Harlem's history all the way to its seventeenth-century roots, and explains how the early-twentieth-century Great Migration brought African Americans from the deep South to New York City and gave birth to the golden years of the Harlem Renaissance. With 80 fun black-and-white illustrations and an engaging 16-page photo insert, readers will be excited to read this latest addition to Who HQ!