The Harlem Renaissance is the name often given to the outburst of creative activity in art, literature, and music by African-Americans in the 1920s and 30s. While our focus will be literature, we will also consider the history, geography, and politics of the Harlem Renaissance and the relationship of literature to art and music. We will examine the influences of modernism and folk tradition as well as the place of this literature in African-American and American culture.