The Harlem Renaissance: 41 Images Of When New York Was The Capital Of Black America

Published October 6, 2016
Updated November 19, 2019

Take a photographic tour of the Harlem Renaissance, when Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, and W.E.B. DuBois revitalized Black America.

In the early twentieth century, Harlem was primed to become the hub of New York’s African American community. Abandoned by the white middle class in the late 1800s, the revitalized neighborhood was a safe haven for those escaping the south during the Great Migration, a destination for black immigrants, and a magnet for African American intellectuals.

Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston began their careers in Harlem’s vibrant literary community. Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong performed in Harlem’s jazz clubs where patrons first created swing dance. And most importantly, the area allowed black culture and entrepreneurship to thrive in a society dogged by virulent racism.

Today, we look at 41 images that capture the Harlem Renaissance in full force:


Next, check out our galleries on Harlem in the 1970s and the greatest Maya Angelou quotes.

author
Elisabeth Sherman
author
Elisabeth Sherman is a writer living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She holds a Master's in writing from Columbia University, and her work has appeared in Food & Wine, The Guardian, Yahoo, BBC, HuffPost, VICE, MSN, and Vulture.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Sherman, Elisabeth. "The Harlem Renaissance: 41 Images Of When New York Was The Capital Of Black America." AllThatsInteresting.com, October 6, 2016, https://mirror2.pbh-network.com/harlem-renaissance/. Accessed October 3, 2025.