Research Guides: Africana Studies: The Harlem Renaissance

Featured Resources

The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance by George Hutchinson (Editor)
ISBN: 9780521856997
Publication Date: 2007-06-14
The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937) was the most influential single movement in African American literary history. Its key figures include W. E. B. Du Bois, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes. The movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature, and had an enormous impact on later black literature world-wide. With chapters by a wide range of well-known scholars, this 2007 Companion is an authoritative and engaging guide to the movement. It first discusses the historical contexts of the Harlem Renaissance, both national and international; then presents original discussions of a wide array of authors and texts; and finally treats the reputation of the movement in later years. Giving full play to the disagreements and differences that energized the renaissance, this Companion presents a set of new readings encouraging further exploration of this dynamic field.

The library has Cambridge Companions Online, which contains a number of e-books related to the Harlem Renaissance, including companions covering W.E.B. DuBois, the Harlem Renaissance, and Modernist Poetry. Be sure to search the complete Cambridge Companions Online collection as well as these individual titles.

Primary sources: notable collections of art, literature, photographs, audio & video

20th Century African-American Poetry
Find poems written by African-American authors between 1900-1999. Includes works by Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Imamu Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde and Rita Dove.

African Age: African and African American Diasporan Transformations in the Twentieth Century
An online exhibit from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. Contains images related to Du Bois, the Harlem Renaissance, and more as well as essays and maps.

Artstor/JSTOR Digital Library
The Artstor Digital Library is a database of high quality images for use in the humanities.
Images are also accessible through the JSTOR platform. Spring 2024 this database will relocate to the "J" page and accessible through JSTOR.

Countée Cullen Papers, 1900-1947
From the Amistad Research Center, Tulane University.
Several images from the collection are online, but most records have not been digitized.
W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, 1803-1999
From the Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Guide to Harlem Renaissance Materials in the Library of Congress
Includes links to many digital collections.
Harlem 1900-1940
From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
In Motion: The African American Immigration Experience
From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

Langston Hughes : material from the vertical files of the Schomburg Collection, 1926-1967 [microfilm]
WHERE TO FIND: Microfilm cabinet C-32
Collection description: "Biographical information about Hughes' life and activities. Hughes' writings form the largest series in the collection and consist of manuscripts, typescripts, and drafts of books, including NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER, FAMOUS AMERICAN NEGROES, and FIRST BOOK OF JAZZ; plays; poems; short stories; songs; and reviews of some of his published works. Material relating to programs, activities, and events in which Hughes participated or was the subject including memorial tributes, personal appearances, radio broadcasts, recordings, speeches, and television broadcasts. Papers related to programs which incorporated a presentation of Hughes' works consisting of news clippings, printed programs, and leaflets announcing or describing the programs. Also, general criticism of Hughes as a writer, and some information on sources of Hughes' material in other institutions in the United States."
Langston Hughes at 100
An online exhibit, with image, audio, and video files, from the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Langston Hughes Papers, 1862-1980
From the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Several hundred images are freely available online, but most of the materials have not yet been digitized.
Zora Neal Hurston Digital Archive
From the Center for Humanities and Digital Research and the Department of English, University of Central Florida.
Includes digital facsimiles of the original manuscripts of ,em>Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dust Tracks on a Road, and Mule Bone: A Comedy in Three Acts, bibliographies, background information, and more.
Zora Neal Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress
Digital facsimiles of ten plays by Hurston. Six are full length; four are sketches.

Primary Sources: periodicals and periodical articles

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995
(1825-1995) Over 170 periodicals by and about African Americans; includes magazines, academic and political journals, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, and more. Beyond offering opinions on issues and events of the day, the rare titles in African American Periodicals capture the voice of African American society and culture.
Part of the Archive of Americana.

Modernist little magazines in Little Library
Black Literature Index
An index to Black Literature, 1827-1940, a microfiche collection of African-American poetry, fiction, and other literary works published in a variety of African-American publications.
Indexes notable Harlem Renaissance periodicals like
The Crisis
The Messenger
Negro World
Opportunity

Note: The Davidson College Library does not own this collection, but search the Periodical Title List to see if we have the magazine or journal. In addition, the fiche may be available on interlibrary loan.
Blue Mountain Project
A digital collection of issues from over 1,500 important periodicals of the European avant-garde. Issues date from 1853-1942. Includes Broom, Bruno's Weekly, and more.
Crisis
Published by the NAACP.
Indexed by Black Literature Index (see below).
Library has
Vols. 1-67 (1910-1960) [reprint]
Periodical Stacks
Vols. 66-82 (1959-1975)
Microfilm cabinet C-12
Images of 15 covers from the Beinecke Library, Yale University
Harlem in Review: Critical Reactions to Black American Writers, 1917-1939
John Earl Bassett. Canbury, NJ: Associated Univ. Presses, 1992.
WHERE TO FIND: Main Library Reference Stacks R 810.9 B319h
An annotated bibliography of critical responses to the works published by African American writers in the 1920s and 1930s.
Modernist Journals Project
(1890-1922) Contains table of contents information for many modernist journals and digital images of Blast and New Age. Also includes some related e-books and essays, an artist database, and a Periodical Directory: 1890-1922. From Brown University and the University of Tulsa.
Modernist Magazines Project
From De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K.
Includes an index to a growing list of little magazines, including BLAST, Coterie, The Enemy, and Form.
Opportunity
Published by the National Urban League from 1923-1949.
Indexed by Black Literature Index (see below).
Library has:
May 1941 [original issue]
Rare Book Room (see the Library Catalog)
Selections from the February, August, October, and December 1926 issues are online from the Library of Congress.
Selections of stories, poetry, and essays are reprinted in The Opportunity Reader (ed. Sondra Wilson; New York, 1999).
Main Library Stacks PS508 .N3 O66 1999
Images of 2 covers from the Beinecke Library, Yale University

Periodicals Index Online
Periodicals Index Online is a database of millions of citations for articles published in the arts, humanities and social sciences, across more than 300 years. It enables researchers quickly and comprehensively to identify articles relevant to their field of study and reduces what could take years of research to a matter of minutes. Journals indexed span 37 key subject areas and multiple languages.
Periodicals Archive Online
Periodicals Archive Online is a major archive that makes the backfiles of scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the searchable full text of hundreds of titles. The database spans more than two centuries of content, 37 key subject areas, and multiple languages.
The library has access to:
Collection 5 (with 1996-2000 update)
Collection 6
Collection 7
Collection 8
Collection 9
Collection 10
Periodicals Archive Online Foundation Collection

Pulp Magazines Project: An Archive of All-Fiction Pulpwood Magazines from 1896 to 1946
A digital archive of issues from over 60 titles from the U.S., U.K., and Australia. These pulp fiction magazines were very popular and very successful.
The Messenger
Published from 1917-1924.
Library has:
Nov. 1920 [original issue]
Rare Book Room (see the Library Catalog)
Selections of stories, poetry, and essays are reprinted in the Opportunity Reader (ed. Sondra Wilson; New York: 2000; see the Library Catalog).

Background & biographical information

American National Biography
Covers more than 19,000 prominent U.S. men and women from all periods of history. Excludes living people. The bibliographies are great tools for finding primary and secondary sources; they contain information about published and unpublished primary sources and evaluative comment on notable secondary sources.
The bibliographies are great tools for finding primary and secondary sources; they contain information about published and unpublished primary sources and evaluative comment on notable secondary sources.

Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
(Ed. Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004)
WHERE TO FIND: Main Library Reference Stacks NX512.3.A35 E53 2004

Gale eBooks Reference Library
Encyclopedias and reference sources that cover a variety of topics.
Gale Literature Resource Center
Find up-to-date biographies, overviews, full-text criticisms, audio interviews, and reviews on writers from all eras.
Grove Art on Oxford Art Online
Grove Art Online is a scholarly art encyclopedia, updated regularly and covering global art and architecture from prehistory to present day. Searchable on the Oxford Art Online platform offers authoritative, inclusive, and easily searchable online art resources within the Oxford Companion to Western Art, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Updated regularly.

Literary criticism: articles

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text
The MLA International Bibliography covers scholarship in a broad range of Humanities disciplines related to global literatures and languages. Coverage includes materials published in more than 100 countries and in more than 50 languages, in the areas of literatures and languages from around the world
Project MUSE
Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social science content ebooks and journals. Titles are DRM-free allowing for unlimited access, downloading and printing, and simultaneous usage.
JSTOR
JSTOR is an online library of journals, academic ebooks, images, and primary sources. Includes ArtStor licensed images.
Periodicals Archive Online
Periodicals Archive Online is a major archive that makes the backfiles of scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the searchable full text of hundreds of titles. The database spans more than two centuries of content, 37 key subject areas, and multiple languages.
The library has access to:
Collection 5 (with 1996-2000 update)
Collection 6
Collection 7
Collection 8
Collection 9
Collection 10
Periodicals Archive Online Foundation Collection
Web of Science
(c. 1900 to present) An interdisciplinary resource with over 20,000 scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, also navigate the full citation network.
Access is restricted to current faculty and staff and currently-enrolled students of Davidson College only.

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Books and E-Books

Cultural, historical, & social background: articles

Dissertations

Featured Resources

Primary sources: notable collections of art, literature, photographs, audio & video

Primary Sources: periodicals and periodical articles

Background & biographical information

Literary criticism: articles