When Harlem Was in Vogue
by David Levering Lewis

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Book Reviews of When Harlem Was in Vogue

Book Review: A zesty account
Summary: 5 Stars

DuBois believed the history of the world was the history of groups. War experiences spurred people to seek decisive change. Unfortunately a number of racial incidents took place directly after Word War I. The historian Carter Woodson was witness to a riot in Washington D.C.

Black Harlem ran from 130th to 145th Streets. Jazz and blues in Harlem were produced by persons from the Great Migration--Mamie Smith, Perry Bradford, and others. There were new stars in Harlem. Claude McKay and James Weldon Johnson became personal friends. MacKay's HARLEM SHADOWS appeared in 1922. Countee Cullen said that on the whole he liked CANE by Jean Toomer. Countee Cullen's only serious rival in Harlem was Langston Hughes.

Alain Locke and Charles Johnson, a sociologist, made contributions to the intellectual life of the Harlem leadership. Arna Bontemps and Zora Neale Thurston were also notable figures. Many motives animated the Lost Generation Caucasian supporters. The motives included guilt, Christianity, inherited abolitionism.

There were rent parties in Harlem and other evidence of stress and overcrowding. Nonetheless the twenties was a time of artistic triumph with such musical personalities James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington seeking and finding engagements. There were success stories. Even in the Depression people were generally well-dressed and happy. Harlem was filled with strivers and professionals.

1925 was year one of the Harlem Renaissance. James Weldon Johnson's ancestors had been free, literate, and prosperous before the Civil War. He and his brother composed an opera. The mid twenties solidified the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem was Afro-America's Paris. LULU BELLE (1926) sent whites to Harlem in unprecedented numbers. Factually speaking, though, most of Harlem was sober and hardworking.

The Rosenwald Fund and the Harmon Fund were influential by promoting and rewarding African American artistic achievement. Alain Locke had been a sort of custodian of the Harlem Renaissance. Claude McKay's last novel appeared in 1933. Sugar Hill, Strivers' Row and the Dunbar were landmarks of the Renaissance. The last novel of the Renaissance was Zora Neale Thurston's JONAH'S GOURD VINE.

The book covers other topics interestingly, revealing many bits of information previously unknown to this reader. Photographs are included and an appendix of sources.

Summary of When Harlem Was in Vogue

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