Especially for most southern African-Americans who had suffered from years of enslavement, hard labor and oppression, this decade was a high point in history. In what became known as the Great Migration, Blacks poured off the farms in search of employment opportunities created by World War I. During this time the focus of many black southerners’ attention was directed towards the urban areas. Between 1915 and 1920 as many as one million African-Americans moved to northern cities. Nearly another million joined them in the decade that followed. The urban industrial centers were

As in literature, black activities in the theater scene reflected a desire to display African-American culture distinctiveness to the public. As early as in the 1890s all-black musicals had already existed on Broadway. Yet, these were rather an artistic departure from old-fashioned minstrelsy shows than culturally valuable theatrical productions. In the 1920s, African-American vaudeville shows on Broadway experienced a rebirth of popularity among black and white audiences. There, white scriptwriters and dramatists often spotted black actors and performers for their plays and gave them a role in their productions.

For instance, Eugene O’Neill, a famous white scriptwriter during that time, created many dramas about the black culture. He was one of the few white dramatists, if not the only one, that had an all-black cast. His constant dissatisfaction with his white cast resulted in a strong belief in the abilities of the African-American actors: “Be yourselves! Don’t reach out for our stuff which we call good.”[7] This attitude sometimes had scandalous consequences. In his drama “All God’s Chillun Got Wings”, a white woman was supposed to kiss a black man’s hand. The public reacted with a storm of protest. Such open display of interracial intimacy was considered to be most inappropriate. As a result, O’Neill had to rewrite the script in order to be able to bring the play on stage at all.

Alain Leroy Locke. The Harlem Renaissance embraced all art forms, including literature, music, dance, film and theatre.

The playwright and poet Langston Hughes wrote: “Harlem was like a great magnet for the Negro intellectual, pulling him from everywhere. Once in New York, he had to live in Harlem. Harlem was not so much a place as a state of mind, the cultural metaphor for black America itself.”[1]

Some topics in this essay:
Du Bois, York City, World War, Van Vechten, Harlem Renaissance, Besides War, Prize Sometimes, Eugene O’Neill, World” Literature, Chillun Wings”, harlem renaissance, black writers, african-american culture, van vechten, du bois, world war, white audiences, white publishers, web du bois, black culture, african-american writers, white audiences white, harlem renaissance writers,