The Harlem renaissance : hub of African-American culture, 1920-1930 / Steven Watson.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-191, [209]) and index.

A concise and lavishly illustrated look at one of the most dynamic movements in twentieth-century black history. Documents the lives and interactions of the first self-conscious African-American literary constellation and chronicles the brilliant outpouring of such writers as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, as well as the work of artists Aaron Douglas and Richard Bruce Nugent. Steven Watson also brings to life the world that supported these figures: the forefathers of the New Negro movement, W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke; the flamboyant hostess of Harlem, A'Lelia Walker; such white admirers as Carl Van Vechten and Muriel Draper, who witnessed everything from provocative nightclub revues to extravagant drag balls. The vogue for Harlem was also reflected in the golden age of jazz--one could hear Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, or Duke Ellington in glittering nightspots. Street maps, sociograms, and sidebars presenting little-known details, Harlem slang, poems, and song lyrics further evoke this short-lived era. Bringing together these fascinating lives and this legendary neighborhood, Watson has drawn an astonishing cultural and historical picture of a flourishing decade that came to an end shortly after the 1929 Wall Street crash.--Adapted from dust jacket.