Variously called the 'New Negro Arts Movement,' 'Negro Renaissance,' or 'Harlem Renaissance,' the blossoming of African American arts and letters in the 1920s and 1930s stemmed from multiple sources, motives, and cultural circumstances. The predominantly African American, NYC neighborhood of Harlem became the symbolic capital of the 'New Negro.' But other cities, especially Chicago and Paris, France, were also sites for black creativity in these years. This seminar explores this branch of early 20th century modernism – emanating out of a flowing black cultural diaspora – in its various permutations and artistic forms, with a special emphasis on the visual arts.
