Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem renaissance was a cultural movement that started in the 1920's and ended in the 1930's. During this time talented African-American writers produced a piece of literature in the four genres of poetry, fiction, drama and essay. At that time the Harlem renaissance was known as the new Negro movement. With racism all economic opportunities scarce, creative expression was one of the few avenues available to African Americans in the early twentieth century.
As World War I was approaching the European people that lived in Harlem started moving away as the labor stopped flowing in New York City. After that, many African-Americans started coming to Harlem from the south, not only looking for jobs, but also to escape the racism of the people from the south. Many Africans Americans started moving from the south to urban areas of the north because it was a more racially tolerant environment. In the north there were also plenty of job positions for those black people who were migrating from the south.

Augusta Savage


Augusta Savage was born in Green cove springs in Florida in the year 1892 and died in the year 1962. She started working with clay when she was young, and she had always been interested by art. She was very interested in the sculpture part of art, that’s why she started with clay. She moved to New York to study at the Cooper Union. She quickly had an assignment to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du Bois. In 1924 she won the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship, for the sculpture of her nephew, Gamin. This gave her the opportunity to study in Paris for one year. When she came back home from Europe, Augusta Savage started teaching in the Harlem community to share her experiences. In 1932, Augusta established the Savage Studio of arts. After a few years, she became the first director of the Harlem community arts center, where she played a very important role in the development of young African-American artists.

Most important piece

Augusta savage’s piece, Gamin, was an icon of the Harlem arts center, as her most important piece. Sculpted in plaster over a weekend, Gamin, is widely considered her best-known and most successful sculpture, for its young, attractive and smart looks. Although Juanita Holland discovered that the identity of Gamin is actually that of Savage's young nephew.