This course is an in-depth exploration of the pivotal period in African American social and cultural history known as the Harlem Renaissance. Enabled by the Great Migration the influx of Southern Blacks into Northern cities such as New York the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century produced a body of work remarkable for its breadth and complexity of themes. Through the varied creative productions of artists and intellectuals of the era, we contextualize this self-conscious movement in relation to other social, cultural, and historical phenomena that helped define modern times. We interrogate the tension between the freedom of artistic accomplishment and the urgency for sociopolitical change the critical issue for the movement's participants. Finally, we consider the movement's overarching focus on race in relation to emergent issues of sexuality, gender, class, generation, and nationality.