The 1920's roared with new beginnings and optimism. It was an age filled with automobiles, movies, and radio. The end of World War I brought a sudden economic growth, which spread industrialism and a mass migrations to cities. "Between the two World Wars, over one million African Americans moved to the North" (Debella 1). They relocated in areas such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. This brought an unprecedented out burst of creative activity among the black Americans in all fields of art.
During WWI, hundreds a blacks migrated to the North to take advantage of the job opportunities. The South only offered Jim Crow laws, segregation, and unemployment. African Americans left the South in search of new beginnings and new ways of life.
The Harlem Renaissance began as a series of literary discussions in lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) sections of New York City. The discussion transformed into the "The New Negro Movement," which came from Alain Leroy Locke (Debella 1). Locke encouraged the African Americans to celebrate their heritage and redefined African American expression. Locke along with several other artists paved the way for a new era, the Harlem Renaissance.