In the introduction to The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, David Levering Lewis states that the Harlem Renaissance was not a cohesive movement, but a constructed and forced phenomenon that was “institutionally encouraged and directed by leaders of the national civil rights establishment with the primary purpose of improving race relations.” (Lewis, xiii) However, after researching many artists, politicians, and influential speakers of the time, I disagree. While, yes, the movement of an entire cultural and racial awakening can only be seen as one phenomenon and the movement itself was by no means cohesive, these powerful men and women did not need institutionalized encouragement. Each of their works was different, with different ideas and methods, but somehow they came together to form an interconnected goal within the movement. Lewis's view is not without truth. The Harlem Renaissance was overseen by numerous intellectuals such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W. E. B. Dubois. The words of Booker T. Washington, a very influential speaker of the time, appealed to both Caucasians and African Americans. Washington has created a bridge of interracial communication through its unique tactics in the pursuit of equality. He believed in more subtle ways to achieve equality through hard work, cunning and humility. He stated: “The wisest of my race understands that the agitation of questions of social equality is extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges which will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.”(Salley, 15) With this statement, Washington himself denies that this new awakening in equality and the arts can be forced,...... middle of paper......g in addition to the stereotypical opinion established by the majority. And so, with the entirely conceptual identity contained within the movement, the numbers and sheer variety of such powerful and raw works created in such a short period of time are incredible and almost certainly not surpassed by any other movement. These works could not be guided or forced by even the greatest minds but, instead, could only come from souls with a newfound voice in a turbulent America. Works CitedGates JR, Henry Louis & West, Cornel. The African-American century. New York: The Free Press 2000Kellner, Bruce, ed. The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1984 Lewis, David Levering, ed. The portable Harlem Renaissance player. New York: Penguin, 1994Salley, Columbus. The Black 100. New Jersey: A Citadel Press Book, 1993.