The 1920s and 1930s were the years of the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance. This period of the Roaring Twenties is said to have begun around the end of the war and lasted until the Great Depression. Partly due to the migration of more and more African Americans to the northern United States, the national literary, artistic, and musical movement developed into something, until then, entirely new, and literary modernism spread further (Perkins and Perkins 212). The 1920s were a time of immense change, with women becoming eligible to vote, the sale of alcoholic beverages becoming banned, and subsequently, the stock market crashing (Perkins and Perkins). With modernism and the invention of new things like television, Americans had more time to enjoy life and culture, which also promoted the popularity of African American arts. Great artists like Louis Armstrong made jazz more popular and also attracted large crowds of white Americans. At the same time, the migration of African Americans to the North, particularly to New York City, sparked a movement called the Harlem Renaissance. Renaissance is the French word for revival or rebirth, and that's exactly how the Harlem Renaissance can be described. The Harlem neighborhood in New York City grew larger and larger and soon became one of the largest communities in the world for people of African descent. While the African American poetry, art, and music scene expanded immensely, it abruptly subsided with the onset of the Great Depression (Perkins and Perkins). However, some people including "Claude McKay, Jean Tooner, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes" (Perkins and Perkins) carried forward this new cultural awareness and contributed immensely to the American literary scene. Langston Hug...... middle of paper……us and continues to greatly influence today's literary scene. Although the meaning of his writings is not always obvious at first glance, when you take a look at the historical events and places mentioned in his works, the connections between his cultural background and society become clearer. Thanks to his eloquence and the importance of his chosen topics, Langston Hughes is a great representative of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Works CitedHughes, Susan. "The nigger talks about rivers." American literature since the Civil War. Create edition. New York, NY: McGraw - Hill, 2011. E-Book.Muhesen, Sultan. "The First Paleolithic Occupation in Syria". Western Asia, New York: Springer US, 2002. Print.Perkins and Perkins American Literature since the Civil War New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011.