re is
Confusion". These works dealt with Negroes as people and not merely as
objects to be manipulated for racial propaganda. Langston Hughes, in
1930, published "Not Without Laughter", a novel to gain wide renown.

To catalog all the authors of the Negro Renaissance would become tedious.
However, all the poets and novelists listed within these pages are
generally accepted as having gained a place among America's significant
writers. They were more than products of an Afro-American subculture;
their work became part of the mainstream of American literature. These
authors, along with other Negro artists, gained the respect of American
art and literary critics. With them, the Afro-American folk culture made
its way into the formal art of the nation.

The Negro Renaissance of the 1920s, however, was more than a literary
movement. There was, as had been noted earlier, a vast outpouring of
musical creativity. Besides the jazz composers and performers, many made
their mark in classical concert music. The best known composer from the
Afro-American community was William Grant Still. Many operatic and
concert singers have been Negroes, and they include such well-known names
as Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, and William Warfield.

The most famous of the Afro-American painters was Henry O. Tanner, who
had made his reputation before the Negro Renaissance. Tanner's paintings
had been widely acclaimed at the Paris Exposition in 1900, the
Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.
Tanner avoided Negro subjects and concentrated on biblical themes. In the
field of sculpture, Meta Warrick Fuller was the first Negro to gain
attention. Augusta Savage became well-known for her head of Dr. DuBois,
and Richmond Barthe gained recognition for the bust of Booker T.
Washington.

In retrospect, the Renaissance of the twenties can be seen as the
beginning of a continuing, self-conscious cultural movement within the
Afro-American community. During the 1930s, however, the outpouring
diminished. The Depression affected the entire American scene,
businessmen, workmen, and artists, and its impact on the Negro
Renaissance was particularly severe. One of the New Deal measures which
alleviated the situation considerably was the Federal Writers Project.
Sterling Brown, literary critic and Howard University professor, headed
the Negro section. Two of the better known authors who were helped by the
Project wer