This video contains photographs, poems, songs and illustrations from the period of the Harlem Renaissance, with works from the famous poet, Langston Hughes. During the 1920s, the black population in New York severely increased due to a lot of blacks leaving the South. Harlem became the home to many blacks who moved from the South and blacks who had immigrated from the West Indies. Harlem became a cultural community that thrived in the arts. There were poets, painters, novelists and entertainers and for the first time ever, blacks were given roles in Broadway shows. Blacks created their own independent expression for themselves, separate to that of whites. The Harlem Renaissance gave birth to some of the most talented people and allowed for blacks to create and thrive within their own culture and community.