These twin events, however,were only the
beginning of a vast outpouring of cultural activity, and Harlem
became, as Johnson called it, the "culture capital" for this
movement. Artists poured into Harlem from across the country.
Night clubs rocked with music and dance. Publishers were besieged
by poets and novelists, and, surprising to the young writers,
publishers were eager to see Negro authors. Besides the new
creative urge, thousands of Negroes and whites were hungry to
consume the fruits of this new renaissance. This artistic
renaissance did not come out of a vacuum. Negroes had been
publishing poetry for over a century and a half, since the time
of Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon. Paul Laurence Dunbar was
the first Negro poet to gain nationwide recognition, at the
beginning of the twentieth century. While, on one hand, he
captured and depicted the spirit of the Negro folk, on the other
hand, he did it in such a way as to perpetuate black stereotypes
and white prejudices. Actually, this aided his popularity, and he
later came to regret it.
Negroes had also been dancing and creating music in America for
over three bundred years.
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