Eatonville, Florida Eatonville, Florida is the birthplace of Zora Neale HURSTON, who is arguably the most influential female novelist and playwright of the Harlem Renaissance. Though the location of her birthplace is not particularly notable, it’s important to note that Eatonville, Florida was founded by and inhabited solely by African-Americans. At times in her writing career, Hurston would travel back to Eatonville in search of material for her plays or novels. Because Hurston was a part of the faction in the Harlem Renaissance that embraced the African-American past, she used her exclusively black past to make her works such as "Mule-Bone", and "Journal of Negro History" more genuine and meaningful to herself and the Harlem community.

Ellington, Duke Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. Duke Ellington is known worldwide as a bigtime bandleader, pianist, and composer from the Harlem Renaissance. Duke first began to be interested in music when he was thirteen years old. At this point in time, Duke loved music only for the popularity he thought it would bring him. Duke felt this popularity locally. His first hit tune came at a senior’s dance at his high school. The song was called "What You Gonna Do When the Bed Breaks Down?" The kids in attendance loved it. Duke Ellington’s major contributions to jazz are his unforgettable jazz tunes that, truly, are regarded by many as timeless American classics. Songs like "Satin Doll", "Take the ‘A’ Train", and "Crescendo in Blue" never would’ve come to life if not for the musical genius of Duke Ellington. Most of his major gigs usually happened at the COTTON CLUB. Duke really personified the dream of the jazz musician during the Harlem Renaissance. Ellington went from a confident kid without a high school diploma to one of the world’s most prolific jazz musicians. His fame still lives on in his music. http://corbis.altavista.com/referrals/av_image_details.asp?linkid=2623$imageid=10350910

"The Emperor Jones" "The Emperor Jones" is a play written by Eugene O’NEILL around 1920. In this play, Brutus Jones struggles with the demise of the world around him. The play toys with many racial issues, using authentic dialogue to enhance this idea. This type of language is also used in a novel of the time called Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale HURSTON. The play was made into a film in 1933 and starred up and coming actor Paul ROBESON, who was just beginning to place his own stamp on the Harlem Renaissance. This play is important to the Harlem Renaissance in that the idea of the "Witch Doctor" and the primitive African jungle needed to be brought back to African-Americans of the time. In short, African-Americans needed to be reminded of their heritage. O’Neill uses the intensity of the tom-tom drum (an African percussive instrument) and more primitive images to reinforce the impact of the earliest ancestors of Black Americans.

Expressionism Expressionism emerged in New York City during the 20^th century, replacing Paris as the world’s art center. Abstract Expressionism derived from other styles of painting such as Cubism and Surrealism. Similar to them, Abstract Expressionism depicts emotions and stimulates responses from the subject. Instead of a realistic portrayal of the object, its paintings were distorted, simple or complex, violent, and moving. Paintings were even focused on texture, brushstrokes, the use of the canvases, and all parts of the paintings instead of one thing being the center of attraction. A couple expressionists were Arshile Gorky, who was influenced by the works of Picasso and Miro, and Jackson Pollock, who created abstract painting by splashing paint on canvasses.

Expressionism was also displayed through writing and music. Poets expressed their raw emotions and attitudes toward certain issues on paper. During the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans dealt with racism and many artists wrote about it through plays, articles, and poems. Many of the poems were in the form of the BLUES which were about love, being alone, abandoned, etc. Musicians did the same through music. Some would sing the blues and others would play what they were feeling by changing the tone and notes.