blues composers like Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington created lyrics and beats that reflected the excitement of the time. Actresses like Josephine Baker performed at the famous Apollo Theatre.ö
Aside from the above artists, others like Billy ôBojanglesö Robinson danced on Broadway, Billie Holiday defined the blues, and Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie played trumpets like few others before or after them. The Harlem Renaissance also spawned a number of writers like W. E. B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, Nella Larson, Countee Cullen, Zora Neal Hurston, James Weldon Johnson and numerous others. Walter Dean Myers is a poet who grew up in Harlem and in one of his poems, titled Clara Brown, 87, Retired, the poet captures through BrownÆs joy the exuberance and lyricism that characterized the mood and atmosphere of the Harlem Renaissance, ôI had to keep my feet moving, moving / æCause it seemed like the music / Was just gonna pour out from the churches / And the music halls and SWOOP / Me up to the rooftopsö (Ryan, p. 15).
A large percentage of African Americans who came to Harlem during this dra were seeking change. Dissatisfied with the lack of progress for African Americans, artists and others involved with Harlem Renaissance were determined to forge a new identity for African Americans. However, there was debate at the time over which view of African Americans should be portrayed in this identity. As artists experienced newfound freedom of expression in Harlem, many wondered which expression of African Americans should be portrayed in their works. In one camp were those African Americans who were success and among the wealthiest and most educated black people in America. So successful were the members of this group that they were collectively called the ôTalented Tenth,ö since they represented the top ten percent of African Americans (Robinson, p. 14).
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