Events

To mark the centennial of the start of the Harlem Renaissance, the flowering of creativity that transformed African-American arts and culture in the 1920s and '30s, Jeffrey C. Stewart discusses The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Alain LeRoy Locke (1885-1954). Known as the "father" of the Harlem Renaissance, Locke was a renowned academic and queer philosopher whose cultural impact continues to resonate today. Stewart will consider Locke’s tremendous influence on the artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance and his new aesthetic philosophy of urbanism in the black city. Following his presentation, Stewart will be joined in conversation by Harlem style intellectual Lana Turner, co-founder and chair of The Literary Society.

The inaugural Jazz Icons of Harlem - A Series Celebrating American Cultural Innovators will honor some of Jazz music’s most legendary names including Mary Lou Williams, Philippa Duke Schuyler, George Gershwin and Billy Strayhorn with a special commemorative celebration of their vast contributions to American culture held on each of their respective birthdays

The Wallach is pleased to open Uptown Triennial 2020, the second iteration in the series, presenting the work of contemporary artists in dialogue with the Harlem Renaissance—a defining moment in American modernism and African-American cultural history— during its centennial year.

Taking inspiration from works in the exhibition Uptown Triennial 2020, an intergenerational group of New York City and Harlem poets share poetry from different eras of Harlem’s cultural history as well as new verse.

Join us online for an afternoon of short works by Black composers, Harry T. Burleigh, Jessie Montgomery, William Grant Still and Margaret Bonds.

Artists offer glimpses of their movement across time that help us understand places and experiences that shape our communities. Jeffreen Hayes will weave together the connections as she offers reflections on Augusta Savage's lasting imprint.

What is it that makes Johnny Hudgins and Jack Johnson Harlem Renaissance men? Join Robert O’Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Founder and Director of Columbia University’s Jazz Center for the first of this two-part series exploring the lives of Harlem Renaissance trailblazers.