The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a great flowering in African-American culture lasting from the 1920's to the 1930's, with influences lasting to the present day. The Harlem Renaissance had its roots in the emancipation and migration of slaves to the north, where they sought a new cultural identity. As a new generation was born, they took up this journey and the renaissance was born in the artistic explosion of the aspiring artists, centered around the poor city neighborhood of Harlem. The segregation in the south prevented African-Americans from pursuing their lives to the fullest in that region, so the African-Americans who sought to better their lives through writing and philosophy moved to the Black cultural center in Harlem. It became "the Mecca of the New Negro" where the latest novels, poems, essays, and groundbreaking social movements took place. The jazz genre was greatly advanced in this era, along with the formation of new, revolutionary groups, such as the NAACP. The talent of the Harlem renaissance generated new racial pride that effects america still today and spread all over the country and to important Black cultural centers worldwide.