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How did Charles S. Johnson’s magazine Opportunity support emerging Black writers?

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Phillis Wheatley's first book of poetry — African American literature Frontispiece and title page of *Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral* (1773) by Phillis Wheatley, the first Black woman to become a poet of note in the United States. The portrait on which the frontispiece's engraving is based is often attributed to Scipio Moorhead, an Black artist and writer who, like Wheatley, was enslaved and living in Boston.

Opportunity, a magazine published from 1923 to 1949, played a vital role in the Harlem Renaissance by providing a platform for Black writers whose work had been largely ignored by mainstream American publishers.1

Under the editorship of Charles S. Johnson, the magazine actively cultivated emerging talent through several key initiatives:

Literary Contests: Johnson sponsored three literary contests to encourage young writers to submit their work. These competitions helped launch the careers of prominent figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen.1
Showcasing Talent: Johnson organized events, such as a notable 1924 banquet at the Civic Club in New York, which effectively introduced a new cohort of talented African American writers to the public and the publishing industry.2
Anthologizing Work: The magazine preserved and promoted the best of this new literature, notably through the 1927 anthology Ebony and Topaz, A Collectanea, which compiled significant works previously featured in the magazine.1

These efforts were instrumental in signaling the arrival of a literary movement and helping Black authors gain broader recognition.2