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How did Opportunity magazine support Harlem Renaissance writers?
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Harlem Renaissance
Dust jacket designed by the Mexican illustrator and writer Miguel Covarrubias for Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues (1926), a book of experimental poetry.
Opportunity played a pivotal role in the Harlem Renaissance by providing a platform for Black culture, which had been largely ignored by mainstream American publishers. Under the leadership of editor Charles S. Johnson, the magazine actively sought to elevate new voices and foster literary talent.1
To support and discover emerging writers, Johnson organized three literary contests. These competitions were highly successful, helping to launch the careers of prominent figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen. Additionally, the magazine preserved and promoted the movement's best creative output by compiling selected works into the anthology Ebony and Topaz, A Collectanea (1927).1