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How did World War I shape the background of the Harlem Renaissance?

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The Weary Blues cover — 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.

World War I served as a complex catalyst for the Harlem Renaissance, fostering both international exchange and domestic disillusionment.

Following the war, Black exiles and expatriates from Africa and the Caribbean converged in cities like New York and Paris. This interaction had an invigorating influence on these intellectuals, providing the broader "Negro renaissance" with a profoundly important international perspective.1

However, the domestic reality for African Americans was marked by significant hardship. Many who had secured jobs during the war faced unemployment during the subsequent postwar recession, which disproportionately affected Black communities. This economic instability, combined with a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and violent "race riots" during the "Red Summer" of 1919, fueled widespread disillusionment.2

In response to these systemic challenges and the failure of wartime promises, a "New Negro" identity emerged in the 1920s. This movement was characterized by a surge in racial pride, a rejection of degrading stereotypes, and a celebration of African heritage, all of which became the cultural and intellectual bedrock of the Harlem Renaissance.32