Harlem Renaissance: Photos From the African American Cultural Explosion

Cootie Williams plays his trumpet in a crowded Harlem ballroom with Duke Ellington’s band in the 1930s. 

American vocalist Bessie Smith became known as the 'Empress of the Blues.'

Children play on a Harlem street in the 1920s. Harlem became a destination for African American families of all backgrounds.

The Cotton Club, at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, was one of the most successful nightlife venues of the Harlem Renaissance.

A troupe of showgirls as they pose in costume on stage in Harlem, New York, circa 1920.

Jazz musician and composer Duke Ellington frequently performed at the Cotton Club, along with singer, dancer and bandleader Cab Calloway.

In the 1920s, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five made more than 60 records, which are now regarded as some of the most influential recordings in jazz history.

A colorized group portrait of members of a chorus line in Harlem, New York, circa 1920s.

Clayton Bates began dancing at age 5, then he lost a leg in cotton-seed mill accident at 12. Known as 'Peg Leg,' he was a featured tapper at such top Harlem nightclubs as the Cotton Club and Club Zanzibar.

Langston Hughes took jobs as a busboy to support himself early in his career. His writing later came to define the era.

Anthropologist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, pictured here in 1937, captured the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance through her writings, including 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' and 'Sweat.'

A photograph of a parade organized by the United Negro Improvement Association, in the streets of Harlem. One car displays a sign that reads ‘The New Negro Has No Fear.’