Reveal the Beauty

The Literature and Art of the Harlem Renaissance

Featuring Works from the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection. On display from February - June 2025.

Inspired by Howard University philosopher Alain Locke's essay, "The Legacy of Ancestral Arts," in his landmark volume The New Negro (1925), Reveal the Beauty: The Literature and Art of the Harlem Renaissance celebrates the centennial of the Harlem Renaissance and its role in shaping African American artistic expression from the 1920s to the 1940s. Often defined as the cultural arts period of the New Negro movement, these dynamic years redefined Black identity and challenged stereotypes through a probing array of literature and visual arts. While closely associated with Harlem, its influence reached Black communities across the U.S., South Florida, and worldwide.  

 
Reveal the Beauty emphasizes not only renowned artists and writers like Lois Mailou Jones, Augusta Savage, Aaron Douglas, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson, whose works captured themes of resilience and cultural pride, but also the lesser-known artists and activists who collectively shaped this vibrant cultural landscape. Alain Locke, the great philosopher and Dean of the Harlem Renaissance, believed that creative expression was a form of liberation and could help Black people develop their ethos. He thought that art could lead the way to a cultural and social revolution in America. In his own words, "Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid."
 
By highlighting the significant contributions of Dorothy Porter Wesley, an influential librarian and scholar, we honor her efforts to preserve and promote African American literature and culture during this period and after. Her collection, generously gifted to Broward County's African American Research Library and Cultural Center by her daughter, Constance Porter Uzelac, is a vital repository of 19th—and 20th-century Black authors that enriches our understanding of this impactful movement. 
 
Reveal the Beauty: The Literature and Art of the Harlem Renaissance is organized by the African American Research Library and Research Center and is curated by Christopher Norwood, founder of Hampton Art Lovers, in consultation with Shawn Christian, professor of English at Florida International University, and AARLC staff. 

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