Survey Graphic Magazine and the Harlem Renaissance
Comments (0) 
While helping some high school students research the Harlem Renaissance, I discovered that Nashville Public Library owns the March 1925 “Graphic Number” of The Survey magazine. This volume was a showcase that quickly made the rest of the country aware of the burgeoning cultural movement happening in Harlem, especially the literary achievements.
The “Graphic Number” was a special issue printed yearly of The Survey, a magazine about social issues in America. The 1925 Survey Graphic issue was devoted entirely to Harlem and to the “New Negro Movement” that later became known as the Harlem Renaissance.
African American scholars Charles S. Johnson (who eventually became the first black president of Fisk University) and Alain Locke were the guest editors for this special issue. Locke later turned the magazine into a book anthology titled The New Negro: An Interpretation.
- Claude McKay
- Anne Spencer
- Jean Toomer
- Countee Cullen
- Langston Hughes
You can see this influential magazine by visiting the Periodicals desk on the 3rd floor at the Main library. To learn more about the Harlem Renaissance and some of the figures showcased in the March, 1925 Survey Graphic, check out these materials from Nashville Public Library:
- On the Shoulders of Giants (Book and DVD)
- Rhapsodies in Black
- Beloved Harlem
- Harlem Speaks
- A Renaissance in Harlem
- Harlem Stomp
Themocracy