Introducing Harlem Is Everywhere, a brand new podcast from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hear how music, fashion, literature, and art helped shape a modern Black identity.

Presented alongside the exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, the podcast is hosted by writer and critic Jessica Lynne. The series features a dynamic cast of speakers who reflect on the legacy and cultural impact of the Harlem Renaissance.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was the Harlem Renaissance? During the Great Migration, major cities across America proved fertile ground for artists and intellectuals fleeing the Jim Crow South. In this episode we hear about Alain Locke’s famous anthology The New Negro: An Interpretation, which gathered some of the best of fiction, poetry, and essays on the art and literature emerging from these communities. Locke’s anthology demonstrated the diverse approaches to portraying modern Black life that came to characterize the “New Negro”—and embodied some of the highest ideals of the era.

Learn more about The Met's exhibition at metmuseum.org/HarlemRenaissance

Objects featured in this episode:

Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr., Self-Portrait, ca. 1941 (43.46.4)

Winold Reiss, Roland Hayes, cover of Survey Graphic, March 1925 (F128.9.N3 H35 1925)

Aaron Douglas, Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery to Reconstruction, 1934

Guests:

Denise Murrell, curator of The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism; Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History and professor of African/African American Studies at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; distinguished scholar in the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fall 2023

Monica L. Miller, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of English and Africana Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University

Bridget R. Cooks, Chancellor’s Fellow and professor of art history and African American studies at the University of California, Irvine

Mary Schmidt Campbell, former president of Spelman College; former executive director and chief curator emerita, The Studio Museum in Harlem

For a transcript of this episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/HarlemIsEverywhere

#HarlemIsEverywhere

Harlem Is Everywhere is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What role did fashion play in the Harlem Renaissance? Artists at the time were committed to creating a new image of Black life in America and abroad. In this episode, we’ll explore how Black self-representation evolved during this period through the photography of James Van Der Zee and paintings by artists like William Henry Johnson and Archibald J. Motley, Jr. We’ll also examine how fashion conveyed community values and offered new modes of individual expression that challenged racist stereotypes and created a shared sense of dignity.

Learn more about The Met's exhibition at metmuseum.org/HarlemRenaissance

Objects featured in this episode:

James Van Der Zee, Nude, Harlem, 1923 (1970.539.27)

William Henry Johnson, Street Life, Harlem, ca. 1939–1940

James Van Der Zee, Couple, Harlem, 1932 (2021.446.1.2)

Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Black Belt, 1934

Guests:

Bridget R. Cooks, Chancellor’s Fellow and professor of art history and African American studies at the University of California, Irvine

Robin Givhan, Senior critic-at-large, The Washington Post

For a transcript of this episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/HarlemIsEverywhere

#HarlemIsEverywhere

Harlem Is Everywhere is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.