ABSTRACT
The soil which nourished the growth of African American literature and art during the decade of the 1920s was fertilized by the seminal influence of World War I upon the lives of black people in America. In 1915 Northern industrialists began to feel the effects of the diminishing labor supply caused by the advent of war in Europe, and they sought new sources of labor to replace that lost through the cessation of European immigration. Northern manufacturers' agents scoured the South recruiting Negroes to work in their plants, much to the chagrin of Southern whites who also were suffering from the labor shortage. Northern cities were focal points for the expression of Negro protest, defiance, and anger. Negro publications expressed these reactions and sentiments throughout the country, and "Harlem became the center where they were formulated and voiced to the Negroes of America and the world.".
