During the early 1900s, African Americans faced many hardships in the South. Because of these struggles, between 1915 and 1970, over 6 million Southern African Americans moved to Northern cities such as Harlem and Manhattan. This shift is known as the Great Migration (Wilkerson). During this time, African Americans began to share new styles of art, music, and literature (Liccone 3). This renaissance, the Harlem Renaissance, was influenced by the Great Migration because once African Americans moved north, they found interest in all types of art and freedom to share it. Writers like James Weldon Johnson contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing about their feelings and experiences of that time. The Great Migration played a huge role in the literary works of the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration occurred from 1915 to 1970, when large numbers of African Americans moved further north. These African Americans wanted to escape the hardships present in the South. At the time, the Southern economy discriminated against African Americans. The economy wanted blacks to feel like they should stay with their previous owner in the South and work as sharecroppers. A sharecropper worked all day doing the same or very similar jobs as slaves, such as picking cotton, but received a small profit (Wilkerson). Sharecropping is believed to have replaced slavery after Reconstruction because slavery was made illegal. In addition to sharecropping, African Americans also faced Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan in the South. The purpose of Jim Crow laws was to keep African Americans and whites separated in public places such as bathrooms, buses, restaurants, and more (Wilkerson). The Ku Klux Klan committed acts of v...... middle of paper ......eat Migration because it shares the story of an African-American man who falls in love with New York. As this poem was being written, other African Americans fell in love with other Northern cities. Johnson's writing is very linked to the stories of the men of the Great Migration because it is one of these stories, that of James Weldon Johnson. Johnson is a poet who was inspired by his trip to New York and put his love into words. The Great Migration influenced the new culture found in the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration gave artists, musicians and writers new emotions that they used in their work. This work became the Harlem Renaissance. Writers like James Weldon Johnson conveyed feelings to society about cities like Manhattan even though they were never there. The work gave African Americans still in the South motivation and hope to one day be in the North.