The Genius of the Harlem Renaissance Volume 1 is the first of a two-volume reader. This first volume consists for the most part of readings from the first part of the Harlem Renaissance (1915–1926), while the second volume contains passages produced during the second half of the movement (1926–1940). As the twentieth century approached, Black creatives made substantial contributions to America’s cultural lifeblood. Their works were signs of things to come and set the stage for the expressive explosion of literature and art we now know as the Harlem Renaissance.