Henry Louis Gates says that David Levering Lewis called the Harlem Renaissance “art as civil rights.” What does Lewis mean and why does Gates bring this up? The civil rights movement began when Harlem Renaissance writers took to the streets in protest.
The writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance sought to gain rights by proving their humanity.
The writers of the Harlem Renaissance facilitated the demand for civil rights by focusing on the disadvantages of blacks in their art.
The civil rights movement occurred in tandem with the integration of whites and blacks in Harlem.