Basic Econimics
Locke, a Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, who was one of several black academics who promoted African American and African culture. Other important figures were Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay. Their work was publicized by white patrons and black newspaper and magazine editors and found a wide audience in the United States and Europe. Although Harlem was the most widely known center of U.S. black culture, the cultural renaissance flourished in other cities with substantial black populations such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The growth of black communities in the North also led to greater black political influence. Black politicians were elected to many state and local offices in the North. In 1928 Chicago's Oscar DePriest became the first African American from outside the South to serve in Congress. Political organizations represented the interests of both the emerging black middle class, and those of less affluent blacks, an example of the racial pride and unity with which African Americans met white racism.