I Too Sing America celebrates the visual art and material culture of the Harlem Renaissance, illuminating the lives of its people, the art, the literature, the music, and the social history through paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, and contemporary documents and ephemera. Included are works by cherished artists such as James Van Der Zee, William Henry Johnson, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, Palmer Hayden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Romare Bearden. The project is the culmination of decades of reflection, research, and scholarship by Wil Haygood, acclaimed biographer and preeminent scholar on Harlem and its cultural history. In thematic chapters, the author captures the range and breadth of the Harlem Renaissance, a sweeping creative movement that saw an astonishing array of black writers, artists, and musicians gather over a period of a few intense years, expanding far beyond its roots in Harlem to unleash a myriad of talents on the nation.

Lining papers illustrated with "A night-club map of Harlem." "Published on the occasion of the exhibition I too sing America : the Harlem Renaissance at 100 at the Columbus Museum of Art, October 19, 2018-January 20, 2019"--Colophon.

Becoming Harlem. --Malvin Gray Johnson -- Ralph DeLuca collection of African American vernacular photography -- In feverish motion. -- Winold Reiss -- Aaron Douglas -- Richmond Barthé -- Loïs Mailou Jones -- Palmer Hayden -- The fearless scholar. -- The crisis -- Fire!! -- The two Reverend Powells. -- Archibald Motley -- Sargent Claude Johnson -- Allan Rohan Crite -- The poet who became a star -- The sad-sweet laughter of Vaudeville. -- James van der Zee -- All that sweet noise around 125th Street -- An ode to Zora Neale -- Augusta Savage. -- Jacob Lawrence -- And there was the photographer -- Why the Harlem Renaissance endures.