Opportunity Magazine Launches as Harlem Renaissance Cultural Platform

Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, the magazine of the National Urban League edited by Charles S. Johnson, launched in 1923 and became one of the two primary literary organs of the Harlem Renaissance alongside The Crisis. Johnson actively recruited young Black writers and artists, hosted literary competitions and salon dinners, and placed Black talent before white publishers and patrons. The 1924 Civic Club dinner Johnson organized effectively announced the Harlem Renaissance to mainstream America.